We avoid using the cliché when we write. But did you ever stop to think that once-upon-a-time that very cliché was a brilliantly fresh expression? I want to test your knowledge of clichés. I’m going to give you a baker’s dozen of our most often used sayings and see if you can guess who first wrote it. (No fair googling these!)
- A blinking idiot
- Neither rhyme nor reason
- In a pickle
- I’ve not slept a wink
- One fell swoop
- Jealousy is the green-eyed monster
- Made of sterner stuff
- It’s Greek to me
- The be-all and the end-all
- Foregone conclusion
- All that glitters is not gold
- What’s done is done
- In my heart of hearts
As a writer, have you ever thought that one of your clever phrases might be just the thing to describe something so well that it gets used and used and used until it becomes a cliche? Wouldn’t that be the be-all, end-all? Okay, time to guess. The key will follow.
Okay, here’s the key. Don’t look until you’ve tried to guess.
- William Shakespeare
- William Shakespeare
- William Shakespeare
- William Shakespeare
- William Shakespeare
- William Shakespeare
- William Shakespeare
- William Shakespeare
- William Shakespeare
- William Shakespeare
- William Shakespeare
- William Shakespeare
- William Shakespeare
Are you as gobsmacked as I was when I discovered this?
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I was so dumbstruck by the answer, I stood in awe!
Oh, wow! I need to take a class on Shakespeare. My daughter has been majoring in literature/art, and I’ve been sneaking peeks over her shoulder, having her teach me all the good stuff. I heartbreakingly loved learning about William Tyndale and all his beautiful words. To have the world repeating your words … I can’t imagine it.
Behind schedule, and it’s dire,
so I need a good cliche,
like “The fat is in the fire;
Rome was not built in a day.”
But who really would set fat ablaze
(it doesn’t smell so nice),
and who tallied the Rome-building days
to give us that advice?
Cliches take place of thinking,
and so they’re good to use
to leave more time for drinking
away the writers’ blues.
And who, in truth could dismiss
“I’ve got a bad feeling ’bout this!”
Haha, I didn’t test myself on each phrase, but I expected Shakespeare to feature on this list and was amused but not shocked to see his utter domination of it. I remember reading once that so many of our well-loved and well-used phrases come either from his works or from the King James Version of the Bible. Interesting that they are from the same time period and have both had such a lasting effect on our language.
I always assume it’s Shakespeare. 🙂
Wow! I thought maybe one or two might be him. But all of them, that’s so cool!
This former English teacher knew.
Wow! I was shocked that Shakespeare is credited with them all!