tummy rubbing
n.— «One top Port of Seattle consultant and construction contractor had their own shorthand—”tummy rubbing”—for informally negotiating how much the port should pay for unexpected work at the airport, a recent state audit found.» —“Chummy culture at port costs taxpayers” by Jennifer Langston Post-Intelligencer (Seattle) Mar. 2, 2008. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Barbara Kingsolver’s book Demon Copperhead is a retelling of Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield set in today’s Appalachia. Martha shares memories of a long-ago visit to Kingsolver’s family farm in Virginia, where they...
When Marilyn from Boston, Massachusetts, used the expression Them’s the berries! with neighbors in her hometown of nearby Arlington, Massachusetts, she was surprised they were unfamiliar with it. The phrase means something like “That’s...