"brim for a fight"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Yeah, "itching" is far more common, but "spoiling" is what I'd generally say.

  JL

Doug Harris <cats22 at FRONTIERNET.NET> wrote:
  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Doug Harris
Subject: Re: "brim for a fight"
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Whad'Ya Know?, a quiz-show production of Public Radio International (PRI),
every week has a contestant read four disclaimers, the last of which notes
that anyone not agreeing with [whatever] "is itching for a fight".
--
I've heard that version before (elsewhere), but not the brimming
formulation. But I'm neither brimming nor itching for a disagreement with
JL.
(the other) doug


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OED doesn't include this idiom, which I've long been familiar with:

2006 Harry S. Stout _Upon the Altar of the Nation_ (N.Y.: Viking) 28:
Northern and Southern states rushed to fill their quotas with volunteers
brimming for a fight.

Just which earlier meaning of _brim_ is involved here is an interesting
question.

JL

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