Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Word Origins 40. The term for the word
origins today is bite the bullet. Okay. Let's take a look at the note here. If
someone has to bite the boy he or she has to accept something unpleasant. Yeah.
That's the way we often say it. Well, you don't have a choice. You're just going to
have to bite the bullet. All right. So let's take a look. Let's look at the notes here.
The origin of this phrase is believed to come from how they performed surgery in
former times during the 1800s. When it was so painful and the pain was almost
unbearable you know, like during surgeries of course.
During a surgery patients were advised to bite on a bullet. So they knew it was
going to be very painful. So they say here's a bullet and just bite on this hard. To
try to bear the pain (painful biting sounds ) Something like that. Okay. This was a way of enduring the
pain before anesthesia was commonly used. So of course luckily today we do have
and anesthesia. So we don't have to bite on bullets anymore. You know,
you know, at that time. So that's why bite the bullet means you just had
to accept it. You just had to do it. At that time, they had no... you know magic little
potion or this magic drug that took the pain away. So then they really just had
to bite on the bullet to try to bear the pain. So that's where it really came from.
I mean sometimes you wonder well why did they say bite the bullet ? Why would
somebody want to bite a bullet ? All right. Well, now you know. All right and here's
just an example of how you know we would use it today in a common way. I don't
think there's much you can do the boss has made his decision. You're just going
to have to bite the bullet on this one. Meaning you just have to accept it. You can't
get out of it. That's kind of final. You're going to have to bite the bullet on
it. Just have to accept it the way it is. So that's what we mean by to bite the
bullet. Just like in former times, when you're
having a search for it. Yeah there was no other way to deal with the pain and
maybe you really needed surgery. You just had to bite the bullet. Anyway, I hope you
got it. I hope it's clear. Thank you for your time. Bye-bye.