Transcript

NARRATOR

The history of English in 10 minutes. Chapter 3: Shakespeare, or a plaque on both his houses. As the dictionary tells us, about 2,000 new words and phrases were invented by William Shakespeare. He gave us handy words like eyeball, puppy dog, and anchovy, and more show offy words like dauntless, besmirch, and lacklustre. He came up with the word alligator, soon after he ran out of things to rhyme with crocodile. And a nation of tea drinkers finally took him to their hearts when he invented the hobnob. Shakespeare knew the power of catchphrases as well as biscuits. Without him, we would never eat our flesh and blood out of house and home. We’d have to say good riddance to the green eyed monster, and breaking the ice will be as dead as a doornail.

If you tried to get your money’s worth, you’d be given a short shrift. And anyone who laid it on with a trowel could be placed with his own petard. Of course, it’s possible other people use these words first, but the dictionary writers like looking them up in Shakespeare because there was more cross-dressing and people poking each other’s eyes out. Shakespeare’s poetry showed the world that English was a rich, vibrant language with limitless expressive and emotional power, and he still had time to open all those tea rooms in Stratford.