What is the origin of the phrase "to have a beef" (with someone)?
It's a negative thing, but one would think sharing a beef with someone would be a nice gesture. Oh, you are cranky and hungry, here, have some of this beef, and I'll have it with you so that you can see that it isn't tainted. How can that come to mean a quarrel or feud or vendetta?
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ANSWERS: 1
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Literally, beef is meat from a cow. Having beef with someone originated from the late 1800's with US soldiers and spread to the West among sheep farmers who were competing for grazing land and cattle farmers. The idiom means to have a problem with someone. Example: beefy guys such as tough guys were fighting in a bar or street brawl.
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bostjan the adequate 🥉 Why not having a sheep? -
Jenny The Great ⭐ That's because cow beef is far more popular to eat in Western countries.
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