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1. Do you speak
Shakespeare’s language?
Mini-dictionary
of the phrases invented
by William Shakespeare
(with simple words explanations)
by L. Ya. Oleinick, a teacher of English
of Novotroitske secondary school #4,
Volnovakha district, Donetsk region

2. This year will mark the 400th
anniversary of William Shakespeare’s
death.
A prolific writer and
playwright, the Bard of Avon, wrote 37
plays and 154 sonnets in his lifetime.
The way he had seen things
was perfect at expressing something.
Scientists have proved that
Shakespeare was the first person who
put the following phrases into black
and white.
All of these words are still
used in the English language today. We
were surprised finding it out, and we
are sure you will do, too!

3. A sorry sight
If you see somebody walking
along, and maybe he was caught
in a rain, his clothes are dirty, he
hadn’t eaten for two days and
looks absolutely awful, you could
call this poor man, “He is a sorry
sight!” “Sorry” means here a
sort of “sad”. You feel sorry
looking at him – he looks dirty,
tired, hungry… “A sorry sight!”

4. Wearing your heart on
your sleeve
This is the kind of a metaphor to
use when you want to show that
you are not hiding your feelings
but making it clear how you feel.
So, if you are falling in love with
somebody, and instead of keeping
it to yourself, keeping it in a
secret, you make it obvious – in
Shakespeare’s words, - you are
wearing your heart on your sleeve
for everybody to see it. Sometimes
it works, sometimes it doesn’t…
Just do a try!

5. In a pickle
If you are in a pickle, you are
in trouble! Pickle is a kind of
vinegar for preserving
vegetables and other food.
So, if you are personally in a
pickle,- you are in a lot of
vinegar, that isn’t a nice
place to be. So, there is a real
trouble, and you have to get
out of it as quickly as
possible!

6. There is method
in my madness
It’s from “Hamlet, of course.
If you remember, Hamlet
had to pretend being mad for
a certain reason. You may be
behaving in a very strange
way but there is a good
reason for it. You have a
“method” – a reason of
behaving like that, which
hopefully will work out in
the end.

7. Too much of a good
thing
Let’s think about chocolate.
It’s a good thing but you can
have too much of it and have
a heart attack or some other
unpleasant things. So, don’t
overdo it! Have everything in
moderation! Just a little bit of
chocolate or everything you
like but not too much because
you will have “too much of a
good thing”!

8. To break the ice
It doesn’t mean literary to break
the ice on the river to get through
in order to reach the water
underneath. This is a metaphor for
getting to know people. Imagine
that you are going to a meeting and
there are people you haven’t met
before, and you are a little bit not
comfortable because you don’t
know what to say. When somebody
there makes a joke and everybody
laughs, people start to feel more
friendly and relaxed, so we say that
the joke “has broken the ice”.

9. Catch a cold
Catch a cold
“To catch a cold” means
that you have your nose
streaming, a sore throat and
your temperature is up.
Maybe, you have the flu. It
sounds more normal if we
catch a ball! Before it was
written down by
Shakespeare people had
used to say “get a cold”, but
do agree – William’s
variant is more vivid!

10. Full circle
Imagine that you are
somewhere out of the
country, and you have a
bit lost but keep walking
forward in a straight line
(actually, you are going
round in a circle), and
when you get where you
have started your
moving, you say, “We
have come full circle!”

11. A heart of gold
If someone has a
heart of gold, it
means this person is
very kind. Gold had
been considered
valuable metal since
the ancient times.
“A heart of gold”
means a very good
person.

12. Hot – blooded
If someone is hot-
blooded, he/she can
get angry very
quickly, or they get
into fight because
their blood is “hot”!
These people have a
strong temper and
can feel mad easily.

13. Housekeeping
This word means
looking after the
house: cleaning,
cooking, washing-up,
dusting… all the
useful work to keep
your house a nice
place to live.

14. “It’s Greek to me!”
If you say “It’s Greek to
me!”, it means you don’t
understand something. If
you are reading a book, and
it may not be literary in
Greek, you can say,” It’s
Greek to me!” because a lot
of people can’t understand
Greek, they don’t know this
language.

15. Seen better days
Do you have any old
furniture pieces in your
summer cottage? You may
have a favourite armchair
to sit in (probably, you have
been having it for 20
years!), and it’s not a new
one any more, it is a bit
worn, maybe is not very
clean, so you can say, “This
chair has seen better days!”

16. Star-crossed lovers
Like Romeo and
Juliet…This means that
they are not lucky, and
very bad things often
happen to them. They
don’t live to a very long
age because of bad
fortune, bad luck… The
horoscopes, the signs of
Zodiac are crossed and
against them.

17. Test Your Shakespeare’s English!
1. William Shakespeare
lived in the _______
centuries.
a) 15th and 16th
b) 16th and 17th
c) 17th and 18th
d) 18th and 19th
e) 19th and 20th
2. I don't understand his
explanation. It's all
_______ to me!
a) Chinese
b) Dutch
c) English
d) French
e) Greek

18. Test Your Shakespeare’s English!
3. Try not to eat too many
sweets. You can have
_____________.
a) too many bad things
b) too many good things
c) too much of a bad thing
d) too much of a good thing
4. Judy is very open with her
friends about her feelings. She
______________ .
a) holds her heart in her hands
b) puts her heart on her face
c) shows her heart in her eyes
d) wears her heart on her sleeve
e) spreads her heart on the
pavement

19. Test Your Shakespeare’s English!
5. When meeting new
people in a training session,
it's a good idea to
_________.
a) break the ice
b) make the ice
c) serve the ice
d) shake the ice
e) punch the face
6. Romeo and Juliet were
very unlucky in love. They
were ________ lovers.
a) star-crossed
b) star-gazing
c) star-struck
d) start-stop
e) startled

20. Test Your Shakespeare’s English!
7. She has made a complete
mess of the project. I've
never known someone get
into such a _____.
a) picker
b) pickle
c) pickup
d) pixie
8. I can't wear this old
cardigan anymore. It has
definitely ____________.
a) been better days
b) been better ways
c) gone by the days
d) seen better days
e) seen better ways

21. Test Your Shakespeare’s English!
9. I think we must be lost. We
passed this shop an hour ago.
We've obviously come
_________.
a) full circle
b) full circuit
c) full circus
d) round the circle
e) round the circus
10. He gets angry very
easily. I'm not comfortable
with such ________ people.
a) cold-blooded
b) cold-hearted
c) cold-minded
d) hot-blooded
e) hot-hearted

22. We are sure, it wasn't
Greek to you!