# Shakespearean "Go To" -- what does it mean? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 4, 2016, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespearean-go-to-what-does-it-mean/742122 "2016-01-04T03:00:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespearean-go-to-what-does-it-mean/742122/1 "2016-01-04T03:00:12Z")
The phrase “Go to!” is used here and there in Shakespeare. It’s kind of hard to search for, as the phrase is usually embedded in ordinary grammar, but here’s an example from The Winter’s Tale: > [@](#): > > Leontes. To your own bents dispose you: you’ll be found, > Be you beneath the sky. > [Aside] > I am angling now, > Though you perceive me not how I give line. > Go to, go to! > How she holds up the neb, the bill to him! > And arms her with the boldness of a wife > To her allowing husband! What does “Go to” mean? “Get to work, lad?” “Go to blazes, ya bum?” “Look, a baby wolf?” ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespearean-go-to-what-does-it-mean/742122/2 "2016-01-04T03:15:34Z")
Googling “go to” shakespeare, first hit is this [http://www.shakespeareswords.com/Play-Definitions.aspx?IdPlay=12](http://www.shakespeareswords.com/Play-Definitions.aspx?IdPlay=12) > [@](#): > > get moving, get to work, come on ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespearean-go-to-what-does-it-mean/742122/3 "2016-01-04T03:29:47Z")
It seems most often to be used in the idiomatic sense of “come on” meaning “get away with you!” (do you say that in US-ian?) as in approx “Honestly, do you really expect me to believe that?” e.g. here in R&J [http://nfs.sparknotes.com/romeojuliet/page\_64.html](http://nfs.sparknotes.com/romeojuliet/page_64.html) see also here - footnote 26 > **[Cassell's illustrated Shakespeare. The plays of Shakespeare, ed. and...](https://books.google.com/books?id=vJ0NAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA304&lpg=PA304&dq=%22go%2Bto%22%2Bshakespeare%2Bget%2Baway%2Bwith%2Byou&source=bl&ots=ljyEhH_9OT&sig=tSn9JS-oC5Tlui4tssDLdPexb2Q&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwir1sj-mo_KAhUT4mMKHUpeClIQ6AEIODAE#v=onepage&q=%22go%20to%22%20shakespeare%20get%20away%20with%20you&f=false)** ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespearean-go-to-what-does-it-mean/742122/4 "2016-01-04T04:58:55Z")
Like the American English “Get outta here?” “Away with yer Blarney?” “Pfui?” **Riemann** ’s cite is a delight, a true doozy – a compendium of all Shakespeare’s words! – but I just don’t find “Get moving, get to work, come on” seems to feel right. I sense something more dismissive. But maybe it has different uses in different contexts? “I need to scheme, to plan, to do evil deeds! Go to!” i.e., “And I’d better start right away!” “You say my shirt is on fire? Go to!” i.e., “Yeah, sure, pull the other one.” I’m still bewildered. It certainly isn’t a modern ejaculation. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespearean-go-to-what-does-it-mean/742122/5 "2016-01-04T05:03:12Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Like the American English “Get outta here?” “Away with yer Blarney?” “Pfui?” > But maybe it has different uses in different contexts? > > . No, it means ‘start’, or starting place in abstract usage. It is making a come back, “youtube is my go to for catching up with modern trends.” Dictionaries are overextending the definition to include WHY its a go to, to say a “go to” is a reliable source… reliable for getting something, but not always that you get the best even good enough… Consider usage like this “wikipedia is my go to for scientific information, then when I get a chance, I find out it was 95% misdirection when I talk to a professor on the topic”. The go to is not necessarily a good place to start … ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespearean-go-to-what-does-it-mean/742122/6 "2016-01-04T05:12:45Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > Googling “go to” shakespeare, first hit is this > [ShakespearesWords.com](http://www.shakespeareswords.com/Play-Definitions.aspx?IdPlay=12) "start work " is when the context is the boss telling the worker… obviously… But the expression can be used at home “time for bed time son”… “aw but mom .I’m playing”… “GO TO !”. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespearean-go-to-what-does-it-mean/742122/7 "2016-01-04T05:37:40Z")
