Anyway, here's a list:
Saturday, November 02, 2019
Weekend Post
Sitting through a Shakespeare play can be hard if you struggle with the language. At no time does a Shakespeare character say "like" in the middle of a sentence. But you'd be surprised at how many of the expressions we use today were originated by the Bard. Even a Neil Young song title ("Heart of Gold").
Anyway, here's a list:
Anyway, here's a list:
If only I could trademark the expression Good Riddance. It would make me a billionaire on the day the Orange Turd finally croaks.
ReplyDeleteWhat a joyous picture! You seem like a great father. It's always a pleasure to read your blog whether for bracing sarcasm, general irreverence, the combination of great knowledgeability and humility, or any other uplifting material.
ReplyDeleteThis blog is being hijacked by immature people (one person mainly).
ReplyDeleteYou do post separate political blogs and also some political satire in other blogs. I too love an anti-Trump tirade once in a while.
In non-political blogs - almost all comments are in line with the topic except for one person.
He is totally unhinged nowadays. Just look at this week's posts for example. Each and every comment are totally unrelated non sense.
Aren't there enough sites that cater to people like him?
This blog is enjoyed by readers not just for the main content but also for the comments. But now I dread reading the comments.
Mike, fair enough. You're right. I'll cease the political and off topic comments.
DeleteNo lie: I used to think "forever and a day" was a New York expression!
ReplyDeleteShakespeare and the King James Version of the Bible have, essentially standardised the English language. Granted, it's not exactly the same, but it is still recognizable. In fact, in the four hundred years since Shakespeare there have been fewer changes than to the English of Chaucer or in the poem Beowulf; which are, by comparison, almost different languages.
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday to your son. I've met the girl, but I don't think I've met him.
Personally, I don't have a problem with political comments. Even the ones I don't agree with. The problem I have is when the self righteous types act as if their fecal excretions are not malodorous.
The "HATE" goes both ways, folks.
M.B.
It's"bated breath", isn't it? Breath held back, not flavored with earthworms.
ReplyDeleteNewcomer to your blog, Ken, because two of the three things I love most in the world are comedy and baseball, and you write about both (the first is my year-old-granddaughter, Evelyn, who I can rhapsodize about longer than Groucho Marx or the 1969 Mets).
ReplyDeleteOne more Shaekespearian phrase, which my high school English teachers used in New York in the 1960's:
"Salad Days" when I was green in judgment"
I got an English minor by accident after someone at my university realized I'd already racked up enough credits for one, just from taking electives in things that I wanted to read, like Shakespeare. Just this week, I read that you can actually major in English at UCLA and never study Shakespeare, but you are required to take “Gender, Race, Ethnicity, Disability and Sexuality Studies” and “Imperial, Transnational, and Postcolonial Studies.” I think this explains why I meet so many young people who ain't got no idea how to speak or write English.
ReplyDeleteI hate Shakespeare -- too many clichés -- anonymous.
ReplyDeleteYes, anonymous, it is "bated breath."
ReplyDeleteSpoiler alert -
ReplyDeleteHow do we know that they actually originated with Shakespeare?
Just because they appear in a work by an author, that doesn't mean to say the author invented them.
It's very possible that some (if not all) of these phrases were in common use at the time of his writing.
Knock knock who's there (did it replace rat-a-tat-tat who's there)
off with his head ... (how did they describe beheadings)
If they had been described as phrases in Shakespeare's play that are still in vogue today, then OK.
In 500 years time, is someone going to be reading this blog, and imply that Ken invented the phrase "cream of the crop?"
(PS: Phrase taken from yesterday's entry - couldn't find one from today)
Your descendants are going to be so proud of you Ken.
“All that glistens is not gold.”
ReplyDeleteToday most time the word “glitters” is used, but I believe the original was glistens.
My favorite is from Hamlet:
ReplyDelete"Neither a borrower nor a lender be"
Bill S. also coined (or at least was the first to use) the phrase "household words."
ReplyDelete@ Matt
ReplyDeleteActually Shakespeare wrote "glisters", not "glistens" or "glitters".
Incidentally, I don't think this is the best list of Shakespeare phrases that people could come up with, since a clear majority of the ones used here predate Will; the paper trail is often very long, and he merely used existing phrases (usually brilliantly, mind you).
I fondly remember, on a lovely July evening in Stratford on Avon, attending a peak theatre experience - Much Ado About Nothing by the Royal Shakespeare Company.
ReplyDeleteI was 23 and found the goings-on to be quite accessible. My 17-year-old brother thought so, too.
The crowd was in an uproar pretty much the whole play - I'm quite sure the actors held for laughs.
Remember Ringo's immortal line in "The Magic Christian":
ReplyDelete"'To be...' - "I've seen it"