Be still my beating heart

A man receiving the keys to a new car from a female salesperson.
(Photo: Gustavo Fring/Pexels | Text: David/ArtisanEnglish.jp)

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Idiom: Be still my beating heart

Contrary to what you may think, Sting may have a song titled Be Still my Beating Heart, but he did not invent the phrase.

It was used as far back as the late 17th century. 

Remember how you felt when you first saw the love of your life or the most recent love of your life?

Your heart was beating like a drum at a heavy metal rock concert, right?

Yeah, well, be still my beating heart was often used by women in romantic situations when they were about to faint.

Yes, I know it’s a bit tacky, but hey, history is what it is, and I can’t change it.


These days the phrase be still my beating heart is often used in situations where we want to be sarcastic about the way someone is acting about a love interest.


As you know, watching a person in love act foolishly is funny unless you are in love.

For example, I love new cars.

I go over them with a fine-toothed comb looking at every detail with a big smile on my face while my wife looks on.

I’m sure she’s thinking, “Yeah, yeah, it’s a car! Be still my beating heart.”

That’s why I chose the accompanying picture today.

The phrase could be applied to how the man feels about the car, or he could be in love with the saleslady.

Then again, they are both making direct eye contact, so it could be that she’s the one thinking be still my beating heart.


Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test

This post is understandable by someone with at least a 7th-grade education (age 12).

On the Flesch-Kincaid reading-ease test, this post scores 79.

The easier a passage is to read, the higher the score on a scale of 0 – 100.



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