wire-brush treatment
n.— «At 70, still sprints up Pentagon stairways. Senior civilians describe their boss as fierce and demanding; senior military officers describe sessions with him as “the wire-brush treatment.”» —“Rumsfeld’s Search for a Way To Fight a New Type of Foe” by Thom Shanker in Washington, D.C. New York Times Sept. 4, 2002. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Language is always evolving, and that’s also true for American Sign Language. A century ago, the sign for “telephone” was one fist below your mouth and the other at your ear, as if you’re holding an old-fashioned candlestick...
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...