red light fever n. 1. excitement or unusual behavior when confronting a recording device, specifically: nervousness, giddiness, or talkativeness in front of a live microphone or video camera; the desiring or seeking of media attention. 2. in vehicles, a tendency to have a false start during a race; to run a red light. Editorial Note: Television cameras and radio microphones almost always have a light on them or nearby that indicates “recording” or “on the air.” (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Images of birds flutter inside lots of English words and phrases, from “nest egg” and “pecking order,” to proverbs from around the world—including a lovely Spanish saying about how birds sense light just before dawn. Plus...
When you had sleepovers as a child, what did you call the makeshift beds you made on the floor? In some places, you call those bedclothes and blankets a pallet. This word comes from an old term for “straw.” And: What’s the story...