lunch-pail mentality
n.— «He has what I call a lunch-pail mentality.…Tommy comes to work every day, and outworked people in practice. He called all our signals in the secondary, and was our quarterback on defense. Tommy is not only a good football player, but a wonderful young man. He is the consummate student-athlete, with a grade-point average above 4.0.» —“Irvin is Vikings’ defensive quarterback” by Cliff Mehrtens Charlotte Observer (North Carolina) Dec. 25, 2006. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
If you speak a second or third language, you may remember the first time you dreamed in that new tongue. But does this milestone mean you’re actually fluent? And a couple’s dispute over the word regret: Say you wish you’d been able...
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...