"The world's your oyster" - huh?

[SharkB8]

Besides “One Night in Bangkok,” anyone know the origins behind this phrase?

I assume it has something to do with finding pearls, or having a delicious mollusk to suck down.

I was having a heart to heart with my brother, and I’m one of those annoying people who like to say a maxim or phrase and then translate it into plain English to emphasize my point, and ended up trailing off and BS-ing my way through that one. :rolleyes:

Any thoughts?

[Exapno_Mapcase]

Probably comes from Shakespeare:

“Why then the world’s mine Oyster, which I, with sword will open.”
“The Merry Wives of Windsor,” II.ii.2]

For the rest of your post: what’s the point of resaying a saying in plain English? Isn’t the entire point of a saying that it concentrates the essence, the flavor, the piquancy of what you want to convey far better than the plain words would?

[SharkB8]

There’s no point to my reiterating in plain English, it’s just a habit that I noticed I do. On occasion, I’ll pull a somewhat obscure maxim from my inner vault and get a blank stare and end up having to describe it. With my brother, it kind of fit the situation. I don’t do it all the time, but I do notice I do it, and am working to stop!

[Johnny_L.A]

From here:

Webster has a definition for oyster that is a bit obscure and certainly fits the phrase.
Oyster - something that is or can be readily made to serve one’s personal ends.

Oysters produce pearls, objects of great value. Once you have the oyster, it gives up the pearl without much of a fight.

Getting the pearl requires the oyster to be opened. But despite the hardness of the oyster shell, they can be opened with ease. Oyster shells are held closed by a single muscle called the adductor. Oysters are shucked (opened) using a thin knife to cut the adductor muscle. Once the adductor is cut, the shell falls open.

If the world is your oyster then it is a place where you can get something of great value with ease.

[SharkB8]

Awesome! Thanks guys!

[chrisk]

I would have said something along the same lines, as a WAG - not necessarily that opening an oyster is easy, but that it’s got good stuff inside (the pearl and/or the shellfish, as you please ) and it’s ‘there for you to take it.’

[Harmonious_Discord]

@chrisk

I would have said something along the same lines, as a WAG - not necessarily that opening an oyster is easy, but that it’s got good stuff inside (the pearl and/or the shellfish, as you please ) and it’s ‘there for you to take it.’

Only in months with R, or you might not like what you get.

[KneadToKnow]

@SharkB8

I’m one of those annoying people who like to say a maxim or phrase and then translate it into plain English to emphasize my point

How does that work? Would you say to someone, “Love is blind” and then add “which is to say, ‘people fall in love with ugly people, too’”?

[Alive_At_Both_Ends]

@Harmonious_Discord

Only in months with R, or you might not like what you get.

I’ve eaten oysters in July - they were very nice.