Question: Where does the phrase "hate your guts" (for example "I hate your guts") come from?

I've heard the phrase used as a way to convey extreme and deep dislike of another individual. However, it seems strange to have just been born arbitrarily and I suspect there is a source.

Answer: 
*Guts* is used in many expressions and always refers to something fundamental about a person. These are just [a few](http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/gut), there are many others:

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> *a gut feeling:* a feeling that you are certain is right, even if you cannot explain why. "My gut feeling was that she was lying."
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> *a gut reaction:* a reaction that is based on your immediate feelings about someone or something "When a tragedy like this happens, I think people's gut reaction is anger and a desire to find someone to blame."
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> *have your guts for garters* (British informal): if you say that you will have someone's guts for garters, you mean that you intend to punish them very severely. "If I catch you smoking again I'll have your guts for garters."
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It's similar to expressions using *stomach* relating to physical ability or courage:

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> I didn't have the stomach to see him, knowing what he'd done.
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Compare:

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> “He which hath no stomach to this fight, Let him depart;" [Shakespeare
>  Henry V]
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and 

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> He had the guts to stand up and say what he thought.
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Just as the heart is the metaphorical seat of emotions, so *guts* are linked to deep, instinctive feelings and reactions. So to say you *hate someone's guts* is to say you hate them to the very core.
Although I don't have any good evidence to back it up, I've heard it argued that the term came from archaeologists in Egypt finding heiroglyphs depicting old scores being settled by destroying the preserved organs of the person to be disgraced - leading to the term "hate your guts".

Whatever the answer, this NGram appears to show that the term is reasonably new, and entered the lexicon in the late 1920s:

![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Zlt4Z.png)