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| Kim Bowden |
Could you explain "bury the hatchet& have an ax to grind"?
My comments:
To bury the hatchet with someone means to make peace and stop fighting, settling your differences. For example, you could say, my brother and I agreed to bury the hatchet after years of arguing. A hatchet is a type of short-handled ax. The saying, to bury the hatchet, is a reference to an American Indian custom, where a hatchet, or tomahawk, was buried in the ground by tribal chiefs to symbolize the end of a battle – although not many native English speakers would be aware of this origin.
Traditionally, an ax would have been taken to a blacksmith to sharpen using a turning grindstone. No one can really pinpoint exactly how it happened, but today, the saying has a much less literal meaning. When someone has an ax to grind they have a point of view, often a selfish one, although often they are not upfront in expressing it. For example, an employee might complain to their boss that a colleague is always late, when really, they are jealous this colleague received a promotion over them. We could say this person had an ax to grind.
Although both sayings are recognized and understood by native English speakers, their usage in everyday conversation is becoming less common.
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本文仅代表作者本人观点，与本网立场无关。欢迎大家讨论学术问题，尊重他人，禁止人身攻击和发布一切违反国家现行法律法规的内容。
About the author:
Kim Bowden hails from Auckland, New Zealand, where she recently completed AUT University’s Postgraduate Journalism Diploma.
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