What's more, the political symbolism of some of the wealthiest Americans' saying they support higher taxes on the rich takes a bit of the sting out of the idea of raising rates, for both Democrats and Republicans.
There's one thing, though, that can take a bit of the sting off: having the bad news broken to you by a white hat (read: strictly non-malicious) hacker who has every intention of helping you fix it, rather than telling the world how to do it.
Plus, using their first name adds a friendly touch to the letter that may lessen a bit of the sting.
It is, however, more likely they are simply adding a bit of a sting to the usual, overfamilar opiate.
I always felt a bit of a sting whenever a car owner said, "I have a 1991 Saturn," because it shattered the illusion that Tom and Ray were still sitting in a studio in Harvard Square with their producer, Doug ("the subway fugitive, not a slave to fashion, bongo boy") Berman.
They'll take a bit of the sting off if you're willing to lock into a $60 dollar a month contract, bringing it down to a bargain bin price of just £500 ($721 USD).
If you're in the middle of converting your DVD library to the next big good-for-a-few-years TOTALLY FUTURE PROOF medium, this may take a bit of the sting off.
To take off a bit of the sting, they'll generally include some sort of crappy-port-to-3.5mm adapter – or at the very least, they'll stick a cheapo pair of compatible headphones in the box in hopes that no one cares that they sound horrible.
"She was saying: 'I can't believe it, I've just paid for food and now we're not even going to get to eat it.' It caused a bit of a sting in the pub.
"Mike Ross got a bit of a stinger.
