49 - A book that has inspired a common phrase or idiom

[Lynna]

"my man Friday"
from Robinson Crusoe

[Bert]

Three Musketeers: One for All and All for One.

Dracula: The Children of the Night.

Frankenstein's Monster: It's Alive.

Green Eggs and Ham: I would not eat them. And Sam I am.

The Raven: Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

[Soph ♡]

Really struggling with this prompt to find a book that takes my fancy, but just found a few out of which I'm sure I can pick something 😊

"There is some good in this world, and it’s worth fighting for." - The Two Towers

"Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History" - Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History

"Every human life is worth the same, and worth saving." - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

"Get busy living, or get busy dying." - Different Seasons

"The goal isn’t to live forever, the goal is to create something that will." - Diary

"Travel far enough, you meet yourself." - Cloud Atlas

"None of us really changes over time. We only become more fully what we are" - The Vampire Lestat

"Most people are nice when you finally see them." - To Kill a Mockingbird

"Don’t panic." - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

"All endings are also beginnings. We just don’t know it at the time." - The Five People You Meet in Heaven

"When someone leaves, it’s because someone else is about to arrive." - The Zahir

"It’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then." - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

"The only limits for tomorrow are the doubts we have today." - The Power of Six

"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

"Not all those who wander are lost." - The Fellowship of the Ring

"If you’re making mistakes it means you’re out there doing something" - Make Good Art

"To define is to limit." - The Picture of Dorian Gray

"If you don’t imagine, nothing ever happens at all." - Paper Towns

"Everything is possible. The impossible just takes longer." - Digital Fortress

"So many things are possible just as long as you don’t know they’re impossible." - The Phantom Tollbooth

"You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from." - No Country for Old Men

"We must all face the choice between what is right and what is easy." - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

"Nothing that’s worthwhile is ever easy." - Message in a Bottle

"Anything worth dying for is certainly worth living for." - Catch-22

"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us." - The Fellowship of the Ring


I think I'm going to go with The Five People You Meet in Heaven

[Krissy]

Lindi wrote: "I hope you get on better with Casino Royale than I did. Go into it with an objective mind- Fleming's treatment/portrayal of women was hard for me to stand"

That's very discouraging :/

[Lindi]

Krissy wrote: "That's very discouraging :/"

I'm sorry!! I didn't want to put you off.. but if you want to save yourself here are some of his worst quotes from the books. The first one is from Casino Royale and you should have seen my face when I was listening to the audiobook lol. I don't always put a "progressive" lens on everything I read, but even for the time, there are, uh, nicer ways to say a woman belongs in the kitchen.

I found the story a little boring, but it's pretty short so if you're still intrigued it's not a time suck. Just thought I would share!!

[Nadine in NY]

Holy crap. I am now pretty certain I'll never read a Bond book. I mean, there's dated, and then there's ... this.

[Rachel]

I have no idea what I'll read for this one, but I'm starting to get confused about what really counts as an idiom. Many of the examples mentioned in the thread are great quotes, but I'm not sure they'd be classified as idioms. Of course, everyone is free to choose what they want and I'm not trying to criticize anyone's choice, I'm just a little confused about what the definition is.

[Raquel (Silver Valkyrie Reads)]

Rachel wrote: "I have no idea what I'll read for this one, but I'm starting to get confused about what really counts as an idiom. Many of the examples mentioned in the thread are great quotes, but I'm not sure th..."

It does also say 'common phrase' so I would count anything that people quote or use in conversation enough that it's easily recognizable.

[Lynna]

Utopia

[Ellie]

Lindi wrote: "I'm sorry!! I didn't want to put you off.. but if you want to save yourself here are some of his worst quotes from the books. The first one is from Casi..."

Wow, these are bad. I always knew they were sexist and racist because I've seen most of the films, but they seem so mild compared to what he actually wrote!

[Sarah]

Don Quixote is a good choice - "tilting at windmills" is a very common idiom.

"A perfect storm" was coined to mean a confluence of events to create a worst case scenario by Sebastian Junger in his book by the same name.

"Live off the fat of the land" is from Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck.

The term "Achilles heel" is from the Illiad, which is a pretty good read.

[Lindi]

Nadine wrote: "Holy crap. I am now pretty certain I'll never read a Bond book. I mean, there's dated, and then there's ... this."

Yeah, if I can save anyone I can I will LOL

[Rachel]

Raquel wrote: "Rachel wrote: "I have no idea what I'll read for this one, but I'm starting to get confused about what really counts as an idiom. Many of the examples mentioned in the thread are great quotes, but ..."

