Thursday, September 22, 2011
Quotes and where they came from.
I doubt most of the class read the tumbler link that was sent out in one of Ms. Ahmed's emails this past week, so here is the link for reference: http://nawasaka.tumblr.com/post/10116519595/fuckyeahmoleskines-nawasaka-tumblr-com-i . This girl scribbled down on a piece of paper, "Things we say today that we owe to Shakespeare", at 3 in the morning. It is a bunch of quotes that we use today that Shakespeare actually created. At first i looked at the post and thought "oh well it's just another girl writing down a bunch of random quotes on a piece of paper". Well, i was very wrong. As i read all of the quotes i was amazed at how many of them i use on a weekly basis and i had no clue that Shakespeare was actually the one who came up with them. I have never been one for Shakespeare as his work is very difficult to read (for me), but these quotes made me realize that not all of his work is the usual old english that everyone knows shakespeare by. I never would have thought that "Knock knock! Who's there?" would have came from Shakespeare, much less "Wild goose chase" or "Too much of a good thing." Well i don't really know how to wrap this up, but i just thought that those quotes were interesting seeing as they came from Shakespeare and we use them on a weekly basis.
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That is actually really interesting. I just read the link and read some of the quotes he created. "Fight fire with fire" and "love is blind" are widely used quotes now that I don't think anyone would have ever guessed came from Shakespeare. We all dread reading his plays and stories because they are so difficult to understand, but little did we know we're quoting him everyday. Somehow he has never been properly credited with tons of quotes we find useful and entertaining now.
ReplyDeleteI was pretty surprised by most of the Shakespeare quotes. Most of them our incorporated in our daily lives. If it wasn't for Shakespeare, our lives wouldn't be as rich as they are today. He would have gave the idea to the author who wrote the "Brave New World" the title for his book. It's amazing how much influence Shakespeare has in our lives today.
ReplyDeleteWoah this is so weird!! I have a tumblr and i've actually seen this post before, but kinda just blew right by it because it had too much writing for me to read lol. But when I took a closer look today, I was highly amused. "Wear your heart on your sleeve." I never knew Shakespeare wrote that! He was a romantic one, wasn't he ;) "Off with his head" ? I thought Queen Elizabeth made that one up!! I had no idea this man used so many words, strung them into cute little phrases, and now they are considered priceless by today's youth!
ReplyDeleteYour right I didn't go look at that but now I'm glad I did! It's amazing that we use those sayings every day and never knew where they came from. Shakespeare is something that everyone dreads yet we get so much from it! Very interesting to think about!
ReplyDeleteNot going to lie, at first i thought the same thing you did, "just a bunch of random quotes".But its crazy how many of these quotes we use today.I personally love Shakespeare, i know you guys probably think im crazy but i really got into him after reading Othello. i recognize some of those quotes from othello ("green eyed monster", "love is blind"). I guess we owe quite a lot to Mr. Shakespeare.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this blog completely. Everyday we learn something new and this will be my one new thing of the day. I did not realize Shakespeare had that big of an impact of modern day lingo and phrases. This is a very interesting fact and I am eager to learn what other strange fun facts like this exist.
ReplyDeleteThis is really funny. Shakespeare invented a whole laundry list of the words we use today, so its no wonder he created a plethora of modern sayings. I can definitely agree that his work is hard to read. For me its almost like the excessive use of figurative language and image puts me off of the story itself, which works backwards from the purpose of writing. I almost feel like he wrote just to demonstrate his mastery of the English language. It is still impressive though haha
ReplyDeleteI had no idea that Shakespeare came up with all these phrases that we say on a daily basis. I always wondered where these phrases came from when I said them and now I know. I personally use "wild goose chase" all the time without even thinking of where it originated from. I think it's great that we have kept his language alive all these years. It makes what we have to say more interesting. I was never really much of a fan of Shakespeare until I read Othello back in high school. Now I'm even more of a fan because we use his language in everyday life.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite websites besides Facebook is imgfave.com. The website has gone downhill a little, but it use to be mainly quotes. I love reading quotes because they make me think and inspire me. One thing I wonder when reading some of the quotes is where they came from. I believe knowing who orginally said the quote and their reasoning can change your entire perspective. I agree with this blog post. It is really interesting to see that Shakespeare created so many of the quotes we use today. I have never been a fan of Shakespeare but I guess I can't say that anymore since I quote him.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea that all these sayings came from Shakespeare! Pretty crazy to think that years ago, people said/read the same things we do today! I've always wondered where certain sayings and words came from, and now I know where a portion of them did! Crazy to think how "hip" Shakespeare was in his day! I mean, "heart of gold,"wear your heart on your sleeve" and "love is blind" are current things people still say today. You go Shakespeare...
ReplyDeleteReading the tumblr was weird to think about. I never noticed how many phrases we use come from history. I use most of those phrases at least twice a day. Poor Shakespeare get no credit for creating out common lingo we use today. He is one of the most amazing writers that ever lived and that is proven through this tumblr. No one else could've had that much affect on our language at all. Even though he is dead he is still alive through every aspect of literature. He is a true literary genius. I hope that my essay has that affect on Ms. Ahmed because that would be amazing. ☺ Anyways go Shakespeare! I’m a true fan of his beautiful work and my favorite of course is Romeo and Juliet. A true romantic novel.
ReplyDeleteThe funny thing about that post on Tumblr is that it was reblogged several thousand times. I thought to myself, "wow, this person must be famous in some way." Nope, when I clicked the link to her twitter, she has 65 followers. This proves the "good writers borrow, great writers steal" quote from last week. She took all these phrases she knew were from Shakespeare that most people didn't even know came from him. By stealing his phrases, she actually was giving him all the credit, and yet she got a lot of attention from this. It's beautifully ironic to me.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Shakespeare's work can be on the boring side but he has left such an amazing mark on the world. Not only do we use his sayings on a daily basis but we watch movies and read other stories based on his work. I honestly cannot imagine what the world would be like today if Shakespeare never existed. He has had such an impact on the english language and culture.
ReplyDeleteThat is indeed very interesting. I’m glad you blogged about this because for some odd reason I did not receive the email. Wow, I agree that we all make a connection with old, confusing English and Shakespeare, but a lot of those quotes seem like modern day language! I was very surprised that Shakespeare invented “love is blind.” That is such an important saying in our world today; it is found all over media, movies, and conversations. I think it is great that a man from such a different lifetime is still alive though his intelligent sayings, not just his plays.
ReplyDeleteWow, I have to that is a very cool tumblr post and very unusual because I never see any school related pictures on tumblr. I knew that Shakespeare created many sayings but I never knew it was that many and ones that I actually used. Who would of thought Shakespeare created "knock knock who's there" or "vanish into thin air." Although I was not in love with all his work due to the old english I must say Shakespeare is a genius.
ReplyDeleteThis is crazy. Just looking at a few of them, I see quotes I regularly use. It's really interesting to know that things he said a few hundred years ago are still often used. I'm sure he had no idea that he would have so much of an impact on out society in general. I think Shakespeare has contributed much more than we realize.
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