Wikipedia
William Shakespeare wrote a lot of great plays, but he also coined and popularized a lot of words and phrases that we still use to this day.
We put together a list of our 21 favorites. Check them out:
“Puking”
Wikimedia
“All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms. …”
How Shakespeare uses it: “Puking” was first recorded in Shakespeare’s “As You Like It.” It was likely an English imitation of the German word “spucken,” which means to spit, according to Dictionary.com.
Modern definition: A synonym for the verb “to vomit.”
Source: “As You Like It,” Act 2, Scene 7
“Vanish into thin air”
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“Then put up your pipes in your bag, for I’ll away. Go; vanish into air; away!” (Othello)
How Shakespeare uses it: The Clown says this to the musicians in “Othello” to make them go away.
But some have also suggested that there is a darker underlying meaning. Act 3 in Othello is the final act that suggests that all of this might have a happy ending. It gets pretty dark starting in Act 4. So the Clown might be symbolically asking musicians and all happy things to “vanish into thin air” because there’s no more room for them in the play.
A similar phrase is also found in “The Tempest.”
Modern definition: To disappear without a trace.
Sources: “Othello,” Act 3, Scene 1, “The Tempest,” Act 4, Scene 1
“There’s a method to my madness”
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“Though this be madness, yet there is method in ‘t. Will you walk out of the air, my lord?”
How Shakespeare uses it: Polonius says it in “Hamlet,” basically suggesting that there is reason behind apparent chaos.
Modern definition: The meaning is the same nowadays, although the language is a bit updated into modern terms. It is also a Bee Gees song.
Source: “Hamlet,” Act 2, Scene 2
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