Today as I was getting ready to leave the office for a meeting, Markus hung up the phone and said:
"Wait. You wanted to see Duc? He's on his way here to clean a chicken with you."
Duc is Vietnamese, so for a fleeting second I thought Markus was setting us up for some kind of cultural lunch date.
"Duc wants to...clean a chicken with me...?" I didn't know Duc well, and the idea of plucking a chicken with him - or anyone else, for that matter - did not exactly appeal to me. I was wearing heels, for heaven's sake.
"Yes! Don't you have this expression in English? You know, he has an issue to discuss with you. What's wrong with you?"
I was clutching my chest and turning red from laughter.
"'Clean a chicken?' It's so funny!"
Markus looked at his computer screen and clicked his mouse button a few times and patiently waited for me to get over it. Suddenly I stopped short as I realized something:
"Oh. 'I have a bone to pick'. ....Ohhhhhhh."
"Uh huh. It's the same thing, isn't it?"
Shoot.
Location:Hagenbach, Germany
I didn't know any of those expression, so you're teaching me new English stuff, which is always good :)
ReplyDelete[btw the French equivalent is supposed to be « avoir maille à partir avec quelqu'un », but this last one is more violent in my opinion, while « bone to pick » sounds more gentle.
Or maybe I'm wrong, you guys actually pick people's bones.
You "have a mustard to share with someone"?? :)
ReplyDelete