BS: Salad Days - whence came this phrase?

Subject: RE: BS: Salad Days - whence came this phrase?
From: Senoufou
Date: 09 Jul 18 - 03:15 AM

'My salad days when I was green in judgment, cold in blood...'

Subject: RE: BS: Salad Days - whence came this phrase?
From: Iains
Date: 09 Jul 18 - 03:14 AM

The etymology of the phrase 'salad days.'

"Disclaims Cleopatra: “My salad days, When I was green in judgment: cold in blood, To say as I said then!”

"In that earliest airing, “salad days” indicated a distant time of youthful naïveté. The descriptor “green in judgment” explains the curious phrase’s meaning: salads are green, and “green” is often used in the English language to denote someone who is inexperienced (e.g., greenhorn), hence the play on words. Salads are also cold, hence the further tying of “cold in blood” back to the phrase."

"Over time, the meaning of the phrase has moved away from being foolish because of a lack of experience and into a quick way of identifying a time in a person’s life when he was full of vim and vigor. The “foolish” component of “salad days” has dropped away, leaving only the “young” aspect in play. “Salad days” now also describes being at the peak of one’s abilities, which just goes to show how much a phrase’s meaning can change, if you wait long enough."

Subject: RE: BS: Salad Days - whence came this phrase?
From: JennieG
Date: 09 Jul 18 - 02:53 AM

This could even turn into a musical thread....."Salad Days"

Subject: RE: BS: Salad Days - whence came this phrase?
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 09 Jul 18 - 02:18 AM

From 'The Insect that Stole Butter' - Oxford Dictionary of word origins
(everyone should have this entertaining book)
Jim Carroll

SALAD [Late Middle English] One of many words that go back to Latin sal ‘salt. The root implies that it was the dressing or seasoning that originally characterized a salad, and not the vegetables. The expression your salad days, 'the time when you are young and inexperienced’, is one of Shakespeare’s inventions, occurring in Antony and Cleopatra. The idea behind the phrase becomes clearer when you read the full line spoken by Cleopatra: ‘My salad days, When I was green in judgement'. Shakespeare used the word salad in a play on ‘green, which is still used today in the sense 'inexperienced or naive’. The expression was made better known by the success of Julian Slade’s 1956 musical Salad Days about some students starting out in the adult world.

Subject: RE: BS: Salad Days - whence came this phrase?
From: meself
Date: 09 Jul 18 - 12:01 AM

'In my salad days, when I was green with something-something' quoth Cleopatra - Line something; Act something, Scene something.

Subject: RE: BS: Salad Days - whence came this phrase?
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 08 Jul 18 - 11:27 PM

Salad greens are early spring garden crops that are only available for a month or so before it gets too hot. Then salad days give way to tomato and zucchini days.

Of course, modern-day agriculture and refrigerated transport have made everything available at any time, so any days are salad days.

Subject: RE: BS: Salad Days - whence came this phrase?
From: Rapparee
Date: 08 Jul 18 - 10:35 PM

I know from whence it comes. I shall the happy to discuss whether or not anyone else knows. Of course, anyone could check Wikipedia and find out from whence it came, but anyone probably won't. So, being a nice, helpful sort of person I will suggest reading (or seeing performed) Billy Shakespeare's hit play Antony and Cleopatra.

Subject: BS: Salad Days - whence came this phrase?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 08 Jul 18 - 09:57 PM

Sometimes one hears the phrase "salad days", as in days of past glory or leisure or whatever it might be.

When and where did this phrase first become popularized and why is it "salad" days? Does anyone know? Discuss!