who-laid-the-rail
adv. phr.— «You have read columns of the heavyweight sensation of the west coast, Max Baer, a club fighter to who-laid-the-rail, two-fisted and willing, and with more color than any fighter of recent year.» —“Says” by Damon Runyon Nevada State Journal (Reno) Nov. 1, 1930. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Books were rare treasures in the Middle Ages, painstakingly copied out by hand. So how to protect them from theft? Scribes sometimes added a curse to the first page of those books that was supposed to keep thieves away — and some were as vicious as...
Louis in Reno, Nevada, grew up in Montreal, Canada, speaking Québécois French. His father was fond of saying j’aime vacher le matin, puis je prends mon temps, meaning “I like to loaf and take my time in the morning.” Vacher comes...