about bone

Hello and welcome to another Daily Dose of English. Today's Daily Dose of English is about...
BONE
Our bones are the things that hold us up. They are the scaffolding on which our bodies are built. Bone is also used in many English idioms.
Idioms are expressions whose meaning is not always clear from the words alone.
Take bone of contention, for instance. A bone of contention is a subject about which people disagree. This is especially true if the disagreement has been in place for a long time.
Picture a bone being fought over by two dogs.
Here are some examples of usage I found on the Internet:
Libya could be a bone of contention for Obama.
France has a persistent trade deficit with Germany and this is sometimes a bone of contention between the two countries. 
Another idiom using bone is close to the bone or near to the bone.
This means shocking or embarrassing.
For example: The headmaster was getting a little too close to the bone for my liking, so I decided to go on the defensive.
The magazine didn't accept my story because the theme of abortion was too close to the bone.
You can also cut something to the bone which means to reduce it as much as possible.
For example: The company had to cut its sales staff to the bone just to survive.
Have you ever found an old animal bone lying on the ground? Old bones are dry bones and we use the phrase as dry as a bone to describe something that is very dry.
For example: Thirsty? My throat's as dry as a bone.
Has anyone been watering these plants? The soil's as dry as a bone.
If someone hadn't been watering the plants as they were supposed to, you might have a bone to pick with them.
Having a bone to pick with someone means to need to talk to someone about something you both disagree over.
For example: I've got a bone to pick with you - have you been telling people I'm leaving the company?
You should go and talk to the manger. It looks like she's got a bone to pick with you.
A skeleton is the basic framework of our bodies. A skeleton is the bare bones of a body, and the bare bones of is an idiom that means the basic framework of something.
For example: Don't go into detail yet. Just give us the bare bones of the proposal.
These, then, are the bare bones of Aristotelian mechanics.
If you are very sure of something, even if you don't have any proof, you can say that you feel something in your bones.
For example: I felt in my bones that something was not right.
I know that what he's telling me is the truth. I can feel it in my bones.
And, finally, there is make no bones about it. Make no bones about it or about something means that we are willing to admit something openly.
For instance: I make no bones about believing that the product should always be at the lowest possible price.
Some of us, and we make no bones about this, are completely against the Government's financial strategies.
I now leave you to bone up on these bone idioms. Bone up on means to study hard.
I hope you enjoyed that Daily Dose of English and I'll see you again soon for another one.
Goodbye for now.