New Mexico prosecutors plan to recharge Alec Baldwin with involuntary manslaughter over a fatal on-set shooting in October 2021.

The prosecutors dismissed charges against the Emmy award-winning actor in April, just two weeks before his trial was due to start.

But “additional facts” merit bringing the case again before a grand jury next month, they said.

  • gregorum
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    41 year ago

    *champing at the bit

    It’s a common phrase that’s often said incorrectly. What’s the difference between “champing at the bit” and “chomping at the bit”? Which one is correct?

    It’s champing at the bit, not chomping at the bit.

    This phrase (or idiom) comes from the sport of kings: horse racing. A bit is part of the apparatus that goes in the horse’s mouth and connects to the bridle and reins so the horse can be controlled and directed by the jockey on its back. The bit fits into a toothless ridge of the horse’s mouth, so the horse never really bites the bit. But it can grind his teeth or jaw against the bit, and if it does, it means that the horse is either nervous, or really excited about racing. That’s how the phrase “champing at the bit” entered everyday communications: to indicate extreme eagerness.

    • @McLoud
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      -21 year ago

      You seem certain of this and this quote is apparently copy pasted from a reliable source, however it still makes more sense to me to say chomping at the bit. If you take a bite of a sandwich, do you “chomp” it, or “champ” it?

      • gregorum
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        1 year ago

        I am not a horse. But, if I were to bite into a sandwich, I would chomp it between my teeth. A bit from a horse’s bridle rests behind a horse’s teeth. (Their teeth don’t go as far back as ours do)

        When champion race-horses “champs” get excited and pull on and grind at the bit - “champing at the bit” - they’re not actually biting down on it really. The facts that “champing” and “chomping” both sound similar and have to do with something in the mouth is just a weird coincidence. It’s a play on words.

      • @[email protected]
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        -31 year ago

        They are right on the correct historical usage of the phrase afaik (I’ve heard old timers say it that way), but I prefer it my way. Much like how I will not pronounce croissant like the Fr*nch