> [@Isilder](#): > > No, it means ‘start’, or starting place in abstract usage. > It is making a come back, “youtube is my go to for catching up with modern trends.” We’re talking about Shakespearean usage. I don’t think there’s any connection to this modern idiom. > [@Trinopus](#): > > But maybe it has different uses in different contexts? > > “I need to scheme, to plan, to do evil deeds! Go to!” i.e., “And I’d better start right away!” > > “You say my shirt is on fire? Go to!” i.e., “Yeah, sure, pull the other one.” Yes, this was my read, pretty much these two meanings. Check out footnote 26 in that Google Books reference - it gives some explanation of the idiomatic usage. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespearean-go-to-what-does-it-mean/742122/8 "2016-01-04T05:40:47Z")
> [@Isilder](#): > > No, it means ‘start’, or starting place in abstract usage. > It is making a come back, “youtube is my go to for catching up with modern trends.” > Dictionaries are overextending the definition to include WHY its a go to, to say a “go to” is a reliable source… reliable for getting something, but not always that you get the best even good enough… > Consider usage like this “wikipedia is my go to for scientific information, then when I get a chance, I find out it was 95% misdirection when I talk to a professor on the topic”. > The go to is not necessarily a good place to start … I’m not sure that really has the same meaning as the interjection. And I wouldn’t characterize it as “starting place” as it’s also often an ending place. It just means “what I always use in these circumstances.” I definitely say that the Shakespearean usage is basically “Get going” or figuratively meaning “Yeah, right.” ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespearean-go-to-what-does-it-mean/742122/9 "2016-01-04T05:50:17Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I definitely say that the Shakespearean usage is basically “Get going” or figuratively meaning “Yeah, right.” Reminds of the double negative joke… > [@](#): > > An MIT linguistics professor was lecturing his class the other day. “In English,” he said, “a double negative forms a positive. However, in some languages, such as Russian, a double negative remains a negative. But there isn’t a single language, not one, in which a double positive can express a negative.” > > A voice from the back of the room piped up, “Yeah, right.” ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespearean-go-to-what-does-it-mean/742122/10 "2016-01-04T13:27:45Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > We’re talking about Shakespearean usage. I don’t think there’s any connection to this modern idiom Plus the modern idiom is “go-to,” with a hyphen. ---
**Author:** ![Huvudtvatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Huvudtvatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huvudtvatt)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespearean-go-to-what-does-it-mean/742122/11 "2016-01-04T14:55:00Z")
Before you start using the GO TO statement, please note that it is now considered harmful and has been deprecated in most languages. ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespearean-go-to-what-does-it-mean/742122/12 "2016-01-04T18:11:42Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Like the American English “Get outta here?” “Away with yer Blarney?” “Pfui?” In modern UK English “Get away!” ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespearean-go-to-what-does-it-mean/742122/13 "2016-01-05T02:12:07Z")
W. S. Gilbert used it in the comic opera _The Mikado_. The “yeah, right” meaning is quite clear: KO-KO: Accept my love, or I perish on the spot! KATISHA: **Go to**! Who knows so well as I that no one yet ever died of a broken heart! Followed by the song “Tit-willow”: “an affecting tale, and quite true. I knew the bird intimately.” ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespearean-go-to-what-does-it-mean/742122/14 "2016-01-05T03:08:54Z")
10 go to 10 ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespearean-go-to-what-does-it-mean/742122/15 "2016-01-05T03:42:43Z")
> [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](#): > > W. S. Gilbert used it in the comic opera _The Mikado_. The “yeah, right” meaning is quite clear: > > KO-KO: Accept my love, or I perish on the spot! > KATISHA: **Go to**! Who knows so well as I that no one yet ever died of a broken heart! > > Followed by the song “Tit-willow”: “an affecting tale, and quite true. I knew the bird intimately.” Impressed it was in use that late! (I know a chap with the last name “Goto.”)