Face the music?_其他_趣味英语-查字典英语网

Face the music?

Reader question: In this headline – Time for Facebook addicts to face the music (Times Online, UK, July 1, 2008) – why "face the music"? Is it a common expression?

My comments: First I checked the story up. In a gist, it says: "Facebook defines itself as 'a social utility that connects you with the people around you'. This could not be further from the truth. Far from serving as an umbilical cord of friendship for the socially deprived, Facebook actively damages interpersonal relationships, harms job prospects, wastes time, and ultimately turns die-hard users totally reclusive. It leads your girlfriend to ask questions about your photos, your friends to ask questions about your girlfriend, and her friends to ask her questions about your friends. You don't need this headache, nobody does. Facebook complicates our lives."

In other words, Facebook has its drawbacks and pitfalls, according to the author, and those who use it must beware or face up to the consequences.

Why "face the music"? One listens to music, naturally. When one faces the music, it's odd – therefore, there's probably some unpleasant prospect to face (or hear). Anyways, "face the music" is an idiom, meaning one has to face the consequences of one's actions and live with them, however unpleasant the situation may be.

In searching for its origin I found that there are many different theories, some more plausible than others. Some Americans claim that it's an American expression borne out of the American army. That may very well be the case but somehow, hearing Americans claiming English expressions to be theirs feels like hearing a Japanese saying Zen is Japanese or a Korean saying Confucius is Korean. To be sure, the Japanese popularized Zen as the world knows it today and it sometimes does feel as though Koreans hold ancient cultural traditions of China in greater reverence than the Chinese themselves do. But, to claim Zen and Confucius theirs outright always sounds a little jarring to the ear – the Chinese ear at any rate.