Bite the Bullet

I never realized how violent many of our idioms sound.  Bite the Bullet certainly qualifies.  This one comes some measure of truth.  In the days before modern medicine and effective painkilling drugs for surgery, the patient might be given something hard to bite on while they endured the pain.  If it happened to be on a battlefield, a bullet might be the easiest thing to obtain.

In the present day, biting the bullet usually doesn't have anything literally to do with surgery.  What it refers to is doing something that you know will be painful in order to have a better outcome or because it will be even worse later if you don't do it.  

My mother has a big tree in her back yard.  It is at lease 30 meters tall, but it is infested by insects.  Getting it cut down and removed is going to be expensive, but she's going to have to bite the bullet.  If she doesn't it could fall on her house during a rain storm.

Have you heard any good idioms lately?  I take requests.  Leave a comment, let me know.