William Shakespeare, Rad Bro of Avon and Inventor of Words

Playa.

Yes, I just used the word “rad” in the title. I have no idea why. Anyway, I also have no idea why I was boning up on Shakespeare today but I’ll be damned if I wasn’t. During my reading I was reminded of how awesome The Bard of Avon actually was. For instance, if he couldn’t think of a word for something he basically just made one up. True story. Although he invented a boatload of words I’ll just give you the ten I think are the most interesting.

On a related note, you have to admit that Shoe: Untied is an eclectic website if there ever was one. One day you you might read about the Pigbutt Worm, the next Shakespeare. Cool, right? Maybe? Never mind.

Let us commence with Shakespeare’s made-up words that actually became a part of the English lexicon . . .

ARCH-VILLAIN: Honestly, I always figured arch-villain was made up by those guys who wrote Superman comic books. Never dreamed it was Shakespeare. Dude was forward-thinking like you read about.

BEDAZZLED: No kids, this word wasn’t invented when people started putting rhinestones and whatnot on their jeans or cell phones. The Bard was bedazzling folks back in 1587.

BELONGINGS: Huh? Belongings? What the hell did people call their belongings before Billy ‘Speare came along? Their stuff? Their gear? The mind reels.

COLD-BLOODED: Dang, I would have sworn this was a modern day word. Once again, Shakespeare was on point and ahead of the curve. And also sort of morbid.

ASSASSINATION: I guess people just said “killed” or maybe “murdered” before Shakespeare came up with this awesome, fun-to-say word?* I have no idea.

*Seriously, say “assassination” fast 3-times. Fun.

EYEBALL: Are you serious? EYEBALL? Makes sense when you think about it though. I mean, we had the words “eye” and “ball” so William just put them together. Eyeball. Pure genius.

HOT-BLOODED: Just think, Foreigner would have never had that hit song without William Shakespeare. “Hot-blooded, check it and see, gotta fever of a 103 . . .”

NEW-FANGLED: Oddly, this word that means something new sounds old-fashioned even today, amirite?

SCUFFLE: “Scuffle” is just a stellar word for fighting, isn’t it? It feels like nobody could really get hurt in a scuffle. And once more it just has the feel of a modern word. On a related note I prefer “kerfuffle” but that’s just me.

SWAGGER: Are you serious right now Shakespeare? What the hell? Little did William know he created a word that sports teams would use to describe themselves over 400-years later.

So there ya go. Are you as fascinated by this or is it just me? I mean, I can’t imagine George Washington or Abe Lincoln using the words “swagger” or “arch-villain” and they both lived much later than William Shakespeare. Old Billy was ahead of his time fo’ sho’.

Shakespeare, man.