Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Word Origin sixty-seven. The word origin
today is Achilles' heel. Okay. So let's take a look at the note here. If we refer
to someone's Achilles heel, we are referring to the weakest point of their
body character or nature in which an enemy or competitor may attack or could
attack if they realize, if they can pinpoint their their Achilles heel. Okay.
Let's continue. The origin in this phrase came directly from Greek mythology. It is
from" The Iliad 'or sometimes you hear the full stories "The Iliad and the Odyssey"
by Homer. According to the story Thetis, the mother of Achilles tried to
make her son immortal. She did this by dipping his body into the river Styx.
Interesting, believed to make one immortal and invincible. Invincible you
know they can't be conquered. When we do know that of course Achilles ended
up being almost an invincible warrior, he could beat almost anybody. However, when
she dipped her son into the river she held him by one of his heels, which was
never touched by the water. This part of his body was therefore his one vulnerable
weak spot. Eventually Achilles got killed by one... No
got killed by Paris who in the story was a weak character but got in a lucky shot.
Yeah. I remember the movie the one with Brad Pitt I think when Orlando Bloom
played Paris and they, they they made in the movie they made Paris out to be like
a very romantic sort of a character. But if you read the mythology story he's not
really and he was kind of he was kind of not very brave. But anyway, he did get
in... ironically he got in the lucky shot that was the one that eventually brought
Achilles down. All right. Let's continue. The origin is also connected to the term
Achilles tendon. A tendon in one's body connected to one's heel. So of course we
also get that from the story of Achilles in Greek mythology.
All right , and here's just a couple of examples of the way you might hear it. In
fantasy stories, the Achilles heel of a dragon is usually their underbelly. So
in these stories when they're fighting a dragon you know, sometimes if you could
shoot an arrow up under from their underbelly andl find the right spot
maybe get to their heart. Maybe that's the spot with the least protection or
the least armour on a dragon. So that might be their Achilles heel. Or number
two Superman's Achilles heel was kryptonite. We know from the comic book.
That was the one weakness that you know, wherever , whatever planet Superman was
supposed to be originally from kryptonite was was bad for them. They
could not take that. So his Achilles heel was kryptonite. But really in anybody
could be anything. It could be like a character flaw or part of their nature
that that is that one small thing that can bring them down. That's what we mean
that could be somebody's Achilles heel. Anyway, I hope you got it. I hope it was clear. I
hope it was informative. Thank you for your time. Bye-bye.