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

[Nadine in NY]

Oh how much fun is THIS to search for??!! Popsugar suggests "Big Brother" from 1984 (to be honest, I say "double plus ungood" a lot more often then I ever say "big brother"). And of course Shakespeare is a rich source of possibilities. And Arthur Conan Doyle borrowed "the play is afoot" from Shakespeare, but also contributed quite a few of his own phrases, from "it's elementary, dear Watson" to the more, er, scatalogical "no shit, Sherlock!" LOL okay maybe that didn't actually appear in Doyle's original text :-)

Here is a link to get you started in your search:
Famous Examples of Idioms in Literature

I'm sure there are A LOT more ideas in your heads!

[The Chapter Conundrum (Stacey)]

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...and then everything was right with the challenge again because I came across some non-shakespeare/dickens/19th century etc options!! =)

"One does not simply" ...(walk into Mordor) & "You shall not pass" from The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

"May the Odds be ever in your favour" from The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

There are so many trump memes related to The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood that I just can't even...and the book has several phrases I don't think I've seen anywhere else in literature: "may the lord open", "blessed be the fruit", "under his eye" & "praise be"

Fairly certain there are some popular expressions from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams but as I have yet to read it I can't be certain...

"This is SPARTA!" from 300 by Frank Miller

"Winter is coming" from A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

"You-know-who" from any of the Harry Potter books could arguably work here as well...while this isn't the first time the phrase is used, it's what gave the phrase it's common contemporary meaning

**EDITS** I just thought of "My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father...prepare to die!" & "As you wish" from The Princess Bride too! =D

"Tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet" from Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

[Linda]

Of course, Catch-22 comes to mind right away!

[Linda]

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 popul..."

Even the word "meme" itself came from The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins

[Linda]

I feel like Sophie's Choice would work for this. Has anyone read it? Would you recommend it?

[Nadine in NY]

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...."


That's an excellent idea!


Linda wrote: "... Even the word "meme" itself came from The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins ..."

nice! And that's a book I've got on my TBR! I knew Dawkins came up with the word, but I didn't know it was in a particular book.

[Nullifidian]

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 that Cervantes coined "the pot calling the kettle black", for that matter). Should I stop reading it now? I'm not very far into it, only about 100 pages, and it's almost 1,300 pages long. I can guarantee this is going to last me into 2019 even if I continue reading.

Otherwise, I could read The Sixteen Satires by Juvenal, because he coined the phrase "bread and circuses" in his 10th satire. This is another book I have in my TBR.

[Nadine in NY]

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..."

personally, I count any book I FINISH in the year of the challenge, whether or not I started it that year or originally intended for it to be a Challenge read. So it sounds like that works to me!

[Alisia]

We're not in Kansas anymore... The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Mad as A Hatter....Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

[Nullifidian]

Nadine wrote: "Nullifidian wrote: "So it sounds like that works to me!"

All right, then I'll press on. I'm hooked at this point and really didn't want to give it up. And I'll have Juvenal to fall back on in the unlikely event I finish earlier than expected.

[Katy]

Linda wrote: "I feel like Sophie's Choice would work for this. Has anyone read it? Would you recommend it?"

I read it a while back and I didn't care for it all that much. This is probably going to sound heartless, but I didn't find Sophie to be all that sympathetic. Yes, she went through really really really bad times and had to make a choice that nobody should ever have to make, and I wouldn't have wished her life on my worst enemy. But, I still just kind of hated her.

[Kristy]

Gulliver's Travels. Lilliputian is common, now.

[The Chapter Conundrum (Stacey)]

Linda wrote: "Even the word "meme" itself came from The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins"

I came across that in my research too but hesitated to include it because I think "idiom" and "phrase" are both always defined as a group of words.

Otherwise Dr. Seuss came up with the word Nerd in "If I Ran the Zoo and "tween" was originally from The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

[Linda]

Stacey wrote: "Linda wrote: "Even the word "meme" itself came from The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins"

I came across that in my research too but hesitated to include it because I think "idiom" and "phrase" are both always defined as a group of words.
..."

Yeah, I had the same hesitation. So, take it as supplementary information, not as a suggestion of a book to read for the prompt. ;-)

[Theresa]

A Wrinkle in Time - it was a dark and stormy night
A Tale of Two Cities - it was tbe best of times, it was the worst of times.

[Tytti]

Theresa wrote: "A Wrinkle in Time - it was a dark and stormy night"

That comes from Paul Clifford.

[Arielle]

If someone's looking for something that is non-Fiction and political, I think Michelle Alexander's"The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, qualifies for this prompt.

[Theresa]

Tytti wrote: "Theresa wrote: "A Wrinkle in Time - it was a dark and stormy night"

That comes from Paul Clifford."

It also opens A Wrinkle in Time which is how most of us know and use it.

[Theresa]

Busy as a bee is from Chaucer - Squire's Tale

The Beautiful and Damned - I'll be there with bell's on

[poshpenny]

Theresa wrote: "It also opens A Wrinkle in Time which is how most of us know and use it"

Nope. I know it from Peanuts. It Was a Dark and Stormy Night, Snoopy

[Theresa]

The Horse Whisperer and The Story of Doctor Doolittle - the titles themselves have certainly been absorbed into common use as descriptive terms for some one with animals

[Eve]

I found some information on the origin of the phrase "It was a dark and stormy night..."! https://www.mprnews.org/story/2015/10...

