face the music

English

WOTD – 21 June 2024

Etymology

Origin uncertain; possible sources which have been suggested include the following:

• A performer on a stage facing the music from the orchestra pit when confronting a possibly hostile audience.
• The historical act of a soldier who was dishonourably discharged from military service being paraded in front of other soldiers to the sound of a drum or music.
• A soldier facing the noise of battle (music being military slang for the sound of gunfire or other ordnance).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌfeɪs ðə ˈmjuːzɪk/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌfeɪs ðə ˈmjuzɪk/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːzɪk
• Hyphenation: face the mus‧ic

Verb

face the music (third-person singular simple present faces the music, present participle facing the music, simple past and past participle faced the music)

1. (idiomatic) To accept or confront the unpleasant consequences of one's actions. [from 19th c.]

   Synonyms: face up to, pay the penalty, pay the price

   • 1941 December, Kenneth Brown, “The Newmarket & Chesterford Railway—II”, in The Railway Magazine, London: Tothill Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 533:

     Hudson personally would not face the music at that meeting and the business could hardly proceed for groans and hisses and cries of "Hudson! Hudson! Why is Hudson not here?" and so the ungrateful shareholders to whom Hudson had generously paid dividends out of their own capital cast out Hudson bag and baggage, including therein the agreement with the Newmarket Railway.

   • 2013, Rockstar Games, Grand Theft Auto V, scene: Exiting a robbed bank surrounded by police with minigun and ballistic suit, level/area: The Paleto Score:

     Trevor Philips (Steven Ogg): Time to face the music!

Translations

to accept or confront the unpleasant consequences of one’s actions

• Cornish: eneby an sewyansow (literally “to face the consequences”)
• Finnish: kestää seuraukset, vastata seurauksista
• German: den Kopf hinhalten, die Suppe auslöffeln (de) (literally “to spoon out the soup”)
• Icelandic: súpa seyðið
• Italian: far fronte alla tempesta
• Japanese: 受け止める (うけとめる, uketomeru, literally “to catch and stop”)
• Macedonian: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: nawarzyłeś piwa, to musisz je teraz wypić (pl) (literally “you brewed the beer, now you have to drink it”)
• Portuguese: arcar com as consequências
• Russian: расхлёбывать ка́шу (rasxljóbyvatʹ kášu)
• Spanish: afrontar las consecuencias, aguantar el chaparrón (literally “to face the downpour”), apechugar (es), atenerse a las consecuencias, apechar (es), apencar (es)
• Swedish: stå sitt kast (sv)
• Welsh: wynebu'r canlyniadau (literally “to face the consequences”)

See also

• bite the bullet
• pay the piper

Further reading

• Face the Music (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia