face the music, to

To meet the consequences of one’s bad behavior, mistakes, and the like; to confront difficulties bravely. This term, American in origin, is believed to come from the theater and refers to the orchestra in the pit, which an actor must face along with a perhaps hostile audience. Another writer suggests it comes from the armed services, where a soldier’s dismissal in disgrace might be accompanied by the band’s playing the
“Rogue’s March.” An 1871 book of American sayings quotes James Fenimore Cooper discussing, about 1851, Rabelais’s “unpleasant quarter [of an hour],” when the French writer found he could not pay his bill and turned on the innkeeper with an accusation of treason, which so frightened him that he let Rabelais leave without paying. Cooper said that “our more picturesque peo- ple” called this facing the music. A less picturesque synonym is to face up to something.

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easy as pie

Not difficult; requiring little or no effort or expertise. The analogy no doubt is to eating pie rather than making it, which requires both effort and expertise. An American term dating from the early twentieth century, it became a cliché relatively recently. See also DUCK SOUP; EASY AS ROLLING OFF A LOG.

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easier said than done

Describing something that is more readily talked about than accomplished. This expression dates back as far as the fifteenth century, when it appeared in several sources, including the Vulgate (Latin) Bible. It was sometimes put as sooner or better said than done; the latter appears in John Heywood’s 1546 collection of English proverbs.

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ear to the ground, to have/keep an

To be well informed. The allusion here, one writer conjectures, is to the days of cowboys and Indians, when one literally put one’s ear to the ground in order to hear the sound of horses miles away. An Americanism dating from the late nineteenth century, the term was a cliché by the time Stanley Walker poked fun at it (and two others) in The Uncanny Knacks of Mr. Doherty (1941): “He had his ear to the ground and his eye on the ball while they were sitting on the fence.”

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earth move, to feel the

To have an extremely good sexual experience. This hyperbole first appeared in Ernest Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940), “But did thee feel the earth move?” It has been repeated, usually in humorous fashion, ever since.

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early bird catches the worm, the

Those who get there first have the best chance of success. This stricture appeared in William Camden’s book of proverbs (1605) and has remained part of the work ethic ever since.

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days are numbered, one’s/his/its

One’s life or usefulness is about to end. Perhaps the earliest instance of this expression is in the Book of Daniel, in which Daniel reads King Belshazzar’s fate in the writing on the wall: “God hath numbered thy kingdom and finished it” (Daniel 5:26). Another early version appears in a collection of Chinese proverbs made by William Scarborough (1875): “Man’s days are numbered.” See also NUMBER’S UP.

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