who-laid-the-rail
adv. phr.— «He said he was a Willkie man to who-laid-the-rail, but that unfortunately he was afflicted with asthma, which was responsible for the hissing.» —“The Brighter Side” by Damon Runyon Zanesville Signal (Ohio) Aug. 27, 1940. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
In Enough is Enuf: Our Failed Attempts to Make English Easier to Spell (Bookshop|Amazon), Gabe Henry recounts the story of the first national spelling bee in 1908, which some contestants had threatened to boycott because one of the contestants from...
Dan, an accountant in Cincinnati, Ohio, wonders about the origin of the term bean counter. This is part of a complete episode.
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