A Frederick News-Post article (2018-04-12) recounted the linguistic take-aways from a reporter covering Session for the first time. There are numerous coded phrases that those who participate in the legislative process hear regularly and understand but those outside of the process may not fully appreciate. The article summarized the reporter’s seven favorite phrases – here are two:

“It’s a simple bill.” This extremely common preamble to an explanation of a proposed law is designed to instill confidence in colleagues and signal something along the lines of “hey, let’s just pass this thing because it ain’t that complicated.”

“A second bite at the apple.” This fruit-themed phrase is often used to express humility when given the chance to speak twice or ask repeated questions on the same issue on the floor, as in “Thank you, Speaker, for allowing me a second bite at the apple.”