The Door into Summer

by Robert A. Heinlein

Only crooked gamblers claim to give the sucker the best of it, and insurance is legalized gambling. The oldest and most reputable insurance firm in the world, Lloyd’s of London, makes no bones about it – Lloyd’s associates will take either end of any bet.

Correct

gallus-snapper

What? - It's a fish.

Thorsen tubes

Are these real? - no, not even based on anything.

crape-hangers,

What? - or crepe-hanger: one who wears crepe (traditional funeral cloth) or hangs it in a house to indicate mourning, and therefore a pessimist.