Quickly: can you name the literature from which these dozen phrases originate?
Bah! Humbug!
Old sport.
Big Brother is watching you.
The old ultra-violence.
So it goes.
Constant vigilance!
All that glitters is not gold.
Can’t live with them, or without them.
Catch-22.
Begin at the beginning.
The horror! The horror!
Ships that pass in the night.
Only one of them is Shakespeare, though ol’ Will has added many, many turns of phrase to our common speech. As has the King James Bible, not represented here. (The writer of the article from which I’ve transcribed the list calls these “literary catchphrases.” The greatest of them, in fact, though I don’t know that I’d want to defend that word choice in a debate.)
The author also claims idioms that emanate from literature have more staying power, and while I won’t disagree, here are twelve more you’ll easily identify:
Where’s the beef?
Live long and prosper.
Come on down!
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away …
Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.
You rang?
Go ahead, make my day.
Phone home.
Here’s looking at you, kid.
Good night, John Boy.
Do you believe in miracles?
The truth is out there.
Lots of staying power in these phrases, all of which have moved into common speech—and not from a book.
What do you think? A clever, catchy, or wise message will stick no matter what the medium. Still, the most recent catchphrase I discovered—may the odds be ever in your favor—comes straight from the pages of a book. Can you think of a word or phrase with the staying power of, say, There’s no place like home? Leave it in the comments!
Tweet: Great literature has added many, many turns of phrase to our common speech.
Tweet: Big Brother is watching you, old sport. The horror! The horror!
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Bah! Humbug! – A Christmas Carol
Old sport. – The Great Gatsby
Big Brother is watching you. – 1984
The old ultra-violence. – ???
So it goes. – ???
Constant vigilance! – Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
All that glitters is not gold. – Shakespeare, either 12th Night or Merchant of Venice.
Can’t live with them, or without them. – I know this one but can’t come up with it
Catch-22. – Um … that would be Catch-22. 😉
Begin at the beginning. – I’ve seen this a lot of places, nothing specific comes to mind
The horror! The horror! – Heart of Darkness
Ships that pass in the night. – Longfellow, but I don’t remember the title
Man, yer GOOD! I definitely would not have known the old ultra-violence, or can’t live with them, or the Longfellow. Know the phrase, not the source. I read Slaughterhouse-5 about a zillion times, so that one I knew. 🙂
I was actually surprised that I knew as many of them as I did. Even though I’m teaching lit as an adjunct right now, my knowledge of classic literature is woefully lacking.
Well, really the course I’m teaching right now used to be named Writing about Literature. So I really focus more on the writing aspect than the lit aspect. I approach the lit aspect from the idea that someone’s reactions and opinions and thoughts about a piece of literature are real and valid and are never wrong—though, occasionally should be challenged, just to make the student reach deeper for the root of those ideas. My job is to teach them how to express all of that in writing.
So, yeah. Not really a literature aficionado.
Sounds like a great class!
Yep. I knew that I should be able to come up with “Can’t live with them… .” When I Googled it, it was a definite face-palm moment. World Lit, 12th grade. I had to write an essay on it.
I had to memorize quite a bit of the Merchant of Venice in high school. ONLY reason I knew that one!