A Chip on Your Shoulder

I'll be honest and say that I copied and pasted this from the website below. :) But, it was interesting, and made a lot of sense to me, so I didn't see a point in putting in a bunch of my own rambling words. :) So, enjoy reading this, and I hope you enjoy this theme!

Meaning: A perceived grievance or sense of inferiority.

Origin: The word chip has several meanings; the one that we are concerned with here is the earliest known of these, namely 'a small piece of wood, as might be chopped, or chipped, from a larger block'. The phrase 'a chip on one's shoulder' is reported as originating with the nineteenth century U.S. practice of spoiling for a fight by carrying a chip of wood on one's shoulder, daring others to knock it off. This suggested derivation has more than the whiff of folk-etymology about it. Anyone who might be inclined to doubt that origin can take heart from an alternative theory. This relates to working practices in the British Royal Dockyards in the 18th century. In Day and Lunn's The History of Work and Labour Relations in the Royal Dockyards, 1999, the authors report that the standing orders of the [Royal] Navy Board for August 1739 included this ruling:

"Shipwrights to be allowed to bring [chips] on their shoulders near to the dock gates, there to be inspected by officers".

The permission to remove surplus timber for firewood or building material was a substantial perk of the job for the dock workers. A subsequent standing order, in May 1753, ruled that only chips that could be carried under one arm were allowed to be removed. This limited the amount of timber that could be taken and the shipwrights were not best pleased about the revoking of their previous benefit. Three years later, for this and other reasons, they went on strike.

Hattendorf, Knight et al., in British Naval Documents, 1204 - 1960, record a letter which was sent by Chatham Dockyard officers to the Navy Board, relating to the 1756 dockyard workers' strike at Chatham. The letter records a comment made by a shipwright who was stopped at the yard's gates:

"Are not the chips mine? I will not lower them."

It goes on to report that "Immediately the main body pushed on with their chips on their shoulders."

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/chip-on-your-shoulder.html

Ok. Guess what guys? TWO WEEKS FROM TOMORROW I'M LEAVING TO SEE AARON GRADUATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
Can you tell I'm excited? Hahaha. So, yeah. I'm so thankful that it's coming up! And I get to hitch a ride with my favorite McCoy's, and hang with them until we get Aaron back and then I get to hang with ALL of the McCoy's. Makes my day to think about it. I'm telling ya. I haven't heard from him in a while, but, I'm not really expecting to hear much more because he's almost done, and I bet he doesn't have a lot of writing time. The last letter I got was Thursday, and it was very uninformative. Nothing to report. But, the Crucible will be coming up at the end of next week so keep him in your prayers! And, thank goodness, I found out that they did not take his wisdom teeth out there. Yet another thing to praise God for.
Well, that's all for now. I love you all. :)