If a person Has A Beef it generally means he or she has something to moan about or a quarrel to pick. The earliest known record of the phrase is found in the1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, which puts forward that to “cry beef meant to give the alarm”. Before this, in criminal London, often the traditional cry of “stop thief!” was mocked and drowned out by passing fellow criminals, who would loudly call out “hot beef!” instead, in order to confuse law-abiding passers-by and allow their fellow crook to make his getaway.