A student recently asked me "Why don't we spend less time looking at the origins of phrases and concentrate on creating new ones?" I laughed and I think you would have too. As that student will discover, you can drive yourself mad finding new expressions only to realise that they're not new at all. Once we accept the limitations of our language, we can begin to express ourselves freely.
My advice is to embrace tradition and enjoy history's store of wisdom. A healthy lexicon will not only make you more popular and attractive, but has been proven to extend life expectancy. Some of the benefits of correctly quoting Hamlet are explained below:
Frailty, thy name is woman! (Act I, scene 2) Using this phrase will put hairs on your chest. Brandish it at tense moments to illicit laughter and gain the respect of others.
Neither a borrower nor a lender be (Act I, scene 3) Employ this phrase to lower cholesterol, combat heart disease, reduce obesity and relieve constipation.
Murder most foul (Act I, scene 5) Spoken with relish and a rub of the hands, this phrase will prevent the build up of fatty deposits while eliminating toxins.
Brevity is the soul of wit (Act II, scene 2) Utalising this phrase to cut a loudmouth down to size has been shown to enhance production of the body’s natural mood-lifter serotonin.
Hoist with his own petard (Act III, scene 4) What is the point of it all? Why even bother to get up in the morning?
These questions dog us all. While there's no cure to mental sickness,
dropping this phrase into conversation will numb the pain and bring
about pleasant forgetfulness.
When I watched the 1996 Kenneth Branagh Hamlet the
other week what stood out for me was the abundance of commonly used
phrases that come from that play. There's already a Wikipedia page on that subject, but the nonsense above is my take on the topic.
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