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Shakespearean phrases frequently used in today’s discourse (2)

Thursday, August 5, 2010

    

Here’s are 30 more of the Bard’s memorable sayings still in use today.

  • In the twinkling of an eye
  • It was Greek to me
  • Love is blind
  • Make your hair stand on end
  • Milk of human kindness
  • Much Ado about Nothing
  • Mum’s the word
  • Out of the jaws of death
  • Pound of flesh
  • Rhyme nor reason
  • Screw your courage to the sticking place
  • Short shrift
  • Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon ‘em
  • Star crossed lovers
  • Such stuff as dreams are made on
  • The Devil incarnate
  • The game is up
  • The Queen’s English
  • There’s method in my madness
  • This is the short and the long of it
  • To be or not to be, that is the question
  • To gild refined gold, to paint the lily
  • To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub
  • Too much of a good thing
  • Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown
  • Vanish into thin air
  • Wear your heart on your sleeve
  • What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet
  • Wild goose chase
  • Woe is me
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Shakespearean phrases frequently used in today’s discourse (1)

Thursday, August 5, 2010

    

There are many, many phrases and quotes that William Shakespeare penned for his plays centuries ago that are still frequently used today. In the first of two postings, here’s a selected list of 30 of the most common of the Bard’s memorable – and timeless – sayings.

  • A dish fit for the gods
  • A fool’s paradise
  • A foregone conclusion
  • A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse
  • A plague on both your houses
  • A sorry sight
  • All corners of the world
  • All that glitters is not gold
  • All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players
  • All’s well that ends well
  • As dead as a doornail
  • As good luck would have it
  • As pure as the driven snow
  • At one fell swoop
  • Come what come may
  • Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war
  • Eaten out of house and home
  • Fight fire with fire
  • For ever and a day
  • Frailty, thy name is woman
  • Good riddance
  • Green eyed monster
  • He will give the Devil his due
  • Heart’s content
  • His beard was as white as snow
  • Hoist by your own petard
  • I have not slept one wink
  • If music be the food of love, play on
  • In a pickle
  • In my mind’s eye

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Top-10 Modern Phrases Originating from a Shakespeare Play

Thursday, July 29, 2010

     

Here are the Merriam-Webster on-line dictionary’s top-10 phrases used in our language today that have been taken from one of the masterful Bard’s works.

 

#1: Green-Eyed Monster

#2: In a Pickle

#3: Love is Blind

#4: Salad Days

#5: Wear My Heart on My Sleeve

#6: There’s the Rub

#7: Cruel to Be Kind

#8: Wild Goose Chase

#9: Dogs of War

#10: Strange Bedfellows

 

To have the sayings sourced and to learn of their common usage today, we encourage you to go to the dictionary’s presentation at:

http://www.merriam-webster.com/top-ten-lists/top-10-phrases-from-shakespeare/green-eyed-monster.html

 

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Customer service phrases

Thursday, July 29, 2010

    

There was a great article in the Globe & Mail this week about the principles of customer service. It listed key phrases that will help build and keep business. Here are the magical business phrases:

  • How can I help?
  • I can solve that problem.
  • I don’t know, but I’ll find out.
  • I will take responsibility.
  • I will keep you updated.
  • I will deliver on time.
  • It’ll be just what you ordered.
  • The job will be complete.
  • I appreciate your business.

To read the full article, go here:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/your-business/business-categories/customer-experience/nine-phrases-that-will-make-customers-happy/article1653128/

 

 

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The American Male – minute by minute

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

     

In the United States, every sixty seconds:*  

  • American men will eat a total of 7,398 hot dogs; 12,989 pounds of beef; 40 pounds of tofu; and 1,500 Dunkin’ Donuts. Oh yes, one-and-a-half (1 ½ ) men have heart attacks.
  • 315,432 American men light up cigarette; 150 men fire up joints; 23 start to do lines of cocaine; and, 181 pounds of chewing tobacco are stuffed in American men’s cheeks.
  • 126 gallons of whiskey is bought by American men (and 5,917 gallons of milk).
  • 494 American men go to the doctor; 111 men go to the dentist; 72 men visit the emergency room; and 30 men are undergoing surgery.
  • 12 men are arrested - 2 men for DUI, 1 for public drunkenness and 1 for a drug violation.
  • Four (4) men turn 50; roughly 385,000 American men are watching CNN; 729 men log onto the news online; 479 log on to porn online; and 2 men lose their jobs.
  • One (1) American man gets a vasectomy; 685 condoms are sold; 8 American men become fathers; 5 get married; 4 cheat on their wives; and 2 get divorced.
  • The average man produces 225,694 sperm cells – and loses 35 brain cells.

 

* - All facts and figures were sourced by the American Esquire magazine.

  

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George Steinbrenner: “What I’ve learned”

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

       

New York Yankees’ Boss, George Steinbrenner, passed away a few weeks ago at the age of 80. Here are some of his pearls of wisdom in an Esquire “What I’ve Learned” column from 2002 – when he was a young 71.   

