BBB Etymology - Chips
It's a three-fer or four-fer depending on how you count!
Chip in - From poker, where it is a request to place one's chips, representing money, in the pot or kitty during play. When the chips are down, the money has been put down on the table, decisions have been taken and the crucial part of the game has been reached.
Chip off the old block - Literally a chip from a block of wood and therefore a piece of the same kind of wood. It is said of a person having the same characteristics as one of his or her parents or, more generally, having the good old-fashioned virtues of an older generation.
Chip on one's shoulder - The reference is to a custom originating in the USA, but also known in Canada, in which a person who was looking for a fight carried a chip of wood on his shoulder and invited people to knock it off; anyone who did so agreeing to fight.
I'll leave it to you to figure out fish and chips and potato chips
Chip in - From poker, where it is a request to place one's chips, representing money, in the pot or kitty during play. When the chips are down, the money has been put down on the table, decisions have been taken and the crucial part of the game has been reached.
Chip off the old block - Literally a chip from a block of wood and therefore a piece of the same kind of wood. It is said of a person having the same characteristics as one of his or her parents or, more generally, having the good old-fashioned virtues of an older generation.
Chip on one's shoulder - The reference is to a custom originating in the USA, but also known in Canada, in which a person who was looking for a fight carried a chip of wood on his shoulder and invited people to knock it off; anyone who did so agreeing to fight.
I'll leave it to you to figure out fish and chips and potato chips
