Japanese

   04:30

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J01

Words and Their Stories -- a program about special American expressions. Such expressions often come to life in the heat of political battle.

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J02

Today, we have an especially heated one -- inflation. Nobody seems to have a solution for inflation -- not one that is satisfactory to everybody. But one was offered by President Ford on national television. He used the phrase, "to bite the bullet." The words are not new, but they spread across the country. Mr. Ford called on Americans to bite the bullet and make personal sacrifices. This, he said, would help to halt inflation. He urged them to eat less, use less gasoline, to spend less, and save more. He appealed to them to do whatever was necessary to fight inflation, no matter how unpleasant.

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J03

Such is the meaning of the phrase, "to bite the bullet" -- to do something quickly with no further delay, no matter how painful the action may be. But what does "biting the bullet" have to do with all this? A reasonable question. This is the explanation:

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J04

As we all know, people in great pain sometimes tighten their fists or clench their teeth or bite down hard on a finger. It seems to ease their pain. On a battle field, one may not always find pain-killing drugs, and it is said that during emergency operations soldiers will, in a way of speaking, bite the bullet to ease their suffering, so that when one is ready to bite the bullet, he is prepared to make a painful decision and suffer whatever it may bring.

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J05

The phrase is not very old. It seems to have come to life in the 1960's. Former President Nixon used it in 1968. He asked Congress to bite the bullet and approve his proposal for a tax increase -- a ten-percent surcharge on income taxes. This is not to say he was the first to use the expression.

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J06

The country has heard many proposals for halting inflation. One of the major proposals has been wage and price controls. It has many supporters and many opponents. Chief among its opponents is the President himself. Like others, he feels that wage and price laws never work well. However, Mr. Ford's own program, "biting the bullet and making personal sacrifices," has just as many opposed to it. They feel it is weak and ineffective.

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J07

Be that as it may, inflation goes on and has become everybody's problem: the housewife, the worker, and government officials -- not only national leaders but state governors as well, and city and town officials. The problem became so acute in New York that the mayor promised to make tough decisions, and what he did amounted to little. One politician said the mayor was nibbling the bullet just making little bites. And that, in a way, expresses the feeling of many of the opponents of President Ford's program of biting the bullet and voluntary personal sacrifices. They complain that there is no real bite being proposed by the President just gentle little nibbles.

Voice of America

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