Japanese

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J01

Words and Their Stories -- a program about the spoken word, about the English language as Americans speak it. Today, the expressions: "to have a bone to pick," "to make no bones about it," "to pull a boner," and other phrases about bone.

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J02

It is a man's bones that hold him together. When you get to the bones, you are getting down to bedrock -- to the framework of the human structure. Therefore, when you cut a man to the bone, or wear him down to the bone, you can go no farther.

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J03

The first man on earth, Adam, called Eve "the bone of my bone." It was the beginning of a relationship between man and woman that has been rich and fruitful, but it has had its ups and downs. At times, it has led to some serious bones of contention -- to dispute and wrangling. This bone of contention has never entirely ceased. It continues today with greater sharpness than ever. It has produced a sweeping and successful revolutionary movement by women. For them, no more of this "bone of my bone" business claimed by Adam. They mean to bring to an end this kind of enslavement. They have a bone to pick with society and the forces that rule it, in short, men.

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J04

The expression, "to have a bone to pick with someone," is more than 500 years old. It simply means to have an issue to settle, a complaint that must be answered. The Germans say "a bird to pluck"; the French "a knot to pick." Although women have suffered from the injustices of men more years than anyone can remember, they have often "made no bones about" speaking up and showing they were ready to rebel. This is more true today than at any time in the past. They have "boned up on the issue" so that they know what has kept them down so long. They have learned to organize more effectively. They will "pull no boners" -- no more mistakes in their fight for equal rights and freedom.

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J05

The expression "to pull a boner " comes from the old American minstrel shows. There was a man in these shows who was called Mr. Bones because he carried two small sticks of bone that he used as an instrument. He was asked questions by one of the other men in the show, just to get stupid but funny answers. This became known as "pulling boners." But in time, the expression, "to pull a boner," meant something more than getting an answer to make you laugh. It meant a bad blunder a mistake that was costly. And a man who pulled such boners was often described as a "bonehead."

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J06

Some of the most disastrous boners have been pulled by military leaders. Historians tell us that in the First World War, Allied generals pulled boner after boner, but they did not lose the war because the German generals pulled more serious ones. Before Hitler, one of the worst boners was pulled by the great Napoleon Bonaparte in the campaign against Moscow. We all know what happened to his army in its retreat from the capital city. Only Hitler's boners in his drive against Stalingrad were worse. It seems that he learned little from Napoleon's disaster. He lost the whole German sixth army in the frozen wastes at thy gates of Stalingrad. Hitler was many things, but above all he was a pure bonehead that is the picture we get from some who worked closely with him.

Voice of America

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