Meaning: To tackle a difficult problem boldly.
Background:
This little figure of speech is known wherever Urtica Dioica, the Stinging
Nettle, is commonplace, which covers most of the English-speaking world. The
figurative advice to be bold and 'grasp the nettle' derives from the property of
the plant to inject toxins into the skin of any person or animal who brushes
against its stiff, hollow hairs. If the plant is grasped firmly, especially if
that is done in the direction the hairs are growing, the hairs tend to be pushed
flat and avoid penetrating the skin.
Nettles favour disturbed ground and consequently are often found near human
habitation. Fortunately, the antidote to nettle stings is found in the leaves of
dock, which also grows on disturbed soil and is usually to be found near
nettles.
Aaron Hill's Works, circa 1750, contains the first example that I can find that
advises that a nettle be grasped:
"Tender-handed stroke a nettle, And it stings you, for your pains: Grasp it
like a man of mettle, And it soft as silk remains."
- www.phrases.org.uk [edited]
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I liked the background discussion above. In a few sentences, I learned about the
nettle, its hairs, its habitat, and its antidote, the dock, which was the 4th
and last homonym in Apple's New Oxford American Dictionary.
Sometimes a problem looks bigger than it really is and the more procrastination
the more difficult it appears. This is when we should remember the phrase.
Meaning: To tackle a difficult problem boldly.
Background:
This little figure of speech is known wherever Urtica Dioica, the Stinging
Nettle, is commonplace, which covers most of the English-speaking world. The
figurative advice to be bold and 'grasp the nettle' derives from the property of
the plant to inject toxins into the skin of any person or animal who brushes
against its stiff, hollow hairs. If the plant is grasped firmly, especially if
that is done in the direction the hairs are growing, the hairs tend to be pushed
flat and avoid penetrating the skin.
Nettles favour disturbed ground and consequently are often found near human
habitation. Fortunately, the antidote to nettle stings is found in the leaves of
dock, which also grows on disturbed soil and is usually to be found near
nettles.
Aaron Hill's Works, circa 1750, contains the first example that I can find that
advises that a nettle be grasped:
"Tender-handed stroke a nettle, And it stings you, for your pains: Grasp it
like a man of mettle, And it soft as silk remains."
- www.phrases.org.uk [edited]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I liked the background discussion above. In a few sentences, I learned about the
nettle, its hairs, its habitat, and its antidote, the dock, which was the 4th
and last homonym in Apple's New Oxford American Dictionary.
Sometimes a problem looks bigger than it really is and the more procrastination
the more difficult it appears. This is when we should remember the phrase.