Bunny Trails: A Word History Podcast
Episode 191: Face the Music
Record Date: April 24, 2023
Air Date: May 3, 2023
Intro
Dan:
Welcome to Bunny Trails, a whimsical adventure of idioms and other turns of phrase.
I’m Dan Pugh
Shauna:
And I’m Shauna Harrison
Each week we take an idiom or other turn of phrase and try to tell the story from its entry into the English language, to how it’s used today.
Opening Hook
Have you ever made a decision that wasn’t the best or perhaps made a mistake that you knew was going to get you into trouble? There is a certain point where you have to decide if you’re going to run away or just go in and deal with the consequences. Which are you? Do you hide or do you take a deep breath and go face the music?
Meaning
The idiom face the music truly means to face the consequences of one’s actions. This typically refers to negative consequences. We see scenarios in movies frequently where someone has created this big lie or story that eventually everyone is going to find out about. It’s all going to come out in the end. What will the character do when it’s time to face the music?
Oxford English Dictionary gives us this definition,
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to face the music: to accept or confront the inevitable, or the unpleasant consequences of one's actions.
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https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/67426?redirectedFrom=face+the+music#eid134064993
The origin of this phrase is uncertain, but there are several theories.
One theory suggests that the phrase comes from the world of theatre, where actors would "face the music" by turning to the orchestra pit to receive their cues. This would require them to confront the reality of the situation, including any mistakes they might have made.
Another theory is that the phrase comes from military tradition, where soldiers who were being court-martialed would be forced to "face the music" by standing in front of the regimental band as they played a funeral march.
A similar theory described those who’d been dishonorably discharged being asked to leave the field of battle. As they made their exit, the military drummers would play a march signaling their shame to the rest of the soldiers.
Kind of dark, right?
Regardless of its exact origins, the phrase has been in use since at least the early 1800s and remains a popular idiom today.
The earliest use of this idiom that I was able to find in print is from the year 1800 in The Works of Charles Reade: Put yourself in his place. Now, I was unable to access more of the text but we do have these few sentences,
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As for Henry, he felt quite triumphant and grand, and consoled her in an off-hand, hearty way. “Come, cheer up, and face the music. They have all forgotten you by this time, and when they do see you again, you shall be as good as the best of them.”
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I can imagine a variety of situations where this comment would work… maybe the person he’s talking to had done something embarrassing, perhaps flopped during a performance, or something like that. And he’s saying, hey, they won’t even remember who you are. But there’s nothing else to do but go face them and whatever the consequences might be.
The next item comes from the July 26, 1844 edition of the Green-Mountain Freeman out of Montpelier, Vermont.
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Around this time, the phrase had burst into the political scene in the U.S. with fervor. There were very few references prior to about 1835 and by 1850, there are dozens, if not hundreds, of examples of the phrase in books and periodicals.
Here is one such example in which the phrase was used as the title of the listing. There is a sort of challenge placed in the September 02, 1844 edition of The Whig standard out of Washington, D.C.
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That was quite a lot of money at the time!
Here is another political usage in The Freeman, January 19, 1850 edition, out of Fremont, Ohio.
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Later the same year in the July 29, 1850 edition of the Democratic banner out of Bowling Green, Pike County, we find this post.
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Frankly, there is a lot of challenging going on at this point. Which seems rather on brand for the U.S. to be honest.
The phrase continued to be used heavily during the 1800s. Here is an example from a young man who was writing about his experience teaching adult classes.
This excerpt comes from the Annual Report of the Minnesota State Horticultural Society for the year 1891.
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This young man is teaching men who own farms, predominantly focused on animals. He’s managed to become one of the most popular speakers at this sort of conference style school he works for. I thought this was a fun use of the phrase.
Moving into the next century, we find that the phrase has made its way into the visual realm through ads, comics and so on.
In the Ranche and range May 23, 1901 edition out of North Yakima, Washington, we find a statement about what is essentially a request for bids from a company. The Stanwood Co-Operative Creamery asked for the makers of hand separators to visit the creamery for a competition. The article is titled Couldn’t Face the Music!! It was wrapped up by a final statement from one, CH. Hanson, Buttermaker, Stanwood Creamery.
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On May 7th, H.E. Sharp, Traveling Salesman for The Merz Dairy Supply Company, Agent for De Laval Separators, was present to carry out the contract.
I herewith testify that the agents for the other separators failed to make their appearance and therefore the logical conclusion was that they were afraid to test the merits of their machines.
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Next up, we have the tale of an intrepid investigator. This is in the October 23, 1920 edition of The Wheeling intelligencer out of Wheeling, West Virginia. The tale is titled The Trial of the Rolling Dollars and appears in the comic Hairbreadth Harry by C.W. Kahles.
One gentleman, in an official-looking uniform says,
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A gentleman in a suit, standing in front of a sign that reads U.S. Secret Service Bureau replies,
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Let me run down the crooks!
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Okay, so here’s the basics… a bad guy has some fake silver dollars and he buys some bonds with them… only the banker selling the bonds sells him forged bonds. Neither is wise to the other’s plan. The money forger kidnaps a woman and puts her in the back of his truck where he’s hidden the fake coins. Now, our man has been on the hunt but cannot catch a break. The panel reads,
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