POPULAR MISQUOTATIONS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18724, 30 November 1922, Page 8

POPULAR MISQUOTATIONS

Many lines of Shakespeare have passed into the conversation of every-day life, and not a few of these have suffered by reason of their popularity. Here are a few examples ; —“Though there be madness, yet there’s method in it,” is what Shakespeare wrote. The man in the street, says: “Thero’s method in his madness.” In the “Tempest” we find (says the Pall Mall Gazette) “We are such stuff as dreams are made on.” This is usually misquoted as: “We are sucji stuff as dreams are mad© of,” a. form of expression which only came into use after Shakespeare’s time. Macbeth’s words: “I have suuped full with horrors.” Instead of using the word “with” here, it is usually exchanged for “of,” by no means an imnrovement. Another line from “Macbeth” has suffered a double injury at the hands of the careless: “And damned be him’that first criest hold, enough!” This is frequent.lv misquoted as: “And damned be he who first calls hold, enough!” In these days of heavy income tax and compulsory economy, the words in “Romeo and Juliet’’: ‘'My poverty, but not my will, consents.” come home to many as a personal opinion. Tn the misquotation usually heard, this line becomes; “My poverty, and not my will, consents,” is an entirely different statement. Even Shakesneare’s plavs are sometimes misnamed. “Love’s labours Lost” to invariably spoken of as “Love’s Labour Lost,” a change, but not for the better.