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Well, it's time for WORDS AND THEIR
STORIES. Today we have some expressions offered by Francisco Carlos, a listener
in Brazil.
The first is "face the music".
One story says the expression began in the theater. New actors, shaking with
fear, were told that their only way out was to go out and face the music. The
music was played by the musicians seated in front of the stage.
A similar expression is "face up to".
It means to accept something difficult or painful. For example, a man must face
up to the fact that he lied about a business deal and will lose his job.
A child was told off by his mother at home
because of his bad grades in study, but he put a good face on it before his
friends.
Meeting someone face-to-face can be
exciting, especially if the other person is famous. It is an expression one
might use after visiting the White House and meeting the president face to face.
Or a teacher might ask for a face to-face meeting with the parents of a student
in trouble.
Almost 500 years ago, William Shakespeare
also used some words about music in his play Two Gentlemen of Verona. Valentine
secretly loves Lady Sylvia. His servant jokes that Valentine's love for her is
as hard to see as the nose on a man's face, thus creating another expression: as plain as the nose on your face.
Of course, a man's nose can't be hidden.