  • When you’re entrusted with a tradition, you’ve got to protect it.
  • If you haven’t got a hernia yet, you ain’t pulling your share.  
  • The rate of the pack is determined by the speed of the leader.
  • Second place is really the first loser.
  • Having people scream nasty things at you is part of sports. I’ve had my share of it. They pay their money, they can say what they want.
  • Patton had his shortcomings: He couldn’t get along with the others. But every time they got in trouble, who’d they turn to?
  • When it comes to hiring, number one for me is loyalty. I want a person who’s devoted to the task.
  • Lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way.
  • Don’t ever get so serious that you can’t laugh at yourself.
  • It thrills me to sing the national anthem.
  • If I can help, I wanna help.
  • The ability to have is so you can do things for others. If you can do things for others who are less fortunate, then it will come back to you.
  • I never ask a man to work harder than I work.
  • There are people who probably call me Boss as a joke. But most of the people who call me that, it’s respect.

 

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Top-10 most commonly confused words

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

    

The Merriam – Webster on-line dictionary has put together a very useful Top 10 List of the most commonly confused words. Here’s the list:

 

Flaunt / Flout

Affect / Effect

Deserts / Desserts

Stationary / Stationery

Flak / Flack

It’s / Its

Pore / Pour

Fewer / Less

Flounder / Founder

Principal / Principle

 

Here’s the link to the presentation:  

http://www.merriam-webster.com/top-ten-lists/top-10-commonly-confused-words/flaunt-flout.html

 

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Bureaucrats - a troubling piece of the Big Government puzzle

Sunday, July 25, 2010

     

In Angelo Persichilli’s Toronto Star column today, “No one bothers to watch the bureaucrats,” he rightly points out that our country’s bureaucrats have an easy way of it when it comes to doling out taxpayers’ money.  The unknown (largely unaccountable) bureaucrats hiding away in their Ottawa and Toronto office towers, are a troubling piece of the Big Government puzzle.

 

Persichilli’s insightful comments on this:

 

     Politicians and government appointees are heavily scrutinized by the media and opposition, who are continuously fed “brown envelopes.” And they can easily lose their jobs for an expensive dinner or for misusing their free mailing privileges.

     But we never pay attention to hundreds of decisions made daily by top bureaucrats awarding contracts without proper tendering procedures, thus wasting millions of dollars, and giving their friends thousands of dollars in useless consulting fees or rich and unjustified severance packages for themselves.

     This doesn’t mean that all senior bureaucrats are dishonest. In fact, the vast majority of civil servants work hard and take care of the interests of all Canadians.

     But just as not all politicians are honest, the same is true for senior bureaucrats, who have far more power than the politicians but are allowed to act without any scrutiny from media and opposition.

 

Angelo Persichilli’s column can be read here: http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/article/839643–persichilli-no-one-bothers-to-watch-the-bureaucrats

 

It is time to shine a bright light on our Canadian bureaucracy – federally and provincially. As the public sector continues to grow, hiring more civil servants, creating more government programs, and spending more and more taxpayers’ money – I think Canadians have a right to know more about the activities of their bureaucrats.

 

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Great musicians sharing, “What I’ve learned”

Friday, July 23, 2010

    

As a long-time reader of American magazine Esquire, I have always enjoyed the feature “What I’ve learned”.  This is an invaluable collection of wisdom from guest columnists on the lessons learned through life.

 

Here are a dozen gems from musicians Elvis Costello, Emmylou Harris and Ray Charles.

  • Songs are more powerful than books. – Elvis Costello
  • I’ve seen a lot of exotic places in my work and my traveling. But the place I still want to see is the place in somebody’s eyes. You know: Travel less, see more. – Elvis Costello
  • We’re all just animals. That’s all we are, and everything else is just an elaborate justification of our instincts. That’s where music comes from. And romantic poetry… – Elvis Costello
  • There are about five things to write songs about: I’m leaving you. You’re leaving me. I want you. You don’t want me. I believe in something. Five subjects, and twelve notes. For all that, we musicians do pretty well. – Elvis Costello
  • You have to lay yourself on the later to the muse. Because once she stops coming around, you’re really up the creek without a paddle. – Emmylou Harris
  • Everybody walking around on this planet has had their heart broken. And if they haven’t experienced tragedy, they’re headed for it. – Emmylou Harris
  • You have to learn compassion and forgiveness. But you still have to hold people to a certain standard – and hold yourself to that same standard. – Emmylou Harris
  • God is the big question mark. Heaven is the even bigger question mark. Death is just another question mark. – Emmylou Harris
  • The only thing I know how to do is make music. – Emmylou Harris
  • Music is about the only thing left that people don’t fight over. – Ray Charles
  • The piano is the foundation, and that’s it. – Ray Charles
  • With singing, the name of the game is to make yourself believable…. You make people feel things, emotions and whatnot. But you got to start with yourself. You got to feel it yourself. If you don’t feel it, how do you expect someone else to? – Ray Charles

 

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Motivational Verse: Promise Yourself

Friday, July 23, 2010

   

Promise yourself to be so strong that nothing can
disturb your peace of mind.

To talk health, happiness, and prosperity to
every person you meet.

To make all your friends feel like there is
something in them.

To look at the sunny side of everything and make your
optimism come true.

To think only of the best, to work only for the best,
and expect only the best.

To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others
as you are about your own.

To forget the mistakes of the past and press on the
greater achievements of the future.

To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give
every living person you meet a smile.

To give so much time to the improvement of yourself
that you have no time to criticize others.

To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, and too
strong for fear, and too happy to permit the
presence of trouble.

 

Promise Yourself is internationally known as the Optimists’ Creed

 

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