Julia Thompson wrote:
> Ray Ludenia wrote:
>>
>> Jan Coffey wrote:
>>
>>> Wouldn't you have a chip on your shoulder after a while as well? You know,
>>> having a chip on your shoulder doesn't mean there is anything wrong with
>>> you.
>>
>> Actually, having a chip on both shoulders is better. It keeps one balanced.
>> Choc-chips are good.
>
> OK, how is the balance between a chocolate chip on one shoulder and a
> butterscotch chip on the other, if they're of the same mass? :)
By the way, would anyone know where this saying came from and what sort of chip?
Regards, Ray.
http://www.wordwizard.com/clubhouse/founddiscuss.asp?Num=3796
The earliest printed instance of the phrase listed in the Oxford English Dictionary comes from the Long Island Telegraph newspaper in May, 1830. This citation also provides what is probably a good explanation of the origin of the phrase: "When two churlish boys were determined to fight, a chip would be placed on the shoulder of one, and the other demanded to knock it off at his peril." (The "chip" was, in that age of wood stoves, most likely a chip of wood.) Evidently this belligerent ritual of childhood was sufficiently widespread at the time to become a grownup metaphor for combativeness, as it has been ever since.
Writing from England - there is a much earlier origin for the phrase "chip on your shoulder" which arose from a dispute in the 18th century with the carpenters at Chatham dockyard (the yard which built Nelson's flagship "Victory"). These men commonly carried wood on their shoulders during construction work - carpenters are still often referred to in the UK as "chippies".
Helping where I can. Took me four tries to google a good response.
Kevin T. - VRWC
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