Transcript of AE 971 - Expression: Have A Bone To Pick With Someone

G'day, you mob and welcome to Aussie English. I am your host, Pete, and my objective here is to teach you guys the English spoken down under. So, whether you want to sound like a fair dinkum Aussie or you just want to understand what the flipping hell we're on about when we're having a yarn, you've come to the right place. So, sit back, grab a cuppa and enjoy Aussie English. Let's go.

G'day, you mob. How's it going? Pete here, from Aussie English. Welcome to this episode of the Aussie English podcast, the number one place for anyone and everyone wanting to learn Australian English. So, how's your week been, guys? How's your week? I have been a busy little beaver; I tell you what. Aussie English has kind of fallen on hard times recently. We're not making as much income as we were, so it's been a little bit difficult for the last few weeks. Well, the last few months trying to work out what we can do, what we can change, how we can improve to be able to keep sort of pottering along.

I have a feeling that a lot of you guys are feeling the pain of COVID, so I totally understand where you're coming from. But, yeah, that's sort of what I've been up to at the moment, kind of stressing a little bit about that. Not to bitch and moan too much to you guys, but yeah, it hasn't been the most fun in the world.

So, trying to stay positive, trying to keep my head up, trying to keep my chin up rather, you know, stay positive. Getting out and about doing a little bit of bird photography has always been good. So, that's sort of mixing things up and allowing me to keep my mind off things. But yeah. Anyway, sorry to start the episode on a bit of a sour note. Before we get into the news article for this week, guys, don't forget if you would like access to the full transcripts for over 940 episodes of the premium podcast, the premium podcast player, so that you can read and listen at the same time.

You want the downloads, you want access to the videos with the lessons for these expression episodes, everything like that. Go and check out the premium podcast membership at AussieEnglish.com.au/podcast. So, let's get into today's weekly story. The largest ever dinosaur to walk Australia was described this week. The massive, enormous, gargantuan beast of a dinosaur was found by Robyn and Stuart Mackenzie on their sheep and cattle farm when they were hooning around on their motorbikes way back in the year 2005.

The pair initially spotted some large black rocks, but on closer inspection, they realised they were actually giant fossil bones. Researchers came in to do a bit of digging and over the next five years discovered a series of bones from the same fossil. Fast-forward another decade and the creature named Australotitan cooperensis has been scientifically described. It was a giant 70-ton titanosaur, a type of sauropod that measured between 82 and 98 feet in length, about the size of a basketball court.

It's awesome to see new discoveries like these being made even after these huge dinosaurs went the way of the dodo, although before the dodo went extinct. So, I guess the dodo went the way of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Who knows what else is lurking out there just beneath the ground waiting to be dug up. So, there you go, guys. I included in there the expression "to go the way of the dodo", which means to go extinct. And we talked about this in episode 55, way back when Aussie English was first up and running. So, that would have been 2016, I think that I would have published that episode.

Anyway, slap the Kookaburra, guys. And now let's get into today's joke. All right, so the joke is, what was the skeletons favourite musical instrument? What was the skeletons favourite musical instrument? The trombone. You get it? Bone. The trom-bone. The trombone is that huge, I guess it's a brass instrument that you blow into sort of like a trumpet or- Forgotten the other brass ones that don't use a wooden reed because they're sort of wind instruments, brass instruments. You guys would probably know this better than me.

But I remember I used to play the clarinet and there were people who played the saxophone and the oboe, those all use those wooden reeds that you would attach to the top and you'd have to wet with your mouth so that it vibrated. And then you would have instruments like the trumpet and the trombone where you would use your lips to vibrate, there was no sort of wooden reed involved. So, I remember that sort of division between us back in the day when I was doing that. But there you go. What was the skeletons favourite musical instrument? The trom-bone. The trombone.

All right, guys. So, today's expression is to "have a bone to pick with someone". You don't have to say "bone" like that when you want to say this expression. I obviously decided to use this one to tie it in with this story about Australotitan cooperensis, right. This huge dinosaur, the type out of Jurassic Park, that is sort of like a cross between a rhinoceros and a giraffe, but on steroids. Right. Those huge dinosaurs that have long necks and they lift their heads up into the tree canopy to be able to browse the bushes and eat. Right. They were absolutely massive.

So, let's break down this expression, the words in this expression to "have a bone to pick with someone". If you have something, you possess that thing. Right. I "have" my phone in my hand right now, and I "have" a bit of a crusty voice. It's a bit crackly because I've "had" a cold, right. I've possessed these things. A "bone". I'm sure you guys will know what a "bone" is. Any of the pieces of hard, whitish tissue making up the skeletons in humans and other vertebrates, you know, things like fish, lizards, birds, mammals. We all have bones on which muscles and tendons and ligaments are attached and everything.

