Never bite the hand that feeds you..

Osama’s turning against America was like biting the hand that feeds you, esp after taking US help for so many years in fighting the Soviets

Welcome back again to the next step in our journey towards better English speaking skills. In this post, we discuss the phrase, “To bite the hand that feeds you”.

The imagery is pretty clear – what would you think of someone (say a pet dog or a duck or any other animal) who bites you when you try to feed it?

You would say that’s a very ungrateful and mean animal.

That’s the core sense of the phrase. It means trying to harm someone who helps you. Let’s take some examples:

1. When he was just a laborer, I lent him money. I even let him stay at my apartment. Now that he has become a business tycoon, he doesn’t even return my calls. It’s not good to bite the hand that feeds you.
2. The company spent two years training you and a lot of money too. Don’t you think it is biting the hand that feeds you if you decide to leave it now?
3. The Bollywood starlet made startling revelations about the murky and dark side of film industry. Some people felt she was right and the bad elements must be exposed. However, others thought she was biting the hand that fed her.

It is generally used when someone badmouths their previous organization or abandons their previous benefactors. A dramatized way to express ingratitude. Some more examples:

1. To remain the minister for four years and then to resign and criticize the government was like biting the hand that feeds you. I mean if you were aware of the corruption and were so concerned about it, what took you so long to resign and expose the whole thing.
2. By turning against his boss, Chhota Vakeel knew was biting the hand that fed him. He stepped up his security and would never venture out of his home without his trusted bodyguards.