The Shakespearean play-goer who complained of the cliches

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Thanks for introducing an interesting topic, Benjamin. Here is an
instance of the same core joke in 1936, I think. Perhaps the jest can
be antedated back to the 1600s.

[ref] 1936 October 17, Ballston Spa Daily Journal, My New York by
James Aswell, Quote Page 4, Column 2, Ballston Spa, New York. (Old
Fulton)[/ref]

[Begin excerpt]
Leslie Howard has hung out his Shakespearean shingle in one theater
and the English marvel, John Gielgud, is holding forth in another. . .
. A pert debbie, attending the Gielgud interpretation the other night,
quipped in the lobby: "But how can anyone listen to all those old saws
and ancient wisecracks they've been hearing all their lives?" . . .
Well, a lot of people go to Shakespeare to recognize the quotations.
[End excerpt]

The last quip in the passage above, "people go to Shakespeare to
recognize the quotations", is nowadays assigned to Orson Welles or
Oscar Wilde. For example, Richard Lederer implausibly attributes the
remark to Oscar Wilde.

Garson

On Tue, Sep 23, 2014 at 9:12 PM, Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at ix.netcom.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at IX.NETCOM.COM>
> Subject:      The Shakespearean play-goer who complained of the cliches
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Evidently in _The Miracle of Language_ (see "A Man of Fire-New Words", =
> http://www2.d125.org/~rtompson/lederer.pdf), 1991, Richard Lederer says:
>
> -----
> A student who attended a performance of Hamlet came away complaining =
> that the play "was nothing more than a bunch of cliches." The reason for =
> this common reaction...
> -----
>
> I recall first seeing this about 1992 or 1993, but my recollection is =
> that it was an elderly woman who said this.
>
> This might be worth researching for those who have an interest in such =
> developments.
>
> Benjamin Barrett
> Formerly of Seattle, WA
>
> Learn Ainu! https://sites.google.com/site/aynuitak1/home=
>
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