Look Smart Trivia: Shakespearean Words

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Shakespeare’s traditional reputation for flowery language tends to overpower the fact that he originated countless, varied English words that any well-read person uses all the time. Whether he coined these more homely and informal words or was just the first to write them down, his unrivaled influence on everyday English is unquestionable. I’ve used at least ten of them in this paragraph already. Anchovy! Make that eleven. Anyway, here are photo illustrations of five words Shakespeare is credibly credited with the earliest known instances of. List all five before anyone else does, and you’ll win today’s $5 Meh coupon. Insert signoff catchphrase here!

@xn42 ran some guesses up the flagpole yesterday, and we saluted in the form of a $5 Meh coupon for naming both parts of each of our Flag Mashups:

  1. India & Iran
  2. Guyana & East Timor
  3. Fiji & Slovakia
  4. Palau & St. Vincent and the Grenadines
  5. Trinidad and Tobago & Tanzania