silent stinker
n.— «“There’s a filing deadline when legislative sponsors can propose new legislation,” said Harper. “In order to get around the filing deadline, they can file a shell bill, which is like a placeholder, that they can fill it in at later date.” “We euphemistically refer to shell bills as ‘silent stinkers’ because they’re extremely hard to track,” she said. “A shell bill can, quite literally, turn into just about anything with very little notice. That makes it very hard for citizens to voice their opinions and concerns in a thoughtful, thorough or timely manner.”» —“Foundation targets proliferation of ’shell bills'” by Sara Kennedy Bradenton Herald (Florida) Mar. 15, 2009. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
An Omaha, Nebraska, listener and wife have picked up the expression Bags not! from the Australian children’s show “Bluey.” The phrase is used to stake a claim by announcing one refuses to doing something undesirable, like change a...
Advice about college essays from the winner of a top prize for children’s literature: Kelly Barnhill encourages teens to write about experiences that are uniquely their own, from a point of view that is theirs and no one else’s. Plus...