grab one's ankles

present singular third person grabs one's ankles · participle present grabbing one's ankles · participle past grabbed one's ankles · past grabbed one's ankles

1. to submit

   “No, I don't watch football.” “Is your TV broke, or are you some kind of Communist ? I mean, I know they bent over, grabbed their ankles, and took it from FedEx when they moved to Maryland, but come on — it's the Redskins.

   2007, Jon Konrath, Air in the Paragraph Line #12, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 19

   2 more examples

   Dr. Collier makes it absolutely clear that any reluctance on my part to participate in any part of this plan will result in the immediate termination of my employment at University—a black mark beyond black marks. My surgical career would be over. What else can I do but bend over, grab my ankles, and take it?

   2014, Kelly Parsons, Doing Harm: A Novel, St. Martin's Press, →ISBN

   “Over the years, there've been four campaigns, letter writing and lobbying the secretary of the Navy and so on, to get a ship named after his grandfather, and two to have the charges against his father reversed. The general himself isn't connected to any of them, because that would be unseemly—you're supposed to grab your ankles and take it like a man—but if you dig a little deeper, you find they were all started by guys Koenig went to prep school with.

   2009, David DeBatto, Pete Nelson, CI: Dark Target: An Army Counterintelligence Novel, Hachette UK, →ISBN