I was interested to find this graphic on MeWe the other day.
I knew of Shakespeare's immense influence on the English language, of course, but it's intriguing to see how many expressions that we take for granted can be found in his plays and verse. Without him, expressing ourselves would be much more difficult.
Peter
Some of those he may have generated, but not many. Many of those were in common use. He simply recorded them, and had he not, they likely would have survived unhindered by time. His plays are simply the sculpture, videotape, and blueray discs of that era.
ReplyDeleteThese pretzels are making me thirsty....
ReplyDeleteInteresting, and concur, he may not have originated them, but he DID memorialize them in his plays!
ReplyDeleteAesop is right, and note that "Baited Breath" should be Bated Breath, unless you have been eating shiners or worms.
ReplyDeleteOr sushi.
"The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge." Ezekiel 18:2. Similar in Jeremiah 31:29.
ReplyDeleteThere is no small amount of unsubstantiated suspicion that Shakespeare may have had something to do with the KJV itself, which came out in 1611, eight years after Shakespeare's company of players become "The King's Men", and 5 years before he died.
ReplyDelete@Aesop, the phrase appears in Coverdale's 1535 translation.
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