I Bet You Know More Shakespeare Than You Thought You Did.

If you cannot understand my argument, and declare "It's Greek to me'', you are quoting Shakespeare;

if you claim to be more sinned against than sinning, you are quoting Shakespeare;

if you recall your salad days, you are quoting Shakespeare;

if you act more in sorrow than in anger;

if your wish is father to the thought;

if your lost property has vanished into thin air, you are quoting Shakespeare;

if you have ever refused to budge an inch or suffered from green-eyed jealousy,

if you have played fast and loose,

if you have been tongue-tied, a tower of strength, hoodwinked or in a pickle,

if you have knitted your brows, made a virtue of necessity, insisted on fair play, slept not one wink, stood on ceremony, danced attendance (on your lord and master), laughed yourself into stitches, had short shrift, cold comfort or too much of a good thing,

if you have seen better days or lived in a fool's paradise -why, be that as it may, the more fool you , for it is a foregone conclusion that you are (as good luck would have it) quoting Shakespeare;

if you think it is early days and clear out bag and baggage,

if you think it is high time and that that is the long and short of it,

if you believe that the game is up and that truth will out even if it involves your own flesh and blood, if you lie low till the crack of doom because you suspect foul play,

if you have your teeth set on edge (at one fell swoop) without rhyme or reason, then - to give the devil his due - if the truth were known (for surely you have a tongue in your head) you are quoting Shakespeare; even if you bid me good riddance and send me packing,

if you wish I was dead as a door-nail,

if you think I am an eyesore, a laughing stock, the devil incarnate, a stony-hearted villain, bloody-minded or a blinking idiot, then - by Jove! O Lord! Tut tut!

For goodness' sake! What the dickens!

But me no buts! - it is all one to me,


For you are quoting Shakespeare.

 

It's generally thought that most of the words were already in existence but hadn't been written down. Shakespeare was a genius at putting them in a context that the less well educated could understand better.

In a later period Lewis Carrol used words that already existed for his poem Jabberwocky, but he made them imply totally different meanings. He just used the words because they sounded good! Funnily enough the only words they think he made up were 'frumious', 'galumphing' and 'chortle'! That was apart from the two nouns of Jabberwock and Bandersnatch.