close to the bone


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Related to close to the bone: bone to pick

close to the bone

very personal or offensively honest He said he was only joking, but his comments were so close to the bone they weren't funny at all.
See also: bone, close
References in periodicals archive ?
The plot for the movie cut close to the bone of reality.
Can context trump content? Gary Delgado watches the siege to see if a racist movie can be prophetic. (To the Point)
What pervades Southern Road (1932), Brown's most accomplished volume of work, is a spirit of black life lived materially close to the bone.
Sterling's Magic
COUNTRYSIDE: I'm sure some of you feel that homesteading, often living close to the bone, leaves little room for mistakes.
He's willing to help others learn from his mistake
A night of brilliant banter ensued, albeit a lot of it close to the bone at times.
Laughter is the best policy for following the leaders
CEOs also need someone to talk with, as many of his of her problems, hopes and fears cannot be discussed with employees as they cut too close to the bone.
More about the acronyms
After several rounds of layoffs, the company has already cut as close to the bone as it dares.
People programs pay off: understanding workforce optimization is no longer a luxury--it is essential to attract and keep the best talent that will, in turn, improve a company's bottom line. (Workforce Optimization)
Perhaps even more so, it is a question close to the bone for those who are called to proclaim the good news of God in Jesus Christ in the messy, mundane, and everyday places and spaces where people live and Christian life and ministry happen.
Practicing Theology: Beliefs and Practices in Christian Life.
Nonetheless, his writing is honest, close to the bone, upsetting and thought provoking, without the usual polite sugar coating we often use in discussing racism in America.
Reed, Ishmael. Another day at the front; dispatches from the race war
It was created because it's cheaper to make food that way, and most people live close to the bone.
A week of eating dangerously: searching for detente between man and beast
Stephen's insight, interpretation, and proclamation were so close to the bone that his hearers could not stand it.
A dangerous proclamation: April 24
Stewart's raffish history cuts close to the bone and suggests to this reader that today's textbooks may be approaching the end of their run.
America the unbelievable: a history textbook becomes a national bestseller--ha-ha!
Baseotto's response was too close to the bone for the government, however, as it recalled the "flights of death" during the 1976-83 military dictatorship, when suspected dissidents were dropped from airplanes into the sea, sometimes with priests present giving blessing.
Bishop censured in abortion row
Some of the songs and chants are a bit close to the bone, but in the old days it was known as banter.
Time to give Reds credit they deserve
Indeed, Tuttle's version of minimalism, first conceived as a corrective to Minimalism proper (that of Robert Morris in 1964, or of Donald Judd the following year) can cut dangerously close to the bone.
Richard Tuttle: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Now the question is, how close to the bone can suppliers go?
European suppliers--under the microscope and under the knife
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