firehouse primary
n.— «In most caucuses, voters debate party platform resolutions, elect local party committee members and then divide into groups according to their Presidential preference. The only item on the Michigan caucus agenda, however, is the Presidential voting, and in that sense, it more resembles a primary than a caucus. “It’s a firehouse primary disguised as a caucus,” Mr. Blumenthal said. “It’s legal even though it’s unfair.”» —“Mondale Is Victor In Michigan Vote; Also In Arkansas” by Phil Gailey New York Times Mar. 18, 1984. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Matt from Grand Rapids, Michigan, was puzzled when colleagues kept saying someone had stood up at a wedding, indicating that they’d been a member of the wedding party. The expression stood up in that sense is an Americanism going back about two...
A listener adds to our collection of slang used by RV enthusiasts. When she’s not in her sticks and bricks–that is, her brick-and-mortar home in Michigan–she’s driving around in her motor home chasing 70, which in the RV community means “trying to...