On Wed, 5 Jan 2005 12:44:24 -0500, "Gary Drescher"
wrote:

Dunno, but it's a perfectly good English word (in lower case--it's not an
acronym), so why shouldn't reporters use it?

Tarmac is short for "tar macadam" and refers to the system used for
laying down roads with alternating layers of sand and hot tar. In
these yere parts, it was called "tar vee", as in: "He was out drag
racing all night on the tar vee."

I haven't seen tar macadam put down for many a year, but it used to
make driving hell in the summertime. They usually tarred the road the
day after you brought your new car home.