Who said a pox on your house

As Mercutio dies, he utters this phrase three times, cursing the families whose rivalry led to his death. The phrase is commonly applied to criticize warring factions whose rivalry brings ruin to others. A plague on both your houses. Mercutio is renouncing any and all allegiance he previously had to the Montague house and cursing both houses indiscriminately.

The name chickenpox has been around for centuries, and there are a number of theories as to how it got its name. If someone calls a woman foxy you mean that she is physically and sexually attractive. As a spirit animal, the fox reveals itself during times of great and unpredictable change. I could have made some civil statements about how " FDL has its own website. But I realized, there is absolutely no way to talk into this mess without becoming part of it.

Both sides of the "Obama is a master, game-changing politician" vs "Obama's just a politician" Just like the current volatile crap has basically killed most of the pleasure I ever got out of coming to dKos, for me and I suspect others as well. A pox on both your houses Community This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication. Please log in or sign up to continue. The preeminence of "a pox on" during the period — suggested by the Ngram chart above remains to be explained.

But whatever may have caused that burst of popularity, the long continuance of both "a plague on" and "a pox on" in literary English if not common speech leaves both expressions tantalizingly available to anyone vaguely aware of the Montagues and Capulets and the trouble they called down upon themselves and fair Verona.

In the quarto edition of the word used is pox. In the later editions Shakespeare changed it to plague. Both can thus be claimed to be correct.

Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. Why has the "plague" on our houses become a "pox? Asked 3 years, 11 months ago. Active 1 year, 3 months ago. Viewed 15k times. There is a famous phrase in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet , spoken by Mercutio: A plague o' both your houses! This quote from a letter in The Providence Journal was published less than one hour ago as of this writing: That said, a pox on both our political parties.

This article in the Sun Herald appeared less than 12 hours ago: The whole goal of both parties is power. Senator : "I think the American people will look at all of us and say 'I can't believe you people didn't pass this bill.

Additional Notes eNotes writes: Mercutio's famous line might not be exactly the one Shakespeare wrote: instead of "a' both your houses," various old editions have "on your houses," "a' both the houses," "of both the houses," and "a' both houses.

Improve this question. The meaning of "plague" has shifted over the past century or so as it is used more and more figuratively , while the meaning of "pox" has not shifted so much. Pox used to have the connotation of venereal disease. John Wilkes famously responded to an insult in Parliament to the effect that he would die either "of the pox or on the gallows" by saying "That depends on whether I embrace your principles or your mistress.