Shakespeare Among Us

Shakespeare invented over 1,700 words in the English language. He was the first person to use words like - aerial, critic, submerge, majestic, hurry, lonely, road, assassination, laughable, reliance, exposure, employer, manager; investment, retirement, circumstantial evidence, foregone conclusion, negotiate, petition, designs, exposure, reword, misquote ....

Works by the bard also contain many every day phrases such as "break the ice", "all that glitters is not gold", "hot-blooded", "in the mind's eye", "housekeeping", "it's all Greek to me", "the naked truth", "one fell swoop", "method in his madness", "not budge an inch", "green-eyed jealousy", "to play fast and loose", "to be tongue-tied", "to be a tower of strength", "to knit your brows", "make a virtue of necessity", "insist on fair play", "stand on ceremony", "too much of a good thing", "seen better days", "living in a fool's paradise" ......

In addition to creating whole new words, Shakespeare's word inventions came through changing the usage of words, for example, changing verbs to adjectives or the English teacher's dread - changing nouns to verbs. So the next time you are accused of nouning a verb, reply, "hey, it worked for Shakespeare"!

Want to know more? Pick up this gem. Coined by Shakespeare. If you find yourself in Ontario, Canada, one place to see great Shakespearian (and other) plays is at the Stratford Festival.