exploding offer
n.— «Some employers may over-estimate the greed of graduates. One management consultancy offered several candidates £1,000 in advance on salary for “moving expenses.” It gave another an “exploding offer” and told him to name his price.» —“: Graduates who play hard to get can be put off by old boy network” by Anna Healy Fenton Financial Times (London, England) Aug. 20, 1984. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Someone who is likened to “a dog in the manger” is acting spitefully, claiming something they don’t even need or want in order to prevent others from having it. The story that inspired this phrase goes all the way back to ancient...
Columnist Lucy Kellaway wrote in the Financial Times about feeling less anxious and fearful in the workplace as she gets older. She concluded that such feelings are bog standard, a British expression meaning “common” or “widespread...