Being die hard fan of "Bruce Willis", there couldn't be a better date to release this word on Semantica. "Live free or die hard" , fourth installment of Die hard series is releasing tomorrow in US. So better watch it or die hard ;-).Meaning - A person who holds stubbornly to a minority view, in defiance of the circumstances.
Being used as a film title starring Bruce Willis in 1988, the term "Die hard" first appeared in 1784 edition of the Gentleman's Magazine as a Tyburn phrase. Tyburn was the public hangings place until the year before that magazine was published. It clarifies the meaning of "die hard" was to die reluctantly,resisting to the end. In those days, they were not using "drop" method of hanging .Instead of that, the people were hanged to their legs so that they died quickly. How pity!!.
The term was widely used in 19th century during 1811 , in Peninsula war.William Inglis , the commander of the British 57th regiment of foot ordered all soldiers to "die hard".The regiment later was known as "The d".
In 20th century, the term took new meaning in political arena. It was used to describe a member of political faction who were prepared to "die in the last ditch" in their resistance to the home rule bill in 1912. Conservative party , who followed the leadership of Marquess of Salisbury , called themselves as "The die-hards" in 1922.
Sources:http://www.phrases.org.uk/
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7 comments:
Forget the etymology, I didnt even know the meaning of the phrase. I always thought being a 'die hard' fan of someone means being a crazily devoted fan; didnt know it had to be "in defiance to circumstances & against the majority view" :)
btw, have you watched the movie? Some people say the dude is too old to be doing action movies. I think hes still got it.
die hard!!!!!!!!!!!! thats the very first movie I have ever watched, I guess I was 4 when they took me to the theatre and I laughed at all the gory scenes :):):):), don't remember a thing about the movie except bruce wills. I adore him, and I too shared radha's interpretation of the term, didn't know there was a different meaning to it.
guess, ignorance runs far and wide....for i thought the same as Radha and Suramya did about the meaning of the expression......and Bruce Willis is worth all the female adoration (and male too)....My husband's sporting a new baldy look these days which he attributes to the die-hard dude. :)
@Radha - dont worry..i have the same case..even i was not knowing the meaning of it till I searched it. He seems old..but still only he can do that role. I have not watched it yet ..i think this should have been his die hard 5.0 because "The hostage" (2005) was also on similar lines..but it wasn't die hard.
@Suramya - wow you watched Bruce Willis at 4..that's amazing.
@Moi - He may be female adoration, but his acting in Pulp fiction,The Jackal,The sixth sense..was awesome with fantastic story lines.
saw die hard last night. havent seen prequels but this one is seriously good. Superb stunts. Worth a watch
There's something about Bruce Willis that makes him both a man's man and a woman's dream. He is a rockstar resigned to his fate ;).
@Yogsma: Great post! Reminded me to look for the origins of 'Never say die', which I did for a little while and then gave up in the interest of sloth.
@666- Do watch prequels..they are not related at all..only Willis' character is same..in fact you will love Die hard -1.
@Abhishek - Wow..love "never say die" ..i don't know its origin also..but there was a album of same name by Black Sabbath in 1978.
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