[Tracy]

" Stay Gold" -The Outsiders

thats my plan and Im running with it ( if I have time)

[The Chapter Conundrum (Stacey)]

Tracy wrote: "" Stay Gold" -The Outsiders

thats my plan and Im running with it ( if I have time)"

Oooh that's a good one! =)

I'm already rereading that next year for A-Z and I'm rather excited about it!

[El]

I'm going to read Hamlet for this prompt - "To be, or not to be", "brevity is the soul of wit"

[Joyce]

I'm thinking A Clockwork Orange which gave rise to the expression "ultra violence" an over-used media phrase to describe video games and films.

[Tytti]

Theresa wrote: "It also opens A Wrinkle in Time which is how most of us know and use it."

But it was already famous (or a cliche) at the time and that's why she used it in the first place. And I know it from Peanuts, as well.

[Charlsa]

I think this would work as well.

Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders. This is the story of the Charles Manson murders. I read it years ago.

There are also several others books with this same title, so you could use it for that prompt as well.

[Linda]

Charlsa wrote: "I think this would work as well.

Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders. This is the story of the Charles Manson murders. I read it years ago.

There are also several o..."

What phrase or idiom did the book inspire?

[Johanne]

The terms a catch-22 from Catch-22 by Joseph Heller and a kafkaesque situation from any Kafka work, though in my mind it relates mainly to The Trial because kafkaesque is often used about bureaucracy.

[Anna]

I think Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead would work, it's become an expression now

[Raquel (Silver Valkyrie Reads)]

Here are some ideas for Charlotte Brontë books--apparently Shirley was the first book known to use the phrase 'wild west'. (Though, it was probably in popular verbal use before that, so it depends on how you're counting it.)

https://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2...

[Raquel (Silver Valkyrie Reads)]

Actually, I think I'll use Peter Pan for this, since 'never never land' is a pretty common phrase at this point.

[Jenny]

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 popul..."

I may use The Handmaid's Tale Thanks!

[Hope]

The play The Melting Pot Drama in Four Acts apparently popularized the term which is still often used in USA today.

[Cendaquenta]

I might try to get a copy of Gas Light, which (via a movie adaptation) introduced the term "gaslighting" to describe psychological abuse.

[Tracy]

Cendaquenta wrote: "I might try to get a copy of Gas Light, which (via a movie adaptation) introduced the term "gaslighting" to describe psychological abuse."

Oh good one, but triggering and scary for me. I meant to watch the movie, maybe I'll do that tonight. I had no idea it was a book.

[Madhura]

Would Rebecca work for this?
"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again"

[Nadine in NY]

I've quickly gone from "how much FUN" to "I am SO cranky" hahahahah I can't find anything good for this one. I think I'm just going to read Twelfth Night.

[L Y N N]

Arielle wrote: "If someone's looking for something that is non-Fiction and political, I think Michelle Alexander's"The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness,..."

Excellent suggestion! And what a wonderfully eye-opening read!

[VanesGirl]

I found this one :

"Goody two shoes"

Good two shoes comes from a Christian retelling of Cinderella, a nursery tale named The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes, published in 1765. The poor orphan of the title only has one shoe – but is given two shoes by a rich man as a reward for her virtue.

Goody Two-Shoes

[Dani]

I found this link that has some more suggestions for common phrases
http://flavorwire.com/430857/the-grea...

[Hope]

Dani wrote: "I found this link that has some more suggestions for common phrases
http://flavorwire.com/430857/the-grea..."
Great list! I think I'll do Catch-22 but at least now I know I've got options.

Probably can't go wrong with Shakespeare either, especially the better known plays.

[Rachael]

Linda wrote: "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 goo..."

Damn, if I'd known the creation of the word meme was in that book, I would have struggled past the first chapter! (This is just personal taste, I hate Dawkins as a person, and I find his writing irritating)

[Nadine in NY]

Rachael wrote: "... (This is just personal taste, I hate Dawkins as a person, and I find his writing irritating)

LOL!! I hate him as a person, but I find his writing very readable. It's such a struggle for me, I hate him, I don't want to like reading him!!

[Shannon]

Dani wrote: "I found this link that has some more suggestions for common phrases
http://flavorwire.com/430857/the-grea..."

Thanks for the link! I think it is time for me to finally read The Great Gatsby

[Ellie]

I am really tempted to go buy an idiom dictionary, the only options I can think of (avoiding plays and re-reads) are Brave New World and Catch-22.

[Joyce]

I don't really know if it's in common usage or not but I find myself referring to things as "a bit picture in the attic" (from The Picture of Dorian Gray), most recently to describe the mess of belongings my daughter left behind when moving into her pristine new flat.

[Kenya]

Man, I struggled with this one until someone mentioned "Gulliver's Travels," which I happen to have on my Kindle but haven't gotten to yet. Thanks.

[Christine]

Stranger in a Strange Land (grok)
The Time Machine (time machine)
Rocannon's World / The Dispossessed / The Left Hand of Darkness (ansible)
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Treasure Island (every pirate thing in modern western culture)
Dracula (practically every vampire thing in modern western culture)

And a few that created instantly recognizable terms in the productivity space:
Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing (Konmari)

And of course the treasure troves that are Holy Bible: King James Version, all of Shakespeare, and probably the writings of Benjamin Franklin

Oh! And Hamilton: The Revolution (Rise up, I am not throwin' away my shot, Wait for it, etc. probably count as common phrases by now!)