"THE BITTER END."
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Szn,—In your notice of "Conferences on Books and Men" (Spectator, January 19th) the reviewer renders a good service to the English language in pointing out that the common use of the expression "goon to the bitter end" is only a sad misreading of an older byword which speaks of the "better end." If it were more generally known that the "better end" or "bitter end," or simply "bitter," is, in nautical language, that part of the cable which is abaft the "bitts " (or upright pieces of wood for securing anything to), we should not so often hear the expression used as implying "bitterness,"—e.g., "fighting it out to the bitter end," "suffer- ing in silence to the bitter end," and so forth. May I now ask to have my own ignorance enlightened by inquiring what is the older byword as to the better end which probably puts the origin of the expression beyond doubt ?—I am, Sir, 8r.c., A. K. L.
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