Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Taking It On The Chin

The idiomatic expression "taking it on the chin" refers to a bar brawl or other forms of fist-fighting, where being hit by a punch on the chin is a common occurrence. It carries the same meaning as "taking a beating," which is an expression but not an idiom. However, the beating may be, for example, a political or electoral beating.

Example: The headline for the May 03 2011 edition of The Chronicle-Herald, the main newspaper of Nova Scotia, Canada (oldest newspaper on the North American continent), was, "Liberals take it on the chin," referring to the historic election defeat suffered by the Liberal Party of Canada on the preceding day.

The same sense can be used in business situations. Example: "Sony took it on the chin on the stock market today as a result of continued questions concerning the large Playstation Network customer data breach." (This is not an actual quote but represents the use of the idiom.)

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