Two fun facts about Shakespeare:
Shakespeare is a truly remarkable English playwright and poet. When I was reading and researching about Shakespeare this week, I found these two facts really inspiring!
He was a brilliant word-creator who invented over 1700 English words and phrases. Some words and phrases are still used today(such as ‘eyeball’ ‘fashionable’). This fully shows his extraordinary imagination and language talent.
His plays were popular with people of all social classes in his time—nobles sat in the expensive box seats to watch while commoners only paid a penny to stand on the ground!
So now, you see? Shakespeare is kind of a big star at that time. His plays were very attractive, and he created words by himself. We use these words nowadays and we learn and read his plays too!
REFERENCE:
(Oxford English Dictionary)(Shakespeare birthplace trust)
Good reflection! His contributions to English vocabulary and the accessibility of performances at the Globe to the working class are definitely highlights.
You mentioned two examples of words he has created which are still widely used today, and there are certainly many more. Not all of the words made it to today’s vocabulary, though, such as armgaunt (probably derived from ‘gaunt’, meaning something thin) and pajock (heavily disputed meaning, but seems to be a negative word for a person based on context clues).
Are there any modern-day terms which you think will fall out of use in the next century?
Good questions! I have a strong feeling that ‘6-7’ will disappear as it doesn’t seem to mean anything at all and, to be honest, makes people look rather silly when they wave their arms about in front of themselves.
Like your online name 😃
Great post! I really enjoyed reading these facts about Shakespeare. It’s amazing to think that so many words we use every day, like “eyeball,” were invented by him. I had no idea he created over 1700 words—that’s incredible! I also love the image of nobles in fancy seats and commoners standing for a penny. It must have been such an exciting and funny scene to see.
Since you shared a fact on my post, I am also going to share one: Shakespeare never actually published any of his plays himself! Without the efforts of two fellow actors, John Heminges and Henry Condell, who gathered 36 of his plays into the “First Folio” in 1623, works like Macbeth and Twelfth Night might have been lost forever. So we kind of owe them a huge thank you!😊