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bite one's tongue

bite one's tongue

Date: Dec 31 2015

Themes: Celebrity, Work

Quote

1. Quote - Listen to the quote and guess what the slang means.

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“I think I’m drawn to more villain-type characters, because it’s so cool to get to say all the things you want to say. In Hollywood, you get to this position where you have to bite your tongue so much. You take all your experiences of not being able to say what you really want to say, and channel that through your character.”

Actress Gabrielle Union, talking about the hardships of expressing herself in Hollywood (BrainyQuote)

Definition

1. Definition - Study the definition.

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stop from saying something one wants to say; being quiet when one wants to talk

2. Use - Learn how the slang is used.

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Have you ever been in a situation when you really wanted to say something, but you had to stop yourself? Maybe, it was not the right moment to express your thoughts, or maybe, you didn’t want to offend someone. In life, we come across many situations where we have to behave properly, whether it is at work or school. Whether one likes it or not, in certain tricky situations one has to bite one’s tongue.

To bite one’s tongue means to stay quiet when you really want to say something. When your friend shows up to your party with some funny shoes, you do not tell your friend the truth. You bite your tongue to avoid hurting your friend’s feelings. It is hard to bite your tongue at work when your boss makes you angry, but you cannot say your true feelings because you could get fired!

Gabrielle Union prefers acting as a villain in movies because that type of character can say whatever they want to say. She is not able to say whatever she wants during an acting job and has to bite her tongue for specific roles.

Do you like to say whatever you want? Can you think of a time when you had to bite your tongue?

Examples

1. Examples - Hear some example sentences.

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“I wanted to tell Maya she was being too loud during the movie, but I bit my tongue and sat there quietly.”

“My boss was rude to me, but I bit my tongue because I did not want to get fired.”

“When my little brother told me he wanted to drop out of college, I bit my tongue and accepted his decision.”

Winners

1. Winners - See who guessed the slang definition correctly.

Manu4 To refrain yourself from saying something harmful
by Manu4
a2020 Not able to say something.
by a2020

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Comments

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Sergijko

Sergijko

Ukraine

Bite your tongue and keep doing what you do😎

11:37 AM Jan 22 2016 |

Psym

Psym

China

I bite my tongue to restore peace.

11:50 AM Jan 03 2016 |

Wuthering

United States

Bitting one’s tongue is golden in many sititutions . People got killed by talking aggressive and then it is too late to regret !!! 

04:27 PM Dec 31 2015 |

hermitlady

China

I like to say what I want at the most of time. For I am not a marchant, nor a offical nor officeholder and so on. I am not afraid offensing somebody to lose a business or a job. Because I am just a little person in life.


  But just because of that, nobody cares what I am saying or what I have said for that it doesn’t hurt their benefit.


  Maybe there is a little pity.


  Of course, I also have the time when I have to bite my tongue for my children ,my husband, my friends whom I really love.


  But because of love, the persons who know me really know what person I am , so what I say I know will not hurt them at all.



 How strange the life. What a fun in life between the ralationship of people!

06:40 AM Dec 31 2015 |

MotherEarth

Canada

It is tough situation , bite tongue ( shut mouth ) .
If someone has right to defence of him or her self no matter what is circumstance !!
Indeed , bite our tongue are shameless against rights that we have !!!
We should appropriate biting tongue in certain condtion as losing life or job .
It’s kind of rude behave that someone wants screws other people and then the some people are saying that we should have bit our tounge in order to lose positions or jobs . It is totally ridiculous to bite our tongue .
I know we should respect to boss or owner , manager . But some of them are trying to screw the people .

04:03 AM Dec 31 2015 |

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