Don’t know how I got on this one, but all of a sudden I had to know where the term ‘dibs’ came from (when a person has ‘dibs’ they have right of first refusal to
the subject at hand, eg “I’ve got dibs on the drumstick” means I have the right to eat the drumstick).
Googling gave me several websites that referenced a 17th centruy game called dibstones that was
played with sheep’s knucklebones (!), in which when a bone was captured, the player cried, “Dibs!” The first recorded American usage, though, isn’t until the
1930’s.
I want my own copy of the OED!