And then we also obviously have organs and the rest inside of our bodies. To "pick". Now, this is an interesting verb that has quite a few different meanings. So, you can "pick" a flower and that would be like to "pluck" a flower. You could "pick" a partner and in that case, it's kind of like "choose" a partner. Right. So, if you want to partner to dance with, you might "pick" one person out of a crowd, you "choose" them. To "pick" a partner. But here in the expression to "have a bone to pick with someone", it means to take hold of or lift or move. Right.

So, the verb here is more related to plucking and removing bits. And I guess it's kind of- Well, we'll talk about the origin in a sec, but it's sort of like the expression to "pick at a scab", right. So, you're picking at that thing, trying to remove parts from it. So, when you "have a bone to pick with someone", if "I've got a bone to pick with you", it is that I have a grievance that needs to be talked about with you.

Right. So, I have an issue or a disagreement, and you and I need to talk about this thing and resolve it, so "I have a bone to pick with you". The origin dates back to the 16th century and it refers to a dog chewing endlessly on a large bone or "picking" it clean. Right. There's that verb to "pick". If you "pick" a bone clean, it's that you "pick" all of the meat off that bone. So, animals like dogs and maybe some dinosaurs like a T-Rex might "pick" bones clean of the flesh, of the ligaments, of the tendons, all that sort of stuff. They're going to be taking or removing as much of it as possible.

So, this is the subject or issue that "a bone to pick" refers to. It's one that's going to require considerable discussion or argument in order to resolve. So, "you've got a bone to pick with someone", and a similar phrase is "a bone of contention". Right. So, if there's a "bone of contention", this means that there is an issue over which two people disagree or are arguing. And this also dates back to the 16th century and refers to the way that two dogs might fight over a choice bone. Right. The best bone.

If you had one bone and you got two dogs, I'm sure you guys who own two dogs out there are going to know that isn't going to end well. If you throw one bone to them, that's going to be a bone of contention between those two dogs. All right. So, now let's go through some examples of how I would use the expression "to have a bone to pick with someone" in daily life. But before we do that. Did you know that reading whilst listening to English is the best way to learn new vocabulary? research shows that this is much more effective than just reading material or just listening to material in English.

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Okay, so example number one, imagine you're minding your own business at work one day, you know, you're sitting at your desk, you're typing up a report that you need to submit by the end of the day. And then all of a sudden, your door swings open and you see your boss coming in furious, really angry. You know, you can see he's pretty upset, he's pissed. And he tells you, "I've got a bone to pick with you. I've got a bone to pick with you". There's an issue that you and I need to resolve right now. We're going to discuss this thing.

We're probably going to argue about it, but we have to deal with this "bone of contention". "I have a bone to pick with you". I have a problem with you. I have an issue with you that we need to resolve right now. Example, number two, imagine that you're married. So, you and your wife go to your friend's birthday party, and everything is going well, but you end up having a few too many drinks, so your tongue gets lubricated, meaning that you are likely to talk about things that you probably shouldn't or that might embarrass your wife. Okay, so this may or may not be a true story. All right. All right.

So, imagine it's me and I've had too much to drink at this party. And then all of a sudden, I start telling these stories about my wife and I that put her in a not so favourable light. When we get home, she might come up to me and be like, Pete, "I've got a bone to pick with you". And I'll be like, oh, no, what did I do, now? She'll come up and say, we have to talk about this issue. You embarrassed me at your friend's birthday party. You got a little too drunk and then started saying all these things that I think is inappropriate. That was embarrassing. You embarrassed me at the party, Pete.

"I've got a bone to pick with you". We need to sort this out. Example number three, in Australian English, we can use the word "fossil" to mean two things. Two things. It can be the remains or impression of a prehistoric plant or animal that is embedded in rock and preserved or petrified. So, you know, like a dinosaur fossil, like the one we talked about start. But it is also used sort of derogatorily, in a derogatory kind of way, in a nasty, mean kind of way to talk about people who are elderly. So, if someone's a "fossil", they are so old that they've been fossilised. Right.

The idea is that they're an old person. So, imagine that one day you're hanging out with your family and your grandparents have come over. You can probably see where this story's going. This is not a story about me. I never had too many drinks. I never used this. But imagine, you're chatting to your dad and your dad's like, oh, where's your grandfather? I need to talk to him. Have you seen your grandfather around? And I decide for whatever reason to say, no, I haven't seen that "fossil". I don't know where he is. Do you know where the "fossil" is?

