laugh like a drain
v. phr.— «My dad was a huge Peter Sellers fan. If you’re in for two minutes, you’re in for two hours at my house. And it was always a nice truce. Because my dad was from Liverpool—he didn’t have a bad temper, but he was like a working-class guy—he just laughed like a drain all the way through it.» —“It’s a green party reunion for the cast of ‘Shrek the Third’” by Michael Ordoña Los Angeles Times May 6, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
In the 15th century, the word respair meant “to have hope again.” Although this word fell out of use, it’s among dozens collected in a new book of soothing vocabulary for troubled times. Plus, baseball slang: If a batter...
A hundred years ago, suffragists lobbied to win women the right to vote. Linguistically speaking, though, suffrage isn’t about “suffering.” It’s from a Latin word that involves voting. Plus: military cadences often include...