I always use this slang word, but I actually don’t understand how beef became synonymous to fight or argument. Where did “beef” come from?
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I learned that it came from another slang, “hot beef!”
Apparently, 18th century Londoners used to shout “hot beef!” instead of “stop thief!” (just because of the rhyme, lol) when there’s a crime such as pickpocketing to alert people.
The act of shouting or making a fuss became the definition of “beef,” and that evolved to complaint and argument, which is what “beef” as slang stands for right now.