Talk:Bite the bullet (disambiguation)
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[edit] Origin of term
Is the origin of the term given here (patients biting bullets during surgery as a form of pain management) correct? According to Sacred cow#Historical significance, biting bullets was done as part of gunloading in the mid-19th century, and the Wiktionary entry suggests that it comes from soldiers biting open paper cartridges of bullets. I think at best it should say the origin of the term is disputed, and either link to the Wiktionary entry for more info, or follow the statement with citations like [1],[2], etc. Thoughts? -kotra (talk) 22:33, 12 March 2008 (UTC)
Im not so tech savvy, so i apologize that i am being ignorant of formatting, however i wrote the original entry on the idiomatic meaning, and i have found a source for the origin i know of from hearsay. Bite the bullet
Meaning
Endure pain with fortitude.
Origin
In the days before effective anesthetics soldiers were given bullets to bite on to help them endure pain. Improvements in battlefield medicine has seen the real act of biting bullets migrated into metaphor, although it must still happen occasionally.
First recorded in print in Kipling's Light that Failed, 1891. Kilpling uses 'bite the bullet' rather than 'bite this bullet', which we might have expected if the idea were new to the character being spoken to. That tends to suggest the phrase was already public when the story was written. Source- http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/65400.html 71.183.37.47 (talk) 01:40, 17 March 2008 (UTC)