I think that's where I'm getting confused. For example, there are some amazing Harry Potter quotes above but I wouldn't necessarily view them as commonly used.

[Raquel (Silver Valkyrie Reads)]

Rachel wrote: "Raquel wrote: "Rachel wrote: "I have no idea what I'll read for this one, but I'm starting to get confused about what really counts as an idiom. Many of the examples mentioned in the thread are gre..."

Yeah, there were a few that I've never heard used in conversation, but maybe that depends on what circles you spend time in? I definitely know which ones your talking about now though, I guess I just mentally discounted and then ignored them originally.

[Jackie]

I think I'm probably going to go super old school with this just to avoid any internal debate about whether or not a phrase counts as 'common'. Maybe time to pick up an unread Shakespeare play. Perhaps The Tempest...

[Therese]

I just finished reading Hamlet and here are some phrases that have become common to us and should fit this prompt, as does the play All’s Well That Ends Well.
Never a borrower or a lender be
To thine own self be true
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark
What a piece of work humanity is
To be or not to be
Get thee to a nunnery
The lady doth protest too much, methinks

[SadieReadsAgain]

This one is so hard! I can't even find any decent lists when I Google it. I've already read Catch 22, 1984, Clockwork Orange, and none of the others mentioned here (except maybe Gaslight) are doing it for me. I really don't want to read Shakespeare...

Does a character's name, which is now used to describe a certain type of person, count? Like Little Lord Fauntleroy?

[Theresa]

Jess wrote: "With regards to "It was a dark and stormy night". I was sure that this phrase came from the poem The Highwayman. However, I just looked the poem up and it doesn't actually say this phrase. Here is ..."

I was obsessed with it too! There is such a romantism to it that speaks to girls of a certain age I think.

[Theresa]

Serendipity wrote: "I've made my decision in a fairly roundabout and backward way. My original plan was to read whichever play was going to be performed in my city's Shakespeare in the park event in a couple of months..."

Glenda Jackson is performing a gender-bending King Lear in NYC spring of 2019. Your timing is thus perfect and I will be your proxy at the show.😁

[Theresa]

The Bonfire of the Vanities has cropped up in discussions lately for various reasons, and I realized it fits here...for originating "social x-rays" and "masters of the universe" I believe. And if you hated the movie you might still like the book. The movie was terrible, wildly miscast among other problems.

[superkalifragilistischexplialigetisch]

I‘m going with a classic: Shakespeare‘s Romeo and Juliet. (It was the nightingale and not the lark)

I’ll have to read it with my 10th graders anyway in 2019...

[Andrea]

As soon as I saw this prompt, I immediately thought of my favorite book Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

[Lisa]

"Alice's Adventures In Wonderland" - Lewis Carroll

[Megan]

superkalifragilistischexplialigetisch wrote: "I‘m going with a classic: Shakespeare‘s Romeo and Juliet. (It was the nightingale and not the lark)

I’ll have to read it with my 10th graders anyway in 2019..."

I’ve never heard the phrase “It was the nightingale and not the lark“

[Lori]

Works by Dashiell Hammett or Raymond Chandler are a good fit.

[SadieReadsAgain]

I've changed my mind, and am going with Peter Pan.

[Nicole]

Megan wrote: "superkalifragilistischexplialigetisch wrote: "I‘m going with a classic: Shakespeare‘s Romeo and Juliet. (It was the nightingale and not the lark)

I’ll have to read it with my 10th graders anyway i...

I’ve never heard the phrase “It was the nightingale and not the lark“"

Lol, whats your point? I'm sure there are plenty of common phrases and idioms I never heard about too, but that doesn't mean they don't exist or don't count.
I guess from the username that superkalifragilistischexplialigetisch is german and the german translation "Es war die Nachtigall und nicht die Lerche" is actually a pretty common saying in Germany.

[Tabitha]

I'm using The Return of the King for Eowyn's 'I am no man!' line since that seems to be something I see often enough along with 'You shall not pass', etc.

[Nicole]

@Monkiecat
It just means it's not that late yet, we still have time.
Like when Juliet told Romeo it's not morning yet and he can stay a little longer.

[Megan]

Nicole wrote: "Megan wrote: "superkalifragilistischexplialigetisch wrote: "I‘m going with a classic: Shakespeare‘s Romeo and Juliet. (It was the nightingale and not the lark)

I’ll have to read it with my 10th gr..."

My point is, it’s not a common idiom. I would say the phrase “oh Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?” is a lot more recognizable than “it was the nightingale and not the lark”.

