What is an achille's heel?

Question

From a Placebo song called Special K
" you're my new achille's heel " What does this mean to you ?

Answer 1

It means you're his new weak spot.

Achille's heel comes from an old Greek legend. Achille was a hero who, when he was a baby, was dipped into a river that made him invicible - at least, wherever the water touched him. His mother was holding his heel at the time she dipped him in, though, so the only part of him that wasn't invincible was his heel. During the Trojan War, he was shot in the heel and died.

Achille's heel has since come to mean someone's particuliarly weak spot, both literally and figuratively [as it is used in the song].

Answer 2

Achilles' heel
A fatal weakness, a vulnerable area, as in This division, which is rarely profitable, is the company's Achilles' heel. The term alludes to the Greek legend about the heroic warrior Achilles whose mother tried to make him immortal by holding the infant by his heel and dipping him into the River Styx. Eventually he was killed by an arrow shot into his undipped heel

Answer 3

An Achilles heel is a weakness or vulnerability derived from mythology (Greek or Roman, I can not remember). Achilles was a warrior who was "dipped" in sacred waters by his mother (a goddess or sorcerer) which gave him a protected covering. Since she dipped him head first by holding him around his ankles, every inch of his body was coated except where she held him (around the ankles and the back of the heel). So when he was in battle, he was defeated when an arrow pierced the back of his ankle..Hence the term "Achilles heel".

Answer 4

When achilles was a baby they tried to make him immortal by dipping him in the river styx. They did not dip his heel and that became his weak spot. So achilles heel is known as an area of weakness.

Answer 5

What he's saying is basically that "you're my new weakness". Great band by the way.
An achilles' heel is a weakness and it came from when Achilles (a great warrior in the Trojan war) died from an arrow in his heel.

Answer 6

It is actually called the "Achille's tendon". It's the tendon on the back of your ankle.

When you hear it in a song it's referring to a weakness. This is because in the epic story "The Illiad" by Homer (Greek), Achilles (a man) is dunked into the River of Stix (SP) (which makes people immortal). He was held by his ankle when he was dunked into the river so his heel was his only weak spot. The only way he could be killed.

This is why people say that something or someone is their "Achille's heal/tendon" it's another way of saying "You are my weakness."

Answer 7

Achilles mother was told he would be invulnerable if she dipped him as a baby in the river Styx. However, she held onto him by his heel, which was therefore the only place he could be harmed.

He was killed by Paris with a poison arrow in his vulnerable heel.

It therefore means a vulnerable place - especially in someone strong or seemingly invulnerable. Your "achilles tendon" is the one running down the back of your heel. Hope that helps.

Answer 8

Achilles was the son of Thetis and Peleus which according to Greek mythology, was the bravest hero in the Trojan War.
According to greek mythology, Achilles was killed by a wound to his heel by Paris.
Even today, any weakpoint continues to be called an "Achilles Heel"

Answer 9

Its a person's weak point (it comes from the myth of the god achille) it basically means your weakness or your shortfall and people say something or someone is their achille's heel when it means that thing or person has an unusual but powerfully negative effect on their abilities.

Answer 10

achilles heel is a weak spot..comes from either greek or roman stories..I cannot remember. Had something to do with achilles being invincible after being dipped in water..but they held him by the heel so tha water did not get there..so that is where his weak spot was.