The best way to knock the chip off your neighbor''s shoulder ....

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

Hello,

What do you make of the following saying:

The best way to knock the chip off your neighbor’'s shoulder is to pat him on the back.

To me it means that the best way to appease/placate your neighbor is to commend him for something.

Thanks in advance.

2

I agree, Tort.

Is the double apostrophe the result of too many late nights or a sign of old age?

3

Thanks Bev!

Hehe.
I guess more the former than the latter. =)

4

Hehe.
I used to do that a lot when I changed over from using a German keyboard to my American one. More typos than usual as a result of letters and symbols being in different places and also needing to use the shift key differently. I ended up with quite a few quotation marks instead of apostrophes. I even ended up misspelling my own name sometimes since the locations of the Z and the Y keys are reversed. lol
[size=84]Of course, the fact that I’ve always been somewhat keyboard-challenged didn’t help any, either.[/size]
:slight_smile:
[color=darkblue]_________________________________________
[size=75]“The English contribution to world cuisine - the chip.” ~ John Cleese [/size]

5

Will you allow me to elaborate - The phrase chip on one’s shoulder means having a harbored grievance or sense of inferiority and being quick to take offence.
If someone has a chip on their shoulder, they are resentful about something and feel that they have been treated badly.
Carrying a chip on one’s shoulder was a form of challenge in the same spirit as a medieval knight throwing down his gauntlet. If an opponent picked up the glove, or knocked the chip of wood off their shoulder, the challenge was accepted and the fight was on.
Best regards