it looks like I'm swearing.
I always have difficulty remembering if it's "baited breath" or "bated breath" -- because I feel that etymologically, it could sort of be either.
take "bate". this, if these two were on a multiple choice test, would technically be the more correct answer and would get you enough points to win that merit-based scholarship so that you can tell millions of children down the road how you fought to succeed and now you're giving back to them, go them, go you, do big things, and you can retire with a ton of money and down pringles and café au lait all day while you watch BBC dramas and princess bride. I hear you. so "bate" is short for "abated" and you abate your breath when you hold it, so you wait with abated breath. gotcha.
but hear me out: "bait" means to lure for the purpose of trapping/victimizing/eating/removing unwanted squirrels from your bird feeder; like, if you're fishing, you bait the hook to catch the fish. if something surprising happens, you catch your breath, right? while I'm not saying it's the correct -- as in, societally established -- way to spell "bate" I think "baited breath" is at least understandable. you've trapped, caught your breath, 'waiting with caught breath' so to speak. amirite?
and this, my friends, is why I get the two confused sometimes. -- frequently. just saying.
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by all means, leave a comment if you have something to share! please keep your language clean, respectful, and polite.
staying on topic would be nice, too, but I know that can be hard sometimes.