Say what?

[Wilson Gray]

The [New England] Patriots are notorious around the NFL for being
_shell-mouthed_ about injuries [to their players].

Pierce, Charles P.
Moving The Chains.
New York, 2006.

"Shell-mouthed"?

-Wilson
--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
-Sam'l Clemens

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org