salad days
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salad days
pl.n.
A time of youth, innocence, and inexperience: "my salad days,/When I was green in judgment, cold in blood" (Shakespeare).
[Coined by William Shakespeare.]
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salad days
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salad days
noun
- The time of life between childhood and maturity: adolescence, greenness, juvenescence, juvenility, puberty, spring, youth, youthfulness. See youth/age/maturity.
American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms:
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salad days
The time of youth, innocence, and inexperience, as in Back in our salad days we went anywhere at night, never thinking about whether it was safe or not. This expression, alluding to the greenness of inexperience, was probably invented by Shakespeare in Antony and Cleopatra (1:5), when Cleopatra, now enamored of Antony, speaks of her early admiration for Julius Caesar as foolish: "My salad days, when I was green in judgment, cold in blood."
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categories related to 'salad days'
- Fixed Times - salad days: time of youth, exuberance, or innocence
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Salad days
For other uses, see Salad Days (disambiguation).
"Salad days" is an idiomatic expression, referring to a youthful time, accompanied by the inexperience, enthusiasm, idealism, innocence, or indiscretion that one associates with a young person. More modern use, especially in the United States, refers to a person's heyday when somebody was at the peak of his/her abilities—not necessarily in that person's youth.
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Contents
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History
The phrase was coined in Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra in 1606.[1] In the speech at the end of Act One in which Cleopatra is regretting her youthful dalliances with Julius Caesar she says:[2]
- "...My salad days, / When I was green in judgment, cold in blood..."
The phrase became popular only from the middle of the 19th century, coming to mean “a period of youthful inexperience or indiscretion." The metaphor comes from Cleopatra's use of the word 'green' — presumably meaning someone youthful, inexperienced, or immature. Her references to "green in judgment" and "cold in blood" both suggest qualities of salads. [3]
Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English Usage summarizes several other possible meanings of the metaphor:
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- Whether the point is that youth, like salad, is raw, or that salad is highly flavoured and youth loves high flavours, or that innocent herbs are youth's food as milk is babes' and meat is men's, few of those who use the phrase could perhaps tell us; if so, it is fitter for parrots' than for human speech.[4]
Usage
Queen Elizabeth II during her Silver Jubilee Loyal Address, referring to her vow to God and her people in her ascension to the Throne when she was 25. "Although that vow was made in my salad days, when I was green in judgement, I do not regret nor retract one word of it"
"Aboard one Zodiac, Frank Hewetson, a 20-year Greenpeace veteran who in his salad days as a protester scaled the first BP deepwater oil rigs off Scotland, tried to direct his pilot toward the net so that he could throw a daisy chain of sandbags over its floating edge and allow the bluefin to escape."[5]
In the 1987 Joel and Ethan Coen film Raising Arizona, Nicolas Cage as H.I. “Hi” McDunnough uses the expression twice in the first few minutes of the film. Speaking as the background voice-over rather than as a character, he first says, “These were the happy days, the salad days as they say, and Ed felt that having a critter was the next logical step. It was all she thought about.” A few moments later, again as the voice-over, he says, “Our love for each other was stronger than ever, but I preminisced [sic] no return of the salad days.”
Procol Harum has a song on their eponymous debut album entitled "Salad Days (Are Here Again)".
The phrase is used in the Spandau Ballet song Gold: "These are my salad days, slowly being eaten away"
In 1985, Washington, DC hardcore punk band Minor Threat released the song "Salad Days" reflecting on days of spirited youth in contrast to a time of adult disillusionment.
Episode 33 of the television series Monty Python's Flying Circus is called Salad Days.
The phrase has been used as the title of several books, including the novels Salad Days by Francoise Sagan[6] and by Charles Romalotti[7], the autobiography The Salad Days by Douglas Fairbanks Jr.,[8] and numerous cookbooks.[9][10]
The phrase is also used in the track "Spotlight (Oh Nostalgia)" from Patrick Stump's Truant Wave EP. "Oh nostalgia I don't need you anymore. 'Cause the salad days are over and the meat is at my door."
See also
References
- ^ Jack, Albert (2005). Red herrings and white elephants: the origins of the phrases we use everyday. HarperCollins. pp. 44. ISBN 978-0-06-084337-3. http://books.google.com/books?id=NSMq-PhYVq4C&lpg=PA44&dq=%22Salad%20days%22%20phrase&pg=PA44#v=onepage&q=%22Salad%20days%22%20phrase&f=false. Retrieved 2011-04-28. "The phrase is a simple one with a simple origin provided, once again, by Shakespeare. In 1606 the Bard wrote the play Antony And Cleopatra, which includes the line: 'They were my salad days, when I was green in judgement.'"
- ^ Michael Macrone (1990), "Salad Days", Brush up your Shakespeare!, pp. 126–127, ISBN 978-0-517-18935-1
- ^ Walker, John Louis (2002). Shakespeare and the classical tradition: an annotated bibliography, 1961-1991. New York: Routledge. p. 340. ISBN 0-8240-6697-9. http://books.google.com/books?id=q3Voi0Dk_HwC&pg=PA340&dq=%22salad+days%22+shakespeare&hl=en&ei=FsXATc7zFIGtgQfGyMDoBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CFAQ6AEwBzgK#v=onepage&q=%22salad%20days%22%20shakespeare&f=false. Retrieved May 3, 2011.
- ^ Fowler, H. W. A Dictionary of Modern English Usage Oxford Univ Press, 1926.
- ^ Paul Greenberg (June 21, 2010). "Tuna's End". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/27/magazine/27Tuna-t.html. Retrieved 2010-06-24.
- ^ Sagan, Francoise, Salad Days, Dutton Adult, 1984, ISBN 0-525-24238-4
- ^ Romalotti, Charles, Salad Days, Layman Press, 2000, ISBN
- ^ Fairbanks, Douglas, Jr., Salad Days, Doubleday, 1988, ISBN 978-0-385-17404-6
- ^ Desaulnier, Marcel, Salad Days: Main Course Salads for a First Class Meal, Simon & Schuster, 1998, ISBN 978-0-684-82261-7
- ^ Powell, Pam, Salad Days: Recipes for Delicious Organic Salads and Dressings for Every Season, Voyageur Press, 2011, ISBN 0-7603-4043-9
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American Heritage Dictionary
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Roget's Thesaurus
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary Copyright © 1995 byHoughton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Random House Word Menu
© 2010 Write Brothers Inc. Word Menu is a registered trademark of the Estate of Stephen Glazier.
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Mentioned in
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(1985 Album by Minor Threat)
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Moments in Grace
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