Today’s phrase is barn burner.  I can honestly say I’d never heard the expression barn burner before today. Someone used it on a call, and of course I wanted to know what it meant!

Explanation: A barn burner is something that arouses much excitement or interest.

Example:  The Superbowl is always a barn burner – it’s always sold out, and millions of people tune it to watch it.

Origin: The Barnburners were a radical faction of the New York state Democratic party in the mid-19th century.  It is thought to been derived from the notion that someone would burn down their barn (i.e. take drastic action) just to get rid of a rat infestation. And the “Barnburner” faction would take equally drastic action – destroy all banks and corporations, to root out their abuses.  To learn more, check out this article on Barnburners.