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What does bear with me mean?
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What Is Bear With Me
Someone at work sends you an email saying “bear with me”…
You wonder, what does bear with me mean anyway?
In essence, “bear with me” is an expression that means “be patient with me.”
In other words, when someone is asking you to bear with him or her, they are asking you to wait a bit longer or to hold on some more.
The verb bear means to tolerate something or endure something.
When you use this expression orally, it’s pretty straightforward.
However, when you want to write this expression down, it may get confusing sometimes.
Is it bear with me or bare with me?
Keep reading as I will tell you exactly which it is…
Before that, let’s look at the origin of this expression.
Origin of Bear With Me
Many are familiar with the expression bear with me from Shakespeare.
In “Julius Ceasar”, a Shakespear play, Antony says “Bear with me; My heart is in the coffin there with Ceasar.”
Although Shakespeare brought more attention to this expression, bear with me has been used for a long time.
Bear with me comes from an old verb “to bear” meaning to carry.
When someone was asked “to bear” or “to carry”, that person was asked to be patient or to carry the burden of patience.
Literal Meaning
Since the word “bear” can have different meanings depending on if it’s used as a noun or verb, let’s look at the literal meaning of the expression bear with me.
As a noun, bear refers to a large woodland animal.
As a verb, bear means to tolerate or to be patient.
Now, if you are using the word “bear” as a noun, “bear” with me means that there is a bear (the animal) with you.
For example, “the bear with me does not look angry” or “having a bear with me will be the scariest thing ever.”
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Bear With Me vs Bare With Me
The correct spelling of the expression is “bear with me” and not “bare with me.”
Since bear and bare sound the same but are written differently, they are known as homophones.
For that reason, you need a trick to remember which word is the correct word for the expression where you are asking someone to be patient with you.
To remember the correct spelling of bear with me, just remember of a bear, the animal!
The trick to remember is that a nice bear will “bear with you” and an aggressive bear will not “bear with you”!!
There are many who incorrectly spell the word “bear” as “bare” when writing the expression “bear with me”.
The word “bare” means “to reveal” or “to uncover.”
So when you say “bare with me”, your formulation does not make any sense.
In a funny sense, it’s like you’re saying “uncover with me” or “be naked with me”.
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Bear With Me In A Sentence
Let’s look at a few examples of the phrase bear with me so you can better understand its meaning:
- Bear with me as I finish typing this letter
- Please bear with me and I will get to you next
- Bear with me; I’ll send the president your message
- Please bear with me while I complete this performance
- If you can’t hear me well on the phone, bear with me
- Please bear with me while I prepare your drink
- My apologies for the delay; bear with me as I bring you the bill
As you can see, the bear with me phrase is used to indicate “wait for me”, “be patient with me”, or “hang on for a moment”.
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Alternatives To Bear With Me
Sometimes, it’s better to use another phrase or expression in substitution of “bear with me”.
In some situations, this expression may be overused or may not really fit the context.
You can use alternative phrases or expressions such as:
- Thank you for your patience
- Please give me a moment
- I’ll be right there with you
- Please be patient with me
- I’d appreciate it if you hold for a moment
The idea is to express the message that you want the person to wait a bit more or to hand on tight for a short period of time.
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Bear With Me FAQ
Is it rude to say bear with me?
Bear with me is a polite way of asking someone to hold on a bit longer or to be patient.
For example, a cashier dealing with a long queue of customers can tell those in line to “bear with me” as she wraps up her current client.
Why do you say bear with me?
The main reason why you will use the expression bear with me is to ask someone to wait for a bit longer.
For example, a busy waiter or waitress may tell a client to “bear with me as I bring your check”.
Bear with me is essentially a request for patience.
Is it bear with me or bare with me?
Bear with me is the correct way of writing the expression.
Many will incorrectly write “bare with me” instead of “bear with me”.
Since the words “bear” and “bare” are homophones (they sound the same but are written differently), there’s confusion as to which word is the correct word to use for the expression bear with me.
Just think of “bear” as the “animal” to remember the correct spelling as a bear can be patient in optimal conditions!
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Takeaways
So there you have it folks!
What does bear with me mean?
How do you spell bear with me?
In a nutshell, the phrase “bear with me” means “be patient with me” or “hang on for a moment”.
It’s a polite way of asking someone to wait a little bit longer.
It’s important that you do not incorrectly write “bear with me” as “bare with me”.
Bare with me does not make any sense as the word “bare” means “to uncover” or “naked”.
Now that you know how to use the expression bear with me in your business writing, good luck with your research!
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