Shakespeare - The History of English (3-10)

As the dictionary tells us, about 2000 new words and phrases were invented by William Shakespeare. He gave us handy words, like bible, puppy dog, and anchovie, 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 hob-nob. Shakespeare knew the power of catch-phrases, as well as biscuits. Without him, we'd 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' would be 'as dead as a door nail'. If you tried to 'get your money's worth', you'd be 'given short shrift', and anyone who ‘laid it on with a trowel’ could be ‘hoist with his own petard’. Of course, it is possible other people used these words first, but the dictionary writers liked 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.