Salad days: Difference between revisions
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==In Popular Culture== |
==In Popular Culture== |
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It was used in the lyrics to the intro to '80s pop group Spandau Ballet's 1983 [[Gold_(Spandau_Ballet_song)]] "These are my salad days, Slowly being eaten away, |
It was used in the lyrics to the intro to '80s pop group Spandau Ballet's 1983 song [[Gold_(Spandau_Ballet_song)|Gold]]: "These are my salad days, Slowly being eaten away, |
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Just another play for today" |
Just another play for today" |
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Revision as of 21:55, 13 September 2009
"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.
The phrase was coined in Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra in 1606. In the speech at the end of Act One in which Cleopatra is regretting her youthful dalliances with Julius Caesar she says:
- "...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'—meaning someone youthful, inexperienced, or immature.
In Popular Culture
It was used in the lyrics to the intro to '80s pop group Spandau Ballet's 1983 song Gold: "These are my salad days, Slowly being eaten away, Just another play for today"