Understanding Onion!

Okay, I've been nicknamed as Onion when I was in junior high, but I got this huge problem when I cut onions: it makes me cry as if a huge, tragic event just occurred.

The acid produced by the enzymatic reaction in onions is the root of all evil (well, not all). Basically, when the acid is dissolved in water near our eyes, it will irritate our eyes and we'll start crying!

Some suggestions are rather unrealistic, like wearing a gas-tight goggles or masks (we're not dealing with a biochemical warfare, for goodness sake!). Adding salt water or acids to denature the enzyme would probably alter the taste of the onions, so that wouldn't be wise. I want to try cutting it underwater, though. I bet it will be damn difficult, since the movement of the knife will be slowed down because of the water and I won't be able to judge the depth of the water well (I'll end up cutting my fingers instead of the onions!).

Or perhaps the better solution is to cut the onions while sticking out my tongue so that the acids will dissolve in my tongue instead of my eyes. That being said, I'm not cutting onions in front of anyone! That's so embarrassing!

Alternatively, I can freeze the onion before I cut it, but I don't know if it's good for the onion. And it will be probably difficult to cut because my prediction says it's going to be hard with most of the water inside the onion frozen. It's like cutting a block of ice :S