Reader's question:

When you are late buying tickets to a concert you will usually have seats in the nose-bleed section.

Could you explain “nose-bleed section”?

My comments: Seats in the nose-bleed section refer to the cheapest seats. These are usually located farthermost from the stage, where you can’t see anything without the help of a pair of binoculars. Well, why “nose-bleed”? The phrase is most often used in American sports. American stadiums or arenas as they call it are huge. Therefore, the farthermost rows of seats in an American sports arena are positioned very high above the court, so high that people jokingly say the air is thinner up there. And, as old beliefs go, people are more prone to nose bleeding when the air pressure is low. Hence the phrase.

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Go to Zhang Xin's column

本文僅代表作者本人觀點，與本網立場無關。歡迎大家討論學術問題，尊重他人，禁止人身攻擊和發布一切違反國家現行法律法規的內容。

About the author:

Zhang Xin has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.