the.com/baptism by fire
Learning the job by doing the job wrong in front of everyone who matters.
means A first, brutal experience of something hard, thrown in without preparation and surviving by doing.
from Rooted in New Testament language about a 'baptism of fire' tied to spiritual trial and purification; it crossed into military slang for a soldier's first taste of combat, and from there into general use for any harsh initiation.
- origin
- from early Christian martyrs who died before being baptized with water
- modern use
- means thrown into crisis with zero training
- irony
- the fire part was never optional, just unplanned
- cousin phrase
- trial by fire, same pain, fewer hymns