who laid the rail
adv. phr.— «He was and is a gamester from who laid-the-rail. A fiercer competitive spirit never burned than the one which fires Grimes.» —“Burleigh Grimes Has Tough Job Ahead Managing the Dodgers” by Henry McLemore in New York Dunkirk Evening Observer (New York) Nov. 6, 1936. (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...