Why do people say "The world is my oyster"?

[cosmolinguist]

Or, at least, why do I say it? I don't even like oysters.

A while ago, I only had 20 or 30 LiveJournal friends, and I wanted more. So I looked out for cool people, and added them to my list when I found them. Soon, I had 60 or so. Wow, I thought. Sixty? That's a lot. I'm not the type to bother with filters; I like to read about all my friends, and sity people was enough to keep up with, even if most of them don't write a lot. So I stopped lokoing so hard for new friends.

But I still find people who are irresistably cool. Sometimes, they even find me--something that always delights me; I think it's kind of a nice compliment for me to be added by a random person. A couple of my real-life friends recently acquired journals. So now I'm up to something like 72 friends.

Darn it, you people should stop being so cool and interesting! I mrean really, look at what I have to read now: a 4-H fun bus, a "Where are They Now?" for Star Wars characters, more than one language that I don't speak, theories on the longevity of people inclined to consume many alcoholic beverages ... Who could fail to be intrigued by this?

Comments

[kratkrat.livejournal.com]

And one of your new friends, the colossal dork, can address at least part of your post...

From a listing on the Phrase Finder (http://phrases.shu.ac.uk/bulletin_board/7/messages/127.html), we see that once again we owe common language to The Bard:

: THE WORLD IS AN (ONE’S) OYSTER – “If you have a lot of money, you can have anything you want. The proverb first appears in Shakespeare’s play ‘The Merry Wives of Windsor’ (1600)…'Falstaff: I will not lend thee a penny. Pistol: Why, then, the world’s mine oyster, Which I with sword will open.' Act II, Scene II.” From “Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings” (1996) by Gregory Y. Titelman (Random House, New York, 1996).

: A second reference says the phrase means: “All the pleasures and opportunities of life are open to someone because he is young, rich, handsome, successful, etc. Shakespeare invented or popularized this expression…” From “Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins” by Robert Hendrickson (Facts on File, New York, 1997).

[cosmolinguist]

You don't really think you're a dork, do you?

You better not, because I think this is cool. I really did wonder about that when I caught myself using the phrase--a bit ironically, but using it all the same--a couple of days ago.

[kratkrat.livejournal.com]

You don't really think you're a dork, do you?

Sure I do. But that's not necessarily a bad thing... more of a "march to the beat of my own drummer" thing. And one could look askance at me for latching on to that one point out of the entirety of your post, couldn't one? [GRIN]

[angel-thane.livejournal.com]

Because when you crack that sucka open (2014, asteroid smashing into earth) you might find a pearl!

[skarphedinn.livejournal.com]

What's more, I got all enthusiastic when you replied ro one of my posts, like you were some celebrity goddess of the livejournals. So more power to you and your "adding random people" thing.

[cosmolinguist]

Your effusive compliments are most interesting. Goddess, eh? I don't know if I'd go that far, but I appreciate the sentiment. (Unless you're just trying to make me feel all warm and fuzzy so I'll leave comments for you more often. Ha! I'm on to you!)

[scarlett-harlot.livejournal.com]

Personally I always wondered about "fit as a fiddle". I mean how fit is a fiddle anyway??

*heartily promises to be dull and boring in her entries from now on*...hmm, there are people on my friends list who'd believe I made that promise a year ago *g*....