The Merry Wives of Windsor

Four famous phrases from everyday language that originated in Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor.

Pistol: 'The world 's mine oyster' (Act 2, Scene 2)

Mistress Quickly: 'This is the short and the long of it' (Act 2, Scene 2)

Mistress Page: 'I cannot tell what the dickens his name is' (Act 3, Scene 2)

Falstaff: 'As good luck would have it' (Act 3, Scene 5)

Photo by Pete Le May: Desmond Barrit as Sir John Falstaff.