Wordy Wednesday

February 29, 2012 at 9:00 am | Posted in Wordy Wednesday | Leave a comment

“I’m hot-blooded, check it and see/ I got a fever of a hundred and three/ Come on baby do you do more than dance/ I’m hot blooded, I’m hot blooded”

… And now that I have this Foreigner song stuck in your head I will disappoint you by telling you that the phrase “hot blooded” was actually coined by Shakespeare!

The phrase “hot blooded” or “hot bloodied” appears in two of  Shakespeare’s plays, and describes a person or persons who have a passionate nature, or are quick-tempered.

In King Lear Act II Scene iv Lear says:

Return with her?
Why the hot-blooded France, that dowerless took
Our youngest borne, I could as well be brought
To knee his Throne, and Squire-like pension beg,
To keep base life a foot; return with her?

And in The Merry Wives of Windsor Act V Scene v Falstaff says:

The Windsor-bell hath stroke twelve: the Minute
draws-on: Now the hot-bloodied-Gods assist me:
Remember Jove, thou was’t a Bull for thy Europa, Love set on thy horns.

Do you know anyone you would describe as hot-blooded? Do you know any other songs that use phrases from Shakespeare? Post them here, and maybe you’ll see them in a future Wordy Wednesday post!