hoss election
n.— «When they read the column here pondering the origin of the term “Hoss Elections,” a Hawai’i phrase used to describe those senior class hall-of-fame awards in high school, the Valdez’s were the only ones to come up with hard evidence of the etymology. Larry Valdez and Henriette Lopes were voted Best Looking of their senior class in Kailua High 1959.…In their “He’e Nalu” yearbook, their photo is under the banner “HORSE ELECTIONS.”» —“History of hoss elections” by Lee Cataluna Honolulu Advertister (Hawaii) Aug. 26, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Jim in Columbia, South Carolina, has noticed sportscasters’ use of the phrase on the season with reference to a period of time. This construction shows up in the sports pages as early as the 1880s, first referring to a team’s revenue and...
The slang phrase someone ate and left no crumbs means the person did something really well. In a previous call, a listener who works in theater noted the use of ate to mean “did something well,” as in they really ate that haircut! This...