tote the note
v. phr.— «Fred Smith, founder and chief executive officer of Memphis-based Federal Express, is the name that comes to everyone’s lips when asked what advantage the city has in the race for an NFL expansion team. “Fred has said, ’I’ll tote the note,’” Cooley says. Frankly, I don’t think anyone in Jacksonville has that kind of whip-out.”» —“Bypassed Since the ‘70s, Memphis Wants Franchise More Than Ever” by Raad Cawthon Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Georgia) July 26, 1989. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Candace from Memphis, Tennessee, wonders about the phrase You’re eating me out of house and home. The emphatic doublet house and home is part of a long tradition that includes scared out of house and home and chased out of house and home. Even...
In this bonus A Way with Words minicast, Martha and Grant step into the historic streets of Marblehead, Massachusetts, where the simple cry of “Down bucket!” could serve as a kind of local password. After they ponder that and other language of...