How nice if on;y we could wish him many happy returns personally, this most remarkable man who constructed our language it seems nearly all by himself. He was baptised on April 25, 1854 in Stratford-Upon-Avon but experts say that he was born on the 23rd. As was the way at that time, he lived only to the age of 52. When he was 18 he married Anne Hathaway and they had three children. Sensing perhaps that there is a tide in the affairs of men that, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune, Shakespeare moved his family to London and began his successful career. It seems unlikely that even he could have understood the impact he was having on the entire English-speaking world and its many extensions in the centuries to come. From the indispensable “rant” — a staple of the late 20th and early 21st centuries — to the dazzling “bedazzled”, Shakespeare made up and made us love words and phrases like no one else. Here is an enjoyable list of 50 of them coined by this more than iconic man.
– “For goodness sake” – Henry VIII- “Neither here nor there” – Othello- “Mum’s the word” – Henry VI, Part II- “Eaten out of house and home” – Henry IV, Part II- “Rant” – Hamlet- “Knock knock! Who’s there?” – Macbeth- “All’s well that ends well” – All’s Well That Ends Well- “With bated breath” – The Merchant of Venice- “A wild goose chase” – Romeo and Juliet- “Assassination” – Macbeth- “Too much of a good thing” – As You Like It- “A heart of gold” – Henry V- “Such stuff as dreams are made on” – The Tempest- “Fashionable” – Troilus and Cressida- “What the dickens” – The Merry Wives of Windsor- “Puking” – As You Like It- “Lie low” – Much Ado About Nothing- “Dead as a doornail” – Henry VI, Part II- “Not slept one wink” – Cymbeline- “Foregone conclusion” – Othello- “The world’s mine oyster” – The Merry Wives of Windsor- “Obscene” – Love’s Labour’s Lost- “Bedazzled” – The Taming of the Shrew- “In stitches” – Twelfth Night- “Addiction” – Othello- “Naked truth” – Love’s Labour’s Lost- “Faint-hearted” – Henry VI, Part I- “Send him packing” – Henry IV- “Vanish into thin air” – Othello- “Swagger” – Henry V- “Own flesh and blood” – Hamlet- “Truth will out” – The Merchant of Venice- “Zany” – Love’s Labour’s Lost- “Give the devil his due” – Henry IV, Part I- “There’s method in my madness” – Hamlet- “Salad days” – Antony and Cleopatra- “Wear your heart on your sleeve” – Othello- “Spotless reputation” – Richard II- “Full circle” – King Lear- “There’s the rub” – Hamlet- “All of a sudden” – The Taming of the Shrew- “Come what, come may” – Macbeth
