Although it isn’t conclusive, it is believed that William Shakespeare was born on this day, 1564. It is well documented that he died April 23, 1616. What a lot happened between those dates! The world of literature and, indeed, the English language is far richer than it would have been if that great playwright had never been born.
My dear friend Lola, an English major and celebrated teacher of literature, could write a far more extensive piece about William Shakespeare. I am just humbly grateful for the little bit I know.
Here are some of the phrases which I’ll bet you didn’t realize were coined by Mr. Shakespeare:
“Give the devil his due”
“All our yesterdays”
“Never a borrower nor a lender be”
“As good luck would have it”
“As merry as the day is long”
“With bated breath”
“Refuse to budge an inch”
“Cold comfort”
“Dead as a doornail”
“Devil incarnate”
“For goodness sake”
“Foregone conclusion”
“Heart of gold”
“Jealousy is the green-eyed monster”
“Set my teeth on edge”
The list goes on with many more phrases that he coined or made popular, but isn’t it wonderful? Just for fun, try to work some of these into your conversation today or maybe you should just listen to yourself and see how many you use in your everyday speech without thinking where they came from.
We owe much to this genius who enriched our vocabulary and the field of literature. Those years between 1564 and 1616 were well spent! Happy birthday, Mr. William Shakespeare.
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