International Law

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Chops:

Digression o' the Day for February 19, 1999

The question about whether the US intervenes in currency markets despite rhetoric to the contrary was prefaced by use of the phrase "bust your chops."


The WWWebster On-Line Dictionary has the following entry for "chops":

Main Entry: chops
Pronunciation: 'ch”ps
Function: noun plural
Etymology: alteration of 3chap
Date: 1589
1 : JAW
2 a : MOUTH b : the fleshy covering of the jaws <a dog licking its chops>
3 slang : EMBOUCHURE; broadly : the technical facility of a musical performer

To bust someone's chops is thus presumably, in its literal sense, to break someone's jaw and, in its metaphorical sense, to take someone to task.   To have great chops, in contrast, is to be a highly capable musician. 

To have great pork chops, in further contrast, is the goal on Friday nights at the Simpsons' household.  (Homer's acquiescence to the alternative of a meal out on Pork Chop Night proves unwise when he tries fugu at a sushi restaurant, and then believes he has thereby contracted food poisoning and has but twenty-four hours to live, in "One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish.")  

This recipe for stuffed pork chops is apparently from a cookbook authored by none other than country-music legend and hepatitis-battler Naomi Judd.  Can't say that I've tried the recipe yet, but it looks as if you could book Ms. Judd for a speech and ask her a question about the recipe for an amount between $10,000 and $20,000 (look at the bottom of the page) by using the same booking agency that handles my law-school buddy Dave Werner, from whom I occasionally steal jokes.  Thanks, Dave!


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This page was last updated on 04/05/99.