The Shakespearean play-goer who complained of the cliches

[Jonathan Lighter]

I thought you meant a _Shakespearean_ play-goer (rather than a
"Shakespearean" play-goer).

Now *that* would be a find!

JL

On Wed, Sep 24, 2014 at 4:07 AM, ADSGarson O'Toole <
adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: The Shakespearean play-goer who complained of the cliches
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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:
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> > 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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> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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