spank the plank
v. phr.— «The rock musicians’ slang for it is “spanking the plank”: that is, playing the guitar, usually energetically and with as much abandon and hairwaving as required.» —“Going against the grain” by Michael Pollitt Guardian (United Kingdom) Oct. 26, 2006. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Asthenosphere, a geologist’s term for the molten layer beneath the earth’s crust, sparks a journey that stretches all the way from ancient Greece to the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Plus: What the heck is a dogberg? It’s when...
Amid court-ordered busing in the 1970s, a middle-school teacher tried to distract her nervous students on the first day of class with this strange assignment: find a monarch caterpillar. The result? A memorable lesson in the miracle of metamorphosis...