Which Shakespeare play coined the phrase 'Salad Days' to describe a time of youth and inexperience?
Salad days Salad days ""Salad days"" is a Shakespearean idiomatic expression meaning a youthful time, accompanied by the inexperience, enthusiasm, idealism, innocence, or indiscretion that one associates with a young person. A more modern use, especially in the United States, refers to a heyday, a period when somebody was at the peak of their abilities—not necessarily in that person's youth. The quote "salad days" is from the Shakespearian play 'Antony and Cleopatra' and is spoken in Act 1, Scene 5 by Cleopatra. The phrase was coined in Shakespeare's "Antony and Cleopatra" in 1606. In the speech at the end of Act One
Salad days 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' — presumably meaning someone youthful, inexperienced, or immature. Her references to "green" and "cold" both suggest qualities of salads. Fowler's "Dictionary of Modern English Usage" summarizes several other possible meanings of the metaphor: Whether the point is that youth, like salad, is