Liliputin -5055

I would rather bite the bullet than bite the dust ... "
John Wayne

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http://stihi.ru/2021/11/24/7101

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“Bite the Bullet”
To “bite the bullet” is to endure something painful or unpleasant bravely. The phrase comes from the battlefield when soldiers were given a bullet to bite on as a means to tolerate the excruciating pain of surgery without anesthetic.

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bite the dust
slang
1. Of a person, to die.
We were so lucky to avoid that massive accident—we might have bitten the dust!

2. Of a machine, to be near a complete breakdown or loss of functionality.
Judging by all that noise coming from her car, I'm pretty sure it's about to bite the dust.
I have to go buy a new blender because mine bit the dust today.

3. To become unpopular or irrelevant.
Sadly, it doesn't take long for the latest technological innovations to bite the dust.
See also: bite, dust
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2022 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

bite the dust

1. Sl. to die. A shot rang out, and another cowboy bit the dust. The soldier was too young to bite the dust.

2. Sl. to break; to fail; to give out. My old car finally bit the dust. This pen is out of ink and has bitten the dust.
See also: bite, dust

bite the dust

Suffer defeat or death, as in The 1990 election saw both of our senators bite the dust. Although this expression was popularized by American Western films of the 1930s, in which either cowboys or Indians were thrown from their horses to the dusty ground, it originated much earlier. Tobias Smollett had it in Gil Blas (1750): "We made two of them bite the dust."
See also: bite, dust
bite the dust
COMMON
1. If something bites the dust, it fails or stops existing. With the news that milk chocolate can help cut cholesterol, yet another healthy eating fad bites the dust. Quite a few restaurants have bitten the dust recently.

2. If someone bites the dust, they die. A Wild West showman nearly bit the dust when he blew himself up making blank bullets in his garden shed. Note: This expression is used to refer to someone's death in a humorous way. Note: In stories about the Wild West, cowboys were said to `bite the dust' when they were shot and fell off their horses.

See also: bite, dust
bite the ;dust (informal)
1 fail, or be defeated or destroyed: Thousands of small businesses bite the dust every year.
2 (humorous) die
See also: bite, dust
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
bite the dust
1. tv. to die. A shot rang out, and another cowboy bit the dust.
2. tv. to break; to fail; to give out. My car finally bit the dust.
See also: bite, dust
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
bite the dust Slang
1. To fall dead, especially in combat.
2. To be defeated.
3. To come to an end.
See also: bite, dust

To be defeated or killed. The term became popular from American western films, in which cowboys and/or Indians frequently “bit the dust”—that is, were shot or shoved off their horses to the dusty ground. It became current in the late 1930s. However, the term occurs even earlier in William Cullen Bryant’s translation (1870) of Homer’s Iliad (“his fellow warriors . . . fall round him to the earth and bite the dust”) and it also is found in translations of Virgil’s Aeneid.
See also: bite, to
The Dictionary of Clich;s by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer
See also:
bite the dust, to
bite the big one
kiss the dust

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American icon

Wayne rose beyond the typical recognition for a famous actor to that of an enduring icon who symbolized and communicated American values and ideals. Using the power of communication through silent films and radio, Wayne was instrumental in creating a national culture from disparate areas of the US, and made the creation of a national hero possible. By the middle of his career, Wayne had developed a larger-than-life image, and as his career progressed, he selected roles that would not compromise his off-screen image. Wayne embodied the image of strong American masculinity and rugged individualism in both his films and his life. At a party in 1957, Wayne confronted actor Kirk Douglas about the latter's decision to play the role of Vincent van Gogh in the film Lust for Life, saying: "Christ, Kirk, how can you play a part like that? There's so goddamn few of us left. We got to play strong, tough characters. Not these weak queers." However, actor Marlon Brando was notably critical of Wayne's public persona and of the cultural insensitivity of Wayne's characters, arguing on The Dick Cavett Show that, "We [Americans] like to see ourselves as perhaps John Wayne sees us. That we are a country that stands for freedom, for rightness, for justice," before adding that "it just simply doesn't apply."

Wayne's rise to being the quintessential movie war hero began to take shape four years after World War II, when Sands of Iwo Jima (1949) was released. His footprints at Grauman's Chinese theater in Hollywood were laid in concrete that contained sand from Iwo Jima. His status grew so large and legendary that when Japanese Emperor Hirohito visited the United States in 1975, he asked to meet John Wayne, the symbolic representation of his country's former enemy. Likewise when Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev visited the United States in 1959, he made two requests: to visit Disneyland and meet Wayne.

In the Motion Picture Herald Top Ten Money-Making Western Stars poll, Wayne was listed in 1936 and 1939. He appeared in the similar Box Office poll in 1939 and 1940. While these two polls are really an indication only of the popularity of series stars, Wayne also appeared in the Top Ten Money Makers Poll of all films from 1949 to 1957 and 1958 to 1974, taking first place in 1950, 1951, 1954, and 1971. With a total of 25 years on the list, Wayne has more appearances than any other star, surpassing Clint Eastwood (21) who is in second place.

Wayne is the only actor to appear in every edition of the annual Harris Poll of Most Popular Film Actors, and the only actor to appear on the list after his death. Wayne was in the top 10 in this poll for 19 consecutive years, starting in 1994, 15 years after his death.

Myl;ne Demongeot declared in a 2015 filmed interview: "Gary Cooper was sublime, there I have to say, now he, was part of the stars, Gary Cooper, Cary Grant, John Wayne, those great Americans who I've met really were unbelievable guys, there aren't any like them anymore."