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Bone of contention
A friend of mine claims that this was originally "bane of contention".I invite discussion.
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OED1 has a first cite of 1562 for the general ideaThe divell hath cast a bone to set strife between you, John Heywoodfollowed closely at heel by a 1576 cite of the exact phraseThis became such a bone...
View ArticleRe: Bone of contention
No. "A bone to pick" (meaning a problem to solve, a "nut to crack") is contemporaneous, and "a bone to pick with someone" (meaning a disagreement) came some centuries later, according to the cites in...
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