“Sometimes you have just got to go ahead and bite the bullet …”
This expression has almost universally replaced a phrase which once co-existed: grasp the nettle. Why one would deliberately do so is beyond me – and presumably beyond everyone else too which may explain why we all bite bullets instead.
Neither action is a particularly sensible one. You either get a sore hand which needs a good rubbing with dock leaves (does that actually help?) or lead poisoning and possibly a fatal explosion in the mouth, which would spoil your whole day.
Both expressions mean to ‘pluck up courage’ but there are subtle differences which is why the English language has become a little less expressive now that we have adopted the Wild West metaphor to the exclusion of the horticultural.
As I understand it, a wounded cowboy (ie an immigrant farm labourer hurt whilst attempting to steal land belonging to an American) would put a bullet between his teeth and bite down at the excruciating moment his buddy pulled the arrow, spear, tomahawk – or even perhaps another bullet – from his chest.
Biting the bullet presumably took his mind off the pain a bit, and made the cowboy look even more macho. But to my mind, it’s all a bit passive. He has to endure the pain of first aid treatment, and so the biting is an attempt at distraction. If he had an anaesthetic in his saddle bag, he wouldn’t dream of biting a bullet – it’s what he is forced to make do with, whilst he is obliged by circumstances to endure some discomfort.
Grasping a nettle, however, is something one does out of choice. It’s a voluntary move into pain, not away from it.
Perhaps one has foolishly (rashly – geddit?) bet a friend or drinking partner that one is willing firmly to hold the nasty weed. Or maybe one has simply forgotten to put on one’s gardening gloves, and yet feels an urge to remove it from the herbaceous border knowing full well that, for the second time that day, there will be a swelling and a throbbing in the hand – only this time not accompanied by the familiar feelings of furtiveness and shame.
Whatever the motivation, deliberately getting hold of a stinging plant has got to be an act of courage. That’s why it’s a more accurate metaphor that the one which has replaced it. It’s impossible to know why one expression has gained favour over the other. It just seems a shame, that’s all.
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