Ben Brantley: What "Spider-Man" could learn from its neighbor "Cymbaline"

[SallyF]

Posted: 1/17/11 at 6:41pm

"Since I left with equally fond feelings toward all the fresh-faced cast members, I’m singling out only one performance, that of the sheet. It is white, unembroidered and, I would guess, queen-sized. Before the show ends, it has effortlessly become a billowing sea, a virginal bedspread, a mournful shroud and a Roman toga, among other things. Like the trunk, it deserves its own curtain call.

Psst, Ms. Taymor. I hear there’s a white sale at Macy’s."

I love that last line. Brantley must be chomping at the bit to get into the Foxwoods.
Link

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/17/11 at 8:17pm

"Champing at the bit," not "chomping."

[kdogg36]

Posted: 1/17/11 at 8:37pm

Well, most educated people I know say "chomping at the bit." A Google search on the phrase gives 386,000 hits, compared to 90,400 for "champing." Regardless of past usage, and casting aside prescriptive fallacies about language, it would appear that "chomping at the bit" has the upper hand in current standard English.

[NYUrickydrummer]

Posted: 1/17/11 at 9:15pm

Yeah, it's definitely chomping.

Sorry, Pal.

[darquegk]

Posted: 1/17/11 at 9:34pm

It has to be chomping at the bit... UNLESS "champing" is an archaic term for "chomping."

The phrase denotes enthusiasm to begin an action, meaning that it more than likely refers to a horse or other beast of burden, straining and chomping at the bit held in its mouth to guide it.

[jimmycurry01]

Posted: 1/17/11 at 11:27pm

Pal Joey is correct. The original phrase is indeed champing at the bit, not chomping. It is a common mistake, and made all the time.
You can take a look at Websters English usage Dictionary or just run a google search and actually read the history behind the phrase and when people began to misconstrue it. This really isn't a discussion for this board though. One is technically correct, the other is a bastardization that has become more popular than the correct phrase and has worked its way into the vernacular. None the less, this is from wikipedia:
Champing at the bit (or mistakenly as chomping at the bit) refers to a tendency of some horses, when impatient or nervous, and especially if being held back by their riders, to chew on the bit, often salivating excessively. This behavior is sometimes accompanied by head-tossing or pawing at the ground. Because this behavior was most often seen by the general public in horses who were anxious to begin a horse race in the days before the invention of the starting gate, the term has become popular in everyday speech to refer to a person who is anxious to get started or to do something. Because some impatient horses, when held back, would also occasionally rear, a related phrase, "raring to go," is also derived from observations of equine behavior.

[Scott3]

Posted: 1/18/11 at 12:05am

Updated On: 11/11/16 at 12:05 AM

[wonderwaiter]

Posted: 1/18/11 at 12:53am

[BillyButler]

Posted: 1/18/11 at 12:59am

Updated On: 1/18/11 at 12:59 AM