farming one’s insurance
n.— «Other growers and government officials said some of the farmers who started growing sweet potatoes had never grown them before. Others planted in areas known to be wet. Still others didn’t take care of their crops, saving money on fertilizers and other production costs, only to turn around and file insurance claims when their yields were poor—a practice known as “farming your insurance.”» —“Sweet Potato Experience: ‘Farming Your Insurance’” by Gilbert M. Gaul in Whiteville, North Carolina Canton Repository (Ohio) Oct. 15, 2006. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
James in Charlotte, North Carolina, notes that when discussing a newborn baby, he’s heard people say something that sounded like, “That baby ‘woh’ seven pounds, two ounces.” He’s never heard that usage before. The...
There are lots of colloquial phrases to explain away the cacophony of a thunderstorm: The potato wagons are rolling, The tater wagon’s going over the bridge, The potato wagon broke down, and God is dumping out potatoes and washing them off. In...