Comments on: Waiting with Bated Breath

By: Keith

Keith — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 05:57:37 +0000

@DensityDuck: Until I got the joke, I wanted to correct “rein” to “reign”.

I’ve used “baited breath” before (curled the hairs right off someone’s eyebrows, let me tell you. Nothing like GARLIC on Salmon to accomplish this task…)

Never knew “bated” existed, but it makes perfect sense. Thank you so much for the in-depth explanation. I love this kind of thing. Languages are my hobby. Root words are fascinating. =)

By: DensityDuck

DensityDuck — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 01:41:05 +0000

It’s important that we not give free rein to our tendency to misuse language.

(yes, I know. That’s the joke!)

By: Håkan Tendell

Håkan Tendell — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 22:56:07 +0000

Wow! This was the most interesting explanation of a word I didn’t even know existed (I’m from Sweden).

I guess there are a lot of words you have to look out for so that you don’t use them wrongly.

By: Charlie

Charlie — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 19:51:53 +0000

I too (like Jenn) think of fish-breath when I read baited breath. I realize that the writer may not know there are two spellings, each with their own meaning. I pity whoever is sharing the moment with the one who has the ‘baited breath’. Phew!

By: Jenn

Jenn — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 04:35:09 +0000

THANK you for this, that is one of my pet peeves, people who eat too much fish and have ‘baited’ breath!