Another One Of Those Old Sayings

My first conscious thought upon awakening today was no love lost. I don't know if I was dreaming about someone or what. I know two people came to mind, but I can't remember if it was me and someone else or two other people.
I do know it was something I remember my Mom saying, though who she specifically was referring to is lost in the mists of my memories.

No love lost is a very old idiom, first used in the 1500's, it meant the opposite of what it means today. By the1800's its meaning was dichotomous - it could be used to signify love or hate.

These days, and also the way my mother meant it, was that between two people or factions there was animosity, disrespect, ill will, or hate. Kind of like present day feelings between Democrats and Republicans. 😏

Hm-m, I've been thinking about who Mom might had been referring to when she said there was no love lost between them - her Dad (my Grandpa Joe) and his neighbor, also named Joe.

J.R. and Joe R. were neighbors. Their farms adjoined. For years they were the kind of neighbors who traded work, helped each other out, i.e. good neighbors. Then there was a dispute about a fence line between their fields. Joe R. thought it was J.R.'s responsibility to maintain and J.R. thought it was Joe R's.

I vividly remember when their animosities led to a physical altercation. It was summer. I was spending a week with my grandparents - probably about the age I was (12-13) when this photo of them was taken. We had gone to town to do the weekly shopping. Grandpa dropped Grandma and me off at Biggar's Department Store saying he was going out to the sale barn and would meet us at Silsby's Grocery Store at 11:30. As we checked out, we could see him waiting along the curb outside. The carry-out boy loaded our groceries, Grandma and I got into the car. That's when we noticed the blood on the right side of Grandpa's face. Grandma burst out: "Joe, what happened to you?! Are you alright?"
Grandpa sheepishly replied that he had run into Joe R. at the sale barn and they had words; then blows. Grandma was quite upset. Whether at him or for him, I couldn't tell. (I was only scaredly concerned that my beloved Grandpa Joe was hurt.)

You could say, "There was no love lost between the two neighbors named Joe."