who laid the rail
adv. phr.— «The way we glibly toss the word, pastern, at you, you’d think we were and old pastern man from who laid the rail.» —“Sports Roundup” by Joe Williams Syracuse Herald-Journal (New York) July 27, 1940. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Nancy Gabriel from Ithaca, New York, recalls her father’s no-nonsense responses to minor injuries when she was a child: After making sure she was really all right, he’d say, It’s far enough from your heart; it won’t kill you. Other times he...
A listener in Unadilla, New York, says her husband, whose family is French-Canadian, uses the phrase That burns my onions when something irritates him. There are several kitchen-related metaphors used to express anger, including that steams my...