seat belt rule
n.— «Basketball coaches in Iowa must keep their seats in their seats because of what is known as the “seat belt rule.” Iowa boys’ coaches have had this rule for years, and it was approved for girls’ coaches this week (there are separate governing bodies for boys’ and girls’ sports in Iowa). The rule means coaches must sit during games instead of stalking the sideline like a beast on a chain.» —“Coaches, back to your seats” by John Millea Star Tribune (Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota) May 24, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
The words tough, through, and dough all end in O-U-G-H. So why don’t they rhyme? A lively new book addresses the many quirks of English by explaining the history of words and phrases. And: have you ever been in a situation where a group makes...
Throwing cheese and shaky cheese are two very different things. In baseball, hard cheese refers to a powerful fastball, and probably comes from a similar-sounding word in Farsi, Urdu, and Hindi. Shaky cheese, on the other hand, is the grated...