The expression 'chip on your shoulder' is rooted from ship yards workers in the 1600's. The phrase reflects shipwrights that allowed workers to take home 'chips' or pieces of wood they good use for their family.
To have a chip on one's shoulder is to have a negative outlook on life, by thinking that the whole world is against you. A person who has a chip on their shoulder is holding some sort of a grudge against someone or something.
It is like being proud and having an attitude. You are just looking for trouble and want someone to challenge you so you can lay into them. Some people characteristically are hot-tempered and very easily become antagonistically angry -- then we say that they always carry a chip on their shoulder.
A person who has "a chip on his shoulder" is usually resentful but not necessarily angry because of something that happened or was imagined to have actually occurred in the past. Thus, a normally friendly, easygoing personality can suddenly turn sullen, sarcastic, abusive and antagonistic when a specific topic or point is mentioned in conversation. That's when we would use this idiomatic expression.
The mental image for this idiom is usually a man with an actual chip of wood on one shoulder, daring a conversation partner or perhaps anyone in a nearby crowd, to try to knock the chip off -- the signal or challenge to physically fight, in order to establish who is right, believing that "Might is Right".
That guy really has a chip on his shoulder.
The LITERAL meaning is that he has a chip or small piece of something balanced on his shoulder.
a chip
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Chip off the old block means someone closely resembles their parents or mentors in some way, usually by appearance, mannerisms or skills/hobbies.
The plural of chip is chips.
shoulder season
You really have a chip on your shoulder. Don't get a chip on your shoulder over such a little thing.
She always walked around with a chip on her shoulder, ready to argue with anyone who crossed her path.
chip and dale
A "chip on his shoulder" is an idiom that refers to a person who is easily angered or feels they have been treated unfairly. It suggests that the person is carrying around a grudge or feeling defensive.
a chip
It might mean born with a chip on one's shoulder. Don't know the origin, but having a chip on your shoulder means that you have an antisocial attitude and are always looking for a fight with someone.
A poker chip. A wood chip. A computer chip. A cow chip. A chip off the old block. A chip on the shoulder.
The cast of Chip on My Shoulder - 2009 includes: Jonathan Anastas as himself Ed Lalli as himself Chris Lauria as himself Steve Risteen as himself
Candy explains that Curley has a chip on his shoulder because he is a small man who is constantly trying to prove himself. He is insecure about his size and compensates by being aggressive and picking fights with bigger men.
They put it between my cats shoulder blades where she couldn't pick at it.
to bring the shoulder toward the body
Eric Maschwitz has written: 'Magyar melody' 'Little red monkey' 'No chip on my shoulder'