Archive for November 28, 2010

idiom: to have a bone to pick with someone

dog_with_bone

If you’ve ever been a little angry with someone and wanted to tell them directly what they did to annoy or anger you, you can use today’s idiom: to “have a bone to pick with” someone. It is used when we want to talk about being angry or annoyed with another person. For example:

I have a bone to pick with you! You completely ignored me at the party last night! Why did you do that?

I have a bone to pick with Susan. She didn’t finish her report on time and it caused a big delay. I’m going to talk to her about it later.

What’s wrong? Why aren’t you talking to me? If you have a bone to pick with me, just tell me!

If we use this when speaking to someone directly, it’s a little strong, but it’s a common way to indicate that you’re annoyed with someone before you tell them what it’s about. The level of your anger will be indicated by your tone of voice. If your intonation goes down, you will sound very angry, but if it’s kept up, it will indicate that you’re just annoyed about something.

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