Make one's bones

To make one's bones is an American English idiom meaning to take actions to establish achievement, status, or respect. It stems from, and is a corruption of, the idiom "establish one's bona fides".[1]

Although the idiom appears to have originated in the United States criminal underworld[2] it has since migrated to more popular and less sinister usage;[3][4][5][6] including law enforcement,[7] legal,[8][9] and religious[10] discussions.

In popular culture

The idiom was popularized in the 1969 book The Godfather and its 1972 movie adaptation, for instance when Sonny says "I 'made my bones' when I was nineteen, the last time the family had a war", and when Moe Greene says "I'm Moe Greene! I made my bones when you were going out with cheerleaders!"[11] The term was also used in The Sopranos several times. As in these examples, in organized crime usage the phrase refers to establishing one's credibility by killing someone.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 Rapkin, David P.; William R. Thompson (2013). Transition Scenarios: China and the United States in the Twenty-First Century. University of Chicago Press. p. 4. ISBN 9780226040509.
  2. ↑ "After the hit, I acted like a real tough guy about it. I'd made my bones." Squad: The Us Governments Secret Alliance With Organized Crime By Michael Milan, Page 10, https://books.google.com/books?id=EzRysIeBNgYC&pg=PA10&dq=%22made+my+bones%22+-%22made+my+bones+ache%22&hl=en&ei=HRHjS9z3NMT38AaHorWODA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22made%20my%20bones%22%20-%22made%20my%20bones%20ache%22&f=false
  3. ↑ "My life improved immediately. The other cooks began addressing me as an equal. ... I had made my bones." Kitchen confidential: adventures in the culinary underbelly By Anthony Bourdain Page 109. https://books.google.com/books?id=Zzb2HlIU1ZoC&pg=PA109&dq=%22made+my+bones%22+-%22made+my+bones+ache%22&hl=en&ei=HRHjS9z3NMT38AaHorWODA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=36&ved=0CNwBEOgBMCM#v=onepage&q=%22made%20my%20bones%22%20-%22made%20my%20bones%20ache%22&f=false
  4. ↑ "... John Alonzo ... 'You got me ... I owe it to ya. Made my bones on Chinatown, didn't I?" The Grove Book of Hollywood By Christopher Silvester, Page 579. https://books.google.com/books?id=n4ipcA9ka6YC&pg=PA579&dq=%22made+my+bones%22+-%22made+my+bones+ache%22&hl=en&ei=HRHjS9z3NMT38AaHorWODA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=32&ved=0CMgBEOgBMB8#v=onepage&q=%22made%20my%20bones%22%20-%22made%20my%20bones%20ache%22&f=false
  5. ↑ "I'm not a hard-hearted man, Teddy. I'm not made of stone. ... Floyd Lomax's band - that's how I made my bones in this business. ..." Funnymen By Ted Heller Page 158 https://books.google.com/books?id=lZuki8QqOLcC&pg=PA158&dq=%22made+my+bones%22+-%22made+my+bones+ache%22&hl=en&ei=HRHjS9z3NMT38AaHorWODA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=77&ved=0CKgDEOgBMEw#v=onepage&q=%22made%20my%20bones%22%20-%22made%20my%20bones%20ache%22&f=false
  6. ↑ "Since the 1960s, Hunter S. Thompson made his bones by writing about Fear and Loathing when it comes to politics, motorcycle gangs, guns and Las Vegas." ESPN Page 2 Vault, Originally Published: May 6, 2010 The Vault: Hunter S. Thompson, Part III, By Greg Hardy http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=vault/100506
  7. ↑ "Yes, I enjoyed the reputation of being fair, one of the highest compliments you can get. I made my bones on the street, too, so I could see all sides (a lieutenant)4." Women Police Officers at NOPD: On the Job Alice Abel Kemp and Linda Buczek, December, 2002 http://www.tulane.edu/~wc/POWER_Kemp_Buczek.pdf.
  8. ↑ "Worse yet, the Senator himself is an attorney and former Massachusetts prosecutor who made his bones as a "law and order" Democrat. " The Internal Schism of the National Security Lawyer: Exploring the Fractal Geometry of Ethics, Privilege, and Loyalty, By Roy Shannon J.D., University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law to be conferred May 2005 http://www.mcgeorge.edu/Research_Centers_and_Institutes/Capital_Center_for_Public_Law_and_Policy_Home/Publications/Reports_Studies_and_Policy_ProjectsGovernance_Web_Journal_for_Law_and_Government/The_Internal_Schism_of_the_National_Security_Lawyer_Exploring_the_Fractal_Geometry_of_Ethics_Privilege_and_Loyalty.htm
  9. ↑ "... I have tried about a dozen other murder cases, starting in fact with the one I tried against Jerry Spence in 1985. That is how I have made my bones in the prosecution community, but I still get an enormous amount of flak ..." The Kittles Case audits Aftermath, Joshua Marquis - District Attorney, Clatsop County, Oregon, Reprinted from Animal Law, Volume 2, Copyright 1966 http://www.tufts.edu/vet/cfa/hoarding/pubs/Marquis.pdf.
  10. ↑ "Sharlet is a smart guy and a talented long-form journalist who made his bones looking into some of the odder corners of the American religious landscape." From the Editor: Family Ties by Mark Silk, RELIGION IN THE NEWS Spring 2009, Vol. 12, No. 1 http://www.trincoll.edu/depts/csrpl/RINVOL12NO2/familyTies.htm
  11. ↑ The Godfather, Mario Puzo, Peter Bart, Robert J. Thompson, p. 88, https://books.google.com/books?. id=acy0U6WyM7MC&pg=PA88&dq=%22made+my+bones%22+godfather&hl=en&ei=O1PeS9ziC4X7lweNiu2JBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDcQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false
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