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The question that stumped the most players in May 2025
Nick Arnott
June 20, 2025 • 1 minute
Category:
The Tricky One
"Which of these phrases was not used by Shakespeare?" proved to be the most challenging question for Quizified players in May, with only 6.7% correctly identifying “Turning a blind eye” as the correct answer. The remaining majority were divided among plausible alternatives: “Brave new world” (41.9%), “Break the ice” (37.6%), and “Wild goose chase” (13.8%), all of which were, in fact, coined or popularised by William Shakespeare. The low number of players getting this correct demonstrates how many people associate these idioms with modern English, their Elizabethan roots remain largely unrecognised.
The only phrase in the list not attributed to Shakespeare is “Turning a blind eye”, which has a very different origin. It is commonly believed to come from British Admiral Horatio Nelson, who allegedly put a telescope to his blind eye during battle to ignore a signal to retreat, although its first recorded use was actually in 1698.
It's fascinating how centuries-old turns of phrase still shape the way we communicate today and demonstrates the Bard’s enormous influence on modern English.