bench jockeying
n.— «Baseball not being a repository of deep thought, players on opposing teams used to stand in the dugout and hurl insults at [Jackie] Robinson. “Bench jockeying,” as it’s known, has a long tenure in the sport, but it’s usually focused on things like weight or facial features. In Pittsburgh one day, Greenberg was playing first base while a pocket of teammates hollered at Robinson: “Hey, coal mine!”» —“Baseball greats show how great they are after 1st-base crash” by Neal Rubin Detroit News (Michigan) June 14, 2006. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
David from Kalamazoo, Michigan, is a former truck driver who remembers that his fellow users of CB radio tended to sound similar, no matter what part of the country they were from. Is there such a thing as an occupational accent? Many of those truck...
Katie in Kalamazoo, Michigan, wonders about the expression throw the book at, meaning to “try every means possible.” Did it originally involve literally throwing books? It’s just a metaphor in which the book refers to “the...