[Ads-l] Inquiry about template in Shakespeare: X me no x's

[Jesse Sheidlower]

See Dale B. J. Randall, "X Me No X's: Some Examples (Mainly from the Renaissance) of the Neologizing Imperative Retort", _American Speech_ Vol. 64, No. 3 (Autumn, 1989), pp. 233-243.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/455591

Jesse Sheidlower

On Thu, Oct 15, 2026 at 09:36:14PM -0400, ADSGarson O'Toole wrote:
> I received an interesting inquiry about a template employed by William
> Shakespeare. Is anyone familiar with this template? Are there examples
> before Shakespeare's works?
> 
> [Begin request sent to Garson]
> I am trying to determine the origin of the phrase type "x me no
> x's"--for example, "riddle me no riddles."
> 
> I have found two instances in Shakespeare, one in Romeo and Juliet:
> "Thank me no thanking, nor proud me no proud."--and one in Richard II:
> "Grace me no grace, nor uncle me no uncle." Interesting, that both are
> double, and both use singular nouns. So you see, I've done a little of
> the work myself.
> 
> But can you think of any earlier versions?
> [End request sent to Garson]
> 
> I did not find anything pertinent when I performed a quick search in
> Early English Books Online, but the search was incomplete.
> 
> Thanks for any help,
> Garson O'Toole
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org