bardolater

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 19, 2009 is: bardolater • \bar-DAH-luh-ter\ • noun : a person who idolizes Shakespeare Examples: "[Abraham] Lincoln was a lifelong Bardolater and serial Shakespeare-quoter, as Mr. [Barack] Obama noted in remarks at the recent reopening of Ford's Theater." (Barry Edelstein, The New York Times, April 26, 2009) Did you know? George Bernard Shaw once described a Shakespeare play as "stagy trash." Another time, Shaw said he'd like to dig Shakespeare from the grave and throw stones at him. Shaw could be equally scathing toward Shakespeare's adoring fans. He called them "foolish Bardolaters," wrote of "Bardolatrous" ignoramuses, and called blind Shakespeare worship "Bardolatry." Oddly enough, Shaw didn't despise Shakespeare or his work (on the contrary, he was, by his own admission, an admirer), but he disdained those who placed the man beyond reproach. The word "bardolater," which Shaw coined by blending Shakespeare's epithet -- "the Bard" -- with an affix that calls to mind "idolater," has stuck with us to this day, though it has lost some of its original critical sting. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.