What does it mean to "make no bones about" something, and where did the expression come from? -- Janet, Denver
The phrase means to make no attempt to hide something, or to have no objections to it. Explaining its origin is a bit trickier. The Word Detective, citing Christine Ammer's book Have A Nice Day -- No Problem, says the expression dates to the mid-16th century and originally could have referred to someone not making a fuss if he found bones in his soup.
Another theory bases its origin on bones as a slang term for dice: Someone who "made no bones" cast the dice without the various rituals, such as blowing on the dice, that were thought to promote good luck.
The Online Etymology Dictionary puts the origin a century earlier but also stirs up the soup connection. This source notes that bones were obstacles of sorts to eating soup, presumably implying that "making no bones about" something referred to offering no obstacle, to drinking the soup or to other pursuits.
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