marshall islands

tiny country in the pacific made up of hundreds of islands. a british sailor named marshall founded the place for westerners, but the germans gained the islands in the 1800s. japan basically used it as 1 giant military base during wwii, and it became a us mandate after the war. it gained independence only 25 years ago, after the us grew tired of using it as 1 big nuke testing ground.

A deep-brown or orange tan. Named after the Marshall Islands, where the first H-bombs were tested.

The implication being that the tanned person, looks as though (s)he has been in the presence of a thermonuclear detonation.