outside job
n.— «“In dermatology, we speak about something called an “outside job,” which is a skin eruption made by the patient himself,” said Dr. Noah Scheinfeld, an assistant professor of dermatology at Columbia University in New York and an expert on the psychiatric origins of certain skin disorders. “When you look at the pictures of these Morgellons lesions, they are classic for that.”» —“A mystery ailment gets under skin” by Howard Witt Chicago Tribune July 25, 2006. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Nancy Gabriel from Ithaca, New York, recalls her father’s no-nonsense responses to minor injuries when she was a child: After making sure she was really all right, he’d say, It’s far enough from your heart; it won’t kill you. Other times he...
Claire from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, shares a phrase dear to her late friend. Her friend was known for saying since Christ left Philadelphia, meaning “a very long time ago.” This expression fits a well-worn pattern of comic hyperbole using...