A Bitter Pill to Swallow

A Bitter Pill to Swallow

Welcome to English in a Minute!

have you had to tak bad_tasting medicine?

The bad taste makes it hard to swallow.

But does this expression

really have to do with medicine

Catherine trained the new guy ,Eric, to be her assistant.

That’s right.

She taught him everything he needs to know

about her department.

And when it come time for a promotion

Eric got the job instead of Catherine?

Man,that is a bitter pill to swallow.

The bitter pill,in this idiom, is an unpleasant fact that is difficult to accept, or as the saying goes,swallow.

In this example, must swallow a bitter pill.

She has to accept that she did not

gat a promotion at work.

And that’s English in a Minute!