Skin of my teeth
Skin of my teeth (Hebrew: ע֣וֹר שִׁנָּֽי ‘ō-wr šin-nāy) is a phrase from the Bible. In Job 19:20, the King James Version of the Bible says, "My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth." In the Geneva Bible, the phrase is rendered as "I haue escaped with the skinne of my tethe."[1]
In modern times, "by the skin of my teeth" is used to describe a situation from which one barely managed to escape.
Cultural references to the phrase
- Skin o' My Teeth—Megadeth used this phrase as a song name in their 1992 album, Countdown to Extinction, referring to the theme of a failed suicide attempt.
- The Skin of Our Teeth—A play by Thornton Wilder with multiple Biblical allusions.
- Skin o' My Tooth—A book by Baroness Emma Orczy in which the phrase is a nickname of the main character, a lawyer. The nickname is given by a client who says that he was freed "by the skin o' my tooth."
See also
References
- ↑ By the skin of your teeth. phrases.org.uk. Last accessed 26 Feb 2012.
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