Popular ABC Radio commentator, Kel Richards (Australia), claims the rich and diverse idioms of the English language come from many sources, but two of them dominate: Shakespeare and the Bible. He writes:
“From the Bible comes ‘the writing’s on the wall’, ‘the salt of the earth’, ‘turn the other cheek’, ‘the blind leading the blind’, ‘casting pearls before swine’, ‘the mark of Cain’, ‘the fleshpots of Egypt’, ‘a soft answer turns away wrath’, ‘lick the dust’, ‘pride goes before a fall’, ‘you can’t take it with you’, ‘there’s nothing new under the sun’, and countless others.”
Kel Richards, Wordwatch, p25

Editorial Comment: We recommend you take his following advice: “So, if you really want to master the English language, you should brush up your Shakespeare, and read your Bible”.

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