bite your tongue 可不是咬你的舌头

bite your tongue

含义

短语“bite your tongue”，并不是说咬你的舌头，而是说“保持沉默，不要说话”。例如，小明的妈妈呵斥小明“bite your tongue”，因为她正在打电话。该短语的历史非常悠久，最早出现于莎士比亚的戏剧中。

例句

• Even though I disagreed, I decided to bite my tongue and not argue.
  尽管我不同意，但我决定保持沉默，不争论。
• I wanted to tell him exactly what I thought, but I had to bite my tongue.
  我真想告诉他我的真实想法，但我得闭口不言。
• When the customer started complaining about the service, I just bit my tongue and listened.
  当顾客开始抱怨服务时，我只好忍住没说话，静静地听着。
• During the meeting, I had to bite my tongue to not interrupt the presenter with my questions.
  在会议上，我只能忍着不去打断演讲者，提我的问题。
• She wanted to argue with her boss about the decision, but she bit her tongue and kept her job.
  她本想和老板争论那个决定的，但她忍着没说，从而保住了工作。
• When he made a rude joke about my hometown, I really had to bite my tongue.
  当他对我的家乡开了个无礼的玩笑，我真得强忍住没反驳。

起源

短语“Bite Your Tongue”表示在别人说不礼貌或不愉快的话时保持沉默。该短语的起源可追溯至莎士比亚1593年的戏剧《亨利六世》(Henry VI)中的一句话：“So Orke must sit, and fret, and bite his tongue.”。