The Glam Gidget Diaries

Have you Shakespeared today?

Think you don't know any Shakespeare? Liar. The fact is, most people know more Shakespeare than they are aware of...How many of the following everyday expressions do you know?

Eaten out of house and home
Pomp and circumstance
Foregone conclusion
Full circle
The makings of
Method in the madness
Neither rhyme nor reason
One fell swoop
Seen better days
It smells to heaven
A sorry sight
A spotless reputation
Strange bedfellows
The world's (my) oyster
As luck will have it
Hearts of gold
Hold a candle to
I have not slept one wink
Neither here nor there

Or have you used any of the following words?:
arch-villain * bedazzle * cheap (as in vulgar or flimsy) * dauntless * embrace (as a noun) * fashionable * go-between * honey-tongued * inauspicious * lustrous * nimble-footed * outbreak * pander * sanctimonious * time-honored * unearthly * vulnerable * well-bred * obscene * cold-blooded * beached * jaded * gossip * exposure * frugal * hurried * impede * label * gloomy * equivocal * fixture * elbow (as a verb) * olympian * dishearten * green-eyed * critic * bump * blanket (as a verb) * deafening * epileptic * majestic * moonbeam * besmirch * tranquil * rant * worthless

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/04/0419_040419_shakespeare.html

http://shakespeare.about.com/library/weekly/aa042400a.htm

Shakespeare's influence is reflected in the everyday expressions we use. Many have become rather cliche because of their familiarity and overuse, but that's the power of the Bard for you. According to About.com, more than 1700 words in our language were invented by Shakespeare, whether or not he completely made up the words or just changed the way we use them. Think you have that kind of power? See if anything you invent is still around in four hundred years.

posted by Glam Gidget @ 11:30 AM