6. He Invented The Phrase "In A Pickle"
Everyone knows that Shakespeare coined an impressive amount of new words and phrases, but most of them are sounding archaic now. No-one really says Mums the word or dead as a doornail these days. But some phrases he invented are still in every day use. He coined, or at the least popularized, phrases as innocuous as the naked truth, in stitches, and vanish into thin air. Perhaps the most surprising is in a pickle. Its such a silly, offhand turn of phrase that few will ever think about what it actually means. But in Shakespeares time a pickle was a spicy sauce, and Shakespeare was the first to use in a pickle to mean in an unfavourable situation. His contribution to the language was immense, but we might not thank Shakespeare for every word he coined. Hes also thought to have invented swagger, from which we get the modern meaning of swag.