Where's the beef?


Where's the beef?

1. What is the problem? This meaning uses "beef" in the sense of a conflict, complaint, grudge, feud, etc. So, he borrowed your sweater and then he returned it. Where's the beef?2. Where is the substance or the important part (of something)? This usage originated with a popular catchphrase introduced in a 1984 commercial for the Wendy's fast food chain in which a woman humorously questioned the purported lack of meat in competitors' hamburgers. The phrase was further popularized that year when US presidential candidate Walter Mondale used it to question the substance of the policy proposals of his primary opponent, Gary Hart. The writing is good, but where's the beef? You need evidence to back up your claims. The program looks good on paper, but how do we know it will really work? Has any research been done? Where's the beef?

Where's the beef?

Inf. Where is the substance?; Where is the important content? That's really clever and appealing, but where's the beef? Where's the beef? There's no substance in this proposal.

where's the beef?

1. Also, what's the beef? What is the source of a complaint, as in Where's the beef? No one was hurt in the accident. This usage employs beef in the sense of a "complaint" or "grudge," also appearing in the phrase have no beef with, meaning "have no quarrel with." [Slang; late 1800s] 2. Where is the content or substance, as in That was a very articulate speech, but where's the beef? This usage was originally the slogan for a television commercial for a hamburger chain attacking the poor quality of rival chains. (1984) The phrase was almost immediately transferred to other kinds of substance, especially in politics.

where's the beef?

used to complain that something is too insubstantial. informal

where's the beef?

Where is the substance to this issue? This expression began life as an advertising slogan for Wendy’s, the third-largest American hamburger chain. In a 1984 television commercial, three elderly women are given a small hamburger on a huge bun, a competitor’s product. They admire the bun, but one of them, a retired manicurist named Clara Peller, asks, “Where’s the beef?” The slogan caught on, and Walter Mondale, seeking the Democratic nomination for president, used it to attack his opponents’ stands and policies. The phrase echoes another, much older slang expression, what’s the beef?, meaning what’s the complaint. The use of the noun beef for gripe or complaint dates from the late 1800s. George V. Higgins used it in Deke Hunter (1976), “I agree with you . . . so what’s the beef?”