Re: Face
the music
Posted by James Briggs on October
30, 2002 In Reply to: Face the music posted
by J .Ward on October 30, 2002
: The definition given for this
phrase is not the one I know...
: As far as I know the full phrase is "face
the music and dance" and I have heard this derived as a military execution, with
the regiment drawn up in hollow square around the gallows and the condemmed man
is hanged facing the side of the square the band was positioned at ("a band" was
short for a "band of music") so that he "danced on air" facing the band.
Your
suggestion could be correct, although I have never heard the 'and dance' bit,
other than in the popular song of the same name. There are other possible origins:
One
theory suggests that the saying comes from the theatre, where nervous actors must
literally face the music when the curtain goes up. Others think that the origin
is military and based on the drumming out ceremony that accompanied dishonourable
discharge.
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