chip on one's shoulder

A belligerent attitude or grievance, as in Mary is easily offended; she always has a chip on her shoulder. This term actually was defined in a newspaper article ( Long Island Telegraph, May 20, 1830): "When two churlish boys were determined to fight, a chip would be placed on the shoulder of one and the other demanded to knock it off at his peril." [Early 1800s]

Common Names:

Name	Pronounced	Usage
Hertha	['hɜ:θə]
Candi	KAN-dee	English
Julia	JOO-lee-ə (English), YOO-lee-ah (German, Swedish, Danish, Finnish), HOO-lyah (Spanish), YUWL-yah (Polish), YOO-lee-yah (Russian), YOO:-lee-ah (Ancient Roman)	English, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, Spanish, Polish, Finnish, Russian, Ukrainian, An
Keighley	-	English (Rare)
Harta	HAHR-tah	Indonesian
Hrodland	-	Ancient Germanic