Bone to Pick #1372, by Eddie Trapp, FEBRUARY 26, 2015

1372                               BONE TO PICK                           FEBRUARY 26, 2015

 

Back when John Silman and I coached in junior high, Jeff Phifer scored several touchdowns. When he hit passing gear nobody was going to catch him. At a ballgame recently he came up to me and said, “I’ve got a bone to pick with you.” My mind jumped back years and years as I tried to remember some problem we had. Coming up empty I asked him what he meant. He said, “You know, like where did that phrase come from?” Jeff had been reading my article one week where I mentioned the origin of a phrase so he wondered about the bone picking saying. After studying a while I told Jeff I didn’t know but I would soon. Sure nuff, here is what the trusty internet provided.

“Having a bone to pick with you” goes back at least as far as the 1600’s. There was no television, video games, or cell phones back then. People just sat around on rocks and used their brain. Wasn’t much entertainment. Somebody apparently was watching a dog chew on a bone for hours until he got every last little scrap of goody off the bone. The phrase simply means one person is going to talk and talk (chew and chew) to another person until the problem is completely resolved. A similar phrase, bone of contention, goes back to the 1500’s and refers to two dogs fighting over a bone. In Ireland, it means, “I believe you have wronged me and I think you know the reason why.” Thanks Jeff, for asking, and for playing football.

On some of these windy cool days I seem to watch more television than years ago. Wondering about terrorism I sometimes watch the news channels. In college one of my courses was public speaking and we were cautioned about jingling coins in our pocket, using a distracting phrase, or walking back and forth too much. Terrorism seems to have opened the gate for interviews between our big cities and troubled places overseas. You know that little pause between one person’s question and the other person’s answer. I think it is both humorous and distracting when the person overseas most of the time will start his/her answer with, “Well.” See if journalists on your channel do that.

Over the years Jean and I have seen a solid black hawk along 895 between Charleston and Highway 19. Most sightings are either near Bruce Switzer’s house or about two miles further west near the Clark Ridge cutoff. This dark hawk is actually a variation, or race, of our common red tailed hawk. Not only is there a dark variety but a very light one as well. All living things have a Latin scientific name to prevent confusion between common, local names. Various regions, for example, may call a meadowlark a field lark or fee lark. To save arguments the meadowlark is known worldwide as Sterna magna. (A scientific name is supposed to be underlined but my stupid laptop won’t let me without underlining the whole sentence.)Those two words are its genus and species names. All living things have a genus and species name. The red tailed hawk is named Buteo jamaicensis. In the case of something like the red tailed hawk needing further separation because of color we can add a third word called a subspecies. A light colored red tailed hawk is called B. j. krideri. The dark one is B. j. calurus. Watch for the dark colored hawk on a power line as you go up the hill between McGuyer Branch and Bruce Switzer’s.

Book 11 of the On The River articles is finished and home from the printer. They cost me sixteen dollars but I am sticking to my old price of fifteen. To order a copy call 903 439 8110 or email me at the address listed at the end of today’s article.

Last year about this time, Junior Larkin, Kenneth Gillean, and I went to Lake Tawakoni to see the weigh in of their annual blue catfish tournament. You weigh your five biggest fish which are then released alive. Cabela’s King Kat Catfish Tournament will be this coming weekend with weigh in Saturday, February 28 at 3:00 p.m. To enter the contest you must be a member of the King Kat Association. Dues are $25 a year. Locals may enter but mainly this is for those that follow the tour like pro bass fishermen. For registration call 270 395 6774. Weigh in is at the West Tawakoni City Park. The boat ramp is at Anchor Inn Marina across the road from the city park. Call 903 447 3020 for more info. If you want to see some catfish over fifty pounds plan to attend the weigh in.

A few days ago Stan Szafrin and two of his Pennsylvania friends, Eric Wilby and Dave Coult, hog hunted with Casey Williams, Montana Anderson, and me. Three hogs were caught and they had a great time.

Thanks to Aunt Belle for the following joke. A man and his wife got into arguments at times and neighbors heard the man repeatedly tell his wife that after he died he was going to dig his way up out of the grave and come haunt her. He died and after the funeral the neighbors asked the wife if she was afraid he would dig his way out and haunt her. She said, “Let him dig. I had him buried face down and I know he is too contrary to ask directions.”

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