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Bury the hatchet& have an ax to grind

[ 2011-06-10 09:50]

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Bury the hatchet& have an ax to grind

Kim Bowden

While some bury the hatchet, others have an ax to grind

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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本文僅代表作者本人觀點，與本網立場無關。歡迎大家討論學術問題，尊重他人，禁止人身攻擊和發布一切違反國家現行法律法規的內容。

About the author:

Kim Bowden hails from Auckland, New Zealand, where she recently completed AUT University’s Postgraduate Journalism Diploma.

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