have a bone to pick

present singular third person has a bone to pick · participle present having a bone to pick · participle past had a bone to pick · past had a bone to pick

1. idiomaticusuallyTo have a complaint or grievance (with somebody); to have a contentious issue to discuss.

   Clearly, Mr. Jarrett has a bone to pick with musicians like Branford Marsalis, whom he believes "sell out".

   1992 September 6, Merryl R. Goldberg, “Letters: Jazz”, in New York Times, retrieved 11 Jul 2011

   3 more examples

   "I offered her that sum if she would take the garment back. And she did, she did, and I shall never have to wear that dreadful satin again." ¶ I made a note of this dressmaker's name. She and I may have a bone to pick some day.

   c. 1900, Anna Katharine Green, The Ruby and the Cauldron

   "I have a bone to pick with you," said Mrs Bosenna. . . . "You have not been near Rilla for weeks," she went on, reproachfully.

   1912, Arthur Quiller-Couch, chapter 18, in Hocken and Hunken

   Author John Putzier has a bone to pick with organizations that treat their employees as if they were all clones of one another.

   2004 July 18, Smita Madhur, Barbara Kiviat, “World Briefing”, in Time