dead man’s lever
n.— «Having produced or presented most of Australia’s current affairs programs, with the occasional live disaster, I used to joke that we ought to have a “dead man’s lever” such as those on trains which would bring the program screeching to a halt if things got out of control.» —“Moving Right Along, Folks” by Peter Luck Sun-Herald (Australia) May 19, 1996. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Matt in Beloit, Wisconsin, reports that when he was in high school back in the 1990s, he and his friends used the word biscuit in phrases like I feel like a biscuit or I bet you feel like a biscuit now, the idea being that someone said something...
Nikki in Charlotte, North Carolina, shares the story of a man who casually told passersby You dropped your pocket, prompting them to check for something that wasn’t there in the first place. That silly saying reminds her of playing pool and trying...