Cold feet
Cold feet is apprehension or doubt strong enough to prevent a planned course of action.[1]
The origin of the term itself has been attributed to American author Stephen Crane, who added the phrase, in 1896, to the second edition of his short novel, Maggie: A Girl of the Streets.[2]
The behaviour may be modelled as a tension between temptation and self control. If pessimism increases as the point of no return approaches then the individual may balk and refuse to proceed.[3] If they proceed regardless then buyer's remorse is the similar feeling experienced after the event.
Taking a bold decision rather than suffering indecision or cold feet is known as crossing the Rubicon.
[edit] Marriage
A common use of the phrase is when people fear the commitment of marriage and get cold feet before a wedding ceremony.[4]
[edit] References
- ^ Tristan J. Loo (2006), Street Negotiation: How to Resolve Any Conflict Anytime, http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=4bWcDvlQxC0C&pg=PA210
- ^ Barnhart, David K. (1997). America in So Many Words: Words That Have Shaped America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. p. 191. http://books.google.com/books?id=SYrJZLjgDmIC&pg=PA191&dq=%22cold+feet%22+%22stephen+crane%22&hl=en&ei=evbzS-26I8H48Abk0aG9Dg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10&ved=0CFgQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=%22cold%20feet%22%20%22stephen%20crane%22&f=false.
- ^ Epstein, Larry G. and Kopylov, Igor (2007), "Cold Feet", Theoretical Economics 2: 231–259, http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1527962
- ^ Tony Mathews (2003), There's More Than One Colo6666r in the Pew, http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=DtQMUlmS2NAC&pg=PA7
[edit] External links
 |
Look up cold feet in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
- "Expert Advice on Cold Feet" – Article from Brides Magazine
- "Cold Feet Common in Brides-to-Be" ABC News Good Morning America, May 1, 2005
- "When Did We Get 'Cold Feet'? The Germans had 'em first!", by Daniel Engber, Slate.com, May 3, 2005
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