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
It was a dark and stormy night. So begins the long and increasingly convoluted prose of Edwards Bulwer-Lytton’s best-known novel. Today the annual Bulwer-Lytton Contest asks contestants for fanciful first sentences that are similarly...
How do social media algorithms shape the way we communicate? A new book argues that the competition for clicks is changing the way we speak and write, from the so-called “YouTube accent” to the surprising evolution of the word preppy. Also: A...