Comments on: Sweating bullets http://www.word-detective.com/2009/10/sweating-bullets/ Semper Ubi Sub Ubi Wed, 20 Mar 2013 19:32:55 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Mike http://www.word-detective.com/2009/10/sweating-bullets/comment-page-1/#comment-45473 Mike Tue, 06 Nov 2012 04:01:05 +0000 http://www.word-detective.com/?p=2072#comment-45473 Seems to me this refers not to sweating at all, but to being nervous, which is often associated with sweating. Sweating is a process that involves heating metal for binding or unbinding purposes. If one where heating a bullet for that purpose -- "sweating" a bullet -- one would be terribly nervous. So to say "he's sweating bullets" is to say, quite simply, "he is nervous as a man applying heat to bullets, which could make them explode in his hands." Seems to me this refers not to sweating at all, but to being nervous, which is often associated with sweating. Sweating is a process that involves heating metal for binding or unbinding purposes. If one where heating a bullet for that purpose — “sweating” a bullet — one would be terribly nervous. So to say “he’s sweating bullets” is to say, quite simply, “he is nervous as a man applying heat to bullets, which could make them explode in his hands.”

]]> By: Yobgod Ababua http://www.word-detective.com/2009/10/sweating-bullets/comment-page-1/#comment-4879 Yobgod Ababua Wed, 26 May 2010 00:47:11 +0000 http://www.word-detective.com/?p=2072#comment-4879 I wonder if the phrase "sweating bullets" came about, not linguistically, but from the longstanding practice among cartoonists of illustrating the condition of anxiety by drawing bullet-like droplets radiating out from the character. This could have led to people referring to themselves (or others) as "sweating bullets" in reference to how they would presumably be drawn in comic form due to their state. As an example, see the following (from 1937): http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f4/Alley1937oop.jpg I wonder if the phrase “sweating bullets” came about, not linguistically, but from the longstanding practice among cartoonists of illustrating the condition of anxiety by drawing bullet-like droplets radiating out from the character. This could have led to people referring to themselves (or others) as “sweating bullets” in reference to how they would presumably be drawn in comic form due to their state.

As an example, see the following (from 1937):
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f4/Alley1937oop.jpg

]]> By: Sweating bullets « The Word Detective | Hyperhidrosis - How To Stop Sweating http://www.word-detective.com/2009/10/sweating-bullets/comment-page-1/#comment-3198 Sweating bullets « The Word Detective | Hyperhidrosis - How To Stop Sweating Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:30:31 +0000 http://www.word-detective.com/?p=2072#comment-3198 [...] rest is here: Sweating bullets « The Word Detective Share and [...] [...] rest is here: Sweating bullets « The Word Detective Share and [...]

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