meat market
n.— «The NBA is pretty straight compared to what goes on prior to the National Football League draft, where more than 300 players are annually invited to what is known as the “meat market.” Sports talk radio and the Internet offer numerous accounts of NFL wannabes who are required to walk into a room full of scouting and management types, strip down to their underwear and let everyone look at them while they are weighed and measured. The whole thing is videotaped—so coaches can “study” it later—and players are even required to turn around so everybody can get a look at the full package as the young stud works the runway. The men who run the NFL call it “the combine.”» —“Brokedraft Mountain” by Geoff Griffin Salt Lake City Weekly (Utah) June 22, 2006. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Responding to someone during a dispute with What does that have to do with the price of tea in China? is a way to deflect the comment or derail the discussion entirely. While the phrase the price of tea in China is the most common version...
One secret to writing well is … there is no secret! There’s no substitute for simply sitting down day after day to practice the craft and learn from your mistakes. Plus, childhood mixups around word definitions can lead to some funny stories...