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.
Deliberately making an irreversible choice, thereby precluding any possibility of 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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