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Short in the grain

Posted by ESC on June 05, 2005

In Reply to: Short in the grain posted by ESC on June 05, 2005

: : I recently used the phrase "short in the grain" to indicate that someone was irritated. My wife and my friends had never heard the expression. I know I learned it and heard my father and uncle use it. The only place I have found any mention of it is from NZ, used the same way. Is anyone else familiar with this phrase, its meaning, and possible origin?

: I haven't found anything. Sorry. I've heard (in the U.S.) "being 'short' with someone." Rude or irritated. Cutting someone off in mid-sentence.

Googling here. Maybe it's a carpentry term. "I think sometimes there is a tendancy for very light quarter grain wood to be extremely short in the grain, and ends up very brittle and can snap like a carrot."

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