Lo and behold, my grandfather's right behind me and hears what I said, that I called him a "fossil", and he's probably going to be nonplussed. He's probably going to be a little pissed off that I called to him- Called him a "fossil", that I referred to him as a "fossil". So, he might come up to me and say, Pete, "got a bit of a bone to pick with you there, mate". Who's this "fossil" you were talking about? "I've got a bone to pick with you". We need to resolve this issue. You young whippersnapper. Screw you, I'm not a "fossil". Let's resolve this issue. I'm 90 years young. I'm very young.

I'm 90 years young. All right. So, now hopefully, guys, you understand how to use the expression to "have a bone to pick with someone", right. It is that you have a grievance with someone that needs to be talked about. It needs to be resolved. It's an issue that you're going to probably argue about because you disagree about this thing. It is a "bone of contention". "You have a bone to pick with someone". So, as usual, guys, let's go through a little pronunciation exercise. This is your chance to listen and repeat after me.

Practise your pronunciation. Let's just get into it. "To. To have. To have a. To have a bone. To have a bone to. To have a bone to pick. To have a bone to pick with. To have a bone to pick with someone. To have a bone to pick with someone. To have a bone to pick with someone. To have a bone to pick with someone. To have a bone to pick with someone. I've got a bone to pick with her. You've got a bone to pick with her. He's got a bone to pick with her. She's got a bone to pick with her. We've got a bone to pick with her. They've got a bone to pick with her. It's got a bone to pick with her."

Good job, guys. Now, this is a long exercise, right, because the expression is kind of long, so it's a good chance for you to pay attention to intonation. You'll notice that all the key words in the phrase "I've got a bone to pick with her" are getting emphasised. And you'll notice a bunch of these less crucial words, the kind of filler words are getting de-emphasized, unemphasised and turned into that schwa sound. They're vow sound becomes a schwa, right. So, words like "to" becomes t- or "a" becomes a. And the last thing you might notice there is that there's "h" deletion for the word "her".

So, instead of hearing "her", you'll hear -er, when I say "I've got a bone to pick with -er. With -er. With -er." So, this happens because there's a consonant sound directly before that "h" at the start of the word "her". "I've got a bone to pick with her. I've got a bone to pick with her." So, to finish up, guys, in today's Aussie English fact, I thought I would talk about this dinosaur, Australotitan cooperensis and some of the facts that have been released about this dinosaur. So, it's genus name is Australotitan, meaning southern Titan. Right.

A titan from Greek mythology was any of the rights of giant deities who were overthrown by the Olympian gods. The species name, cooperensis, refers to the Cooper Creek system in Queensland where the specimen was found. And it's only one single specimen that has been found. So, there's only a single fossil for this entire species and even this entire genus that has ever been found that is known to science. So, it's both a new species and a new genus, which is a larger category than a species. Right.

As the first of its kind, as the first specimen of its species and genus that has been found, it's the type specimen or holotype, which is a single type specimen upon which the description and name of a new species is based. So, whenever a new species is described in science, they need to describe this species based on the very first individual specimen that was ever recorded. The specimen was first found in 2005, as we said at the start, by Sandy Mackenzie near the town of Eromanga. It was first nicknamed The Banana Bendasaurus, a reference to it being a Queensland fossil.

A "banana bender" is an Aussie slang term for Queenslanders because in Queensland, that's where all the bananas are grown that are consumed in Australia. And the joke being that Queenslanders work on these farms bending the bananas. But I don't know, I guess we assume that the bananas grow straight originally. Don't know. Australotitan cooperensis is a type of sauropod dinosaur, and these are those gigantic herbivorous dinosaurs that you'll see in movies like Jurassic Park that have those massive, long necks that reach up into the canopies and eat plant material.

So, unlike T-Rex, unlike Velociraptors, these guys are herbivores. They only eat plants. It was a dinosaur that looked like a cross between an elephant and a giraffe, but on steroids. And they were up to a hundred feet in length and weighed as much as 80 tonnes, the equivalent of 45 large cars. Ridiculous. Right. Absolutely ridiculous. Anyway, guys, that is it for today. I hope you've enjoyed this episode. I hope you've learnt a lot about Australia, about dinosaurs in particular. And I hope you can now use the expression to "have a bone to pick with someone".

I'm Pete, this is Aussie English and I'll see you next time. See ya. By the way.