misquotations

misquotations

Many catchphrases and allusive expressions are based on altered forms of literary quotations. The proverb Every dog has his day is based on a 16c adage translated from the Dutch humanist Erasmus (1500) and was given currency by a line spoken by Shakespeare's Hamlet:

• Let Hercules himself do what he may, The cat shall mew, and dog will have his day —Shakespeare, Hamlet, v.i.286.

The idiom to escape by the skin of one's teeth is an altered form of the Authorized Version of Job 19:20: I am escaped with the skin of my teeth. Idiom and allusion go their own way in language; however, it is important to give the correct form when the allusion is given as a quotation. The following table lists the correct forms of some of the more common literary extracts, with the popular versions alongside:

quotation / popular form / source

In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread / by the sweat of one's brow / Bible, Genesis 3:19

I am escaped with the skin of my teeth / to escape by the skin of one's teeth / Bible, Job 19:20

To gild refined gold, to paint the lily / to gild the lily / Shakespeare, King John

A goodly apple rotten at the heart / rotten at the core / Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice

But yet I'll make assurance double sure / doubly sure / Shakespeare, Macbeth

Tomorrow to fresh woods and pastures new / fresh fields and pastures new / Milton, Lycidas

They kept the noiseless tenor of their way / the even tenor / Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Church-Yard

A little learning is a dangerous thing / a little knowledge / Pope, Essay on Criticism

The best laid schemes o' mice an' men Gang aft a-gley / the best-laid plans / Burns, ‘To a Mouse’

Water, water, every where, Nor any drop to drink / And not a drop to drink / Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat / blood, sweat, and tears / Winston Churchill, Hansard, 1940