[Johanne]

Megan wrote: "...My point is, it’s not a common idiom. I would say the phrase “oh Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?” is a lot more recognizable than “it was the nightingale and not the lark” ..."

The thing with idioms is that they may be common to some people/groups/areas etc. and not others. If they have to be worldwide common to all age groups, interests etc. there are not many possibilities. So I think this is up to the person to interpret - i.e. if a phrase is common to the group of people/country/profession you circulate in, I would count it.
And on a sidenote I have heard “it was the nightingale and not the lark” before. I had forgotten what it meant, but then again I am not a native English speaker.

[Stephanie]

This was so hard! I don't want to read Shakespeare and many of the other choices mentioned are too long or I don't want to reread them.

I am just now finishing Pollyanna, which would definitely fit. Then I thought of The Emperor's New Clothes and decided to read a collection of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales that include that story for this prompt.

[Raquel (Silver Valkyrie Reads)]

Ooh, it just occurred to me that How the Grinch Stole Christmas! counts here, since calling people Grinch is about as common now as calling them Scrooge.

There are probably other Dr. Seuss books that count too, if you're looking for an easy way out of this prompt. The Lorax maybe?

[Patricia]

I have thinking about Animal Farm or 1984.

[Jen]

Patricia wrote: "I have thinking about Animal Farm or 1984."

If you haven't read either based on your shelves and the types of book you seem to like best I'd probably go 1984. I sort of like both but Animal farm is confronting in a different way to 1984 and is more in your face. 1984 you have to think a bit before it shows how confronting it is, it doesn't slap you upside the head.

[Katzi]

I am bending this category a little bit to my will and will read Katzentisch for this prompt.. „Katzentisch“ (side table, extra table for kids or single persons at a wedding etc) is in itself a kind of idiom so.. I already have it at home and I think it fits ;) though the word didn’t originate from that book

[Megan]

Nullifidian wrote: "Actually, I may just go for Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes, but the awkward thing is that I've started the book before I knew the content of this challenge (or th..."

Don Quixote is my choice.

[Rachel]

Raquel wrote: "Ooh, it just occurred to me that How the Grinch Stole Christmas! counts here, since calling people Grinch is about as common now as calling them Scrooge.

There are probably other [a..."

Great idea! I didn't even think about using a children's book.

[Cendaquenta]

Apparently O. Henry coined the term "banana republic". It first appeared somewhere in the collection "Cabbages and Kings".

[Megan]

I don't know if it's been posted, but "May the odds be ever in your favor" and "I volunteer as tribute!" have become well known.
The Hunger Games

[Cheryl]

I picked "off base". or ;)

[Megan]

Cheryl wrote: "I picked "off base". or ;)"

But did that book specifically *inspire* the phrase off-base?

[Julie]

This is a tough prompt for me because I've read so many of the books that inspired common phrases/idioms, and the rest I really don't have much desire to read. I'll keep looking, but if I can't find anything else, I might be stretching / cheating just a bit to read Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

It popularized the phrase "two tears in a bucket" as far as I can tell. Granted, the phrase was first heard from George Clinton in the movie House Party, 2 years before this book came out, though the phrase was said somewhat differently in both cases. I'm also guessing it may be an older saying that originated long before either Midnight or House Party, I just can't find any more information on its origin (if anyone else knows, feel free to chime in!). But since its popularity seems to be linked to Midnight in the Garden as far as I can tell, I might just allow that "stretch".

[Erin]

Stacey wrote: "I am someone who HATES reading works that aren't in modern english and that aren't current or at least really relatable so I had a bit of a hard time with this prompt...

UNTIL I googled most popular memes."

You are brilliant!!

[Andrea]

I think Stepford Wives fits here

[Kerry]

I am currently reading Les Misérables and in this specific edition he talks about Lecouffe & his mother arguing & a man yells at them "Don't cry over spoilt milk" and it is in this particular edition. It is worded differently in my kindle edition. Does anyone know if this saying came from Les Mis?

[Nadine in NY]

It looks like crying over spilled milk has been an idiom in English for centuries before Les Mis. https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/20...

[Nadine in NY]

Monkiecat wrote: "I decided to go with Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy for this one - it's not so much idioms as spy jargon that le Carre invented, only for the words to become part of real spy talk, wh..."

that's very cool!!

[Kerry]

Nadine wrote: "It looks like crying over spilled milk has been an idiom in English for centuries before Les Mis. https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/20..."

Thank you Nadine! I will read a Shakespeare book for this one.

[Darci]

I'm going with Alice's Adventures in Wonderland for this one.