My Daddy’s hobbies were woodworking, fishing, and fly tying. The ones he really enjoyed were fishing and fly tying as he did those when he could. While I never really cared much for the fishing or the fly tying, I found the fly tying interesting. I liked to look at all the flies, but I wasn’t as interested in them as he was.
However, my Daddy would make CDs of fishing and fly tying songs. These songs were usually quite humorous, so they were songs that I would love to hear at times, too. He tended to listen to the CD every time he was in the car, so it got tiring at times. However, the songs were fun, so it wasn’t too bad.
There was one song where I’d always joke about it being my sister, Briana’s song because it mentioned making dresses for fishing worms, but to just leave off the sleeves.
It also had another pun. It was about putting worms in the blender so they were in the singer’s sister’s milkshake. He said that she was looking at him with baited breath. We were always told that this is the wrong spelling, though. The spelling is “bated breath.” Of course, knowing the correct spelling is always a good thing. It is very important to know the meaning of the phrase and that is “breathing that is subdued because of some emotion or difficulty.”
The spellings “baited” and “bated” are both found in Internet searches and even J.K. Rowling used “baited breath” in one of the Harry Potter books.
Some people think that “bated” is not a word.
However, Merriam Webster defines bated as the past tense of bate. There are four different definitions. The first is “to reduce the force or intensity of : restrain bated breath>.” It seems as this is the most likely definition of “bated” in “bated breath.”
The other definitions are “to take away : deduct, “archaic: to lower especially in amount or estimation,” and “archaic: blunt.”
The earliest known citation of “bated breath” comes from 1596 in Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice. It says, “What should I say to you? Should I not say / ‘Hath a dog money? is it possible / A cur can lend three thousand ducats?’ Or / Shall I bend low and in a bondman’s key, / With bated breath and whispering humbleness, Say this; / ‘Fair sir, you spit on me on Wednesday last; / You spurn’d me such a day; another time / You call’d me dog; and for these courtesies / I’ll lend you thus much moneys’? ”
If you are wondering about that song mentioned at the beginning of this article, it is “Fishin’ Worms” by Heywood banks. You can read the lyrics or hear the song.
Sources:
“bated.” Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2010.
Merriam-Webster Online. 14 July 2010 http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bated>
Martin, Gary. “Bated Breath.” The Phrase Finder. July 14, 2010 http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/bated-breath.html>
Personal Experience
