Glens Falls (NY) Online Book Discussion Group discussion

Strange expressions from literature... what do they mean?

Let's talk about them here.

"MORTAL COIL"
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"Mortal coil is a poetic term that means the troubles of daily life and the strife and suffering of the world. It is used in the sense of a burden to be carried or abandoned, most famously in the phrase "shuffle[d] off this mortal coil" from the "To be, or not to be" monologue in Shakespeare's Hamlet.

DERIVATION:
"Derived from 16th Century English, "coil" refers to tumults or troubles. Used idiomatically, the phrase means "the bustle and turmoil of this mortal life." "Coil" has an unusual etymological history. It was coined repeatedly; at one time people used it as a verb to mean "to cull," "to thrash," "to lay in rings or spirals," "to turn," "to mound hay" and "to stir." As a noun it has meant "a selection," "a spiral," "the breech of a gun," "a mound of hay", "a pen for hens", and "noisy disturbance, fuss, ado." It is in this last sense, which became popular in the 16th century, that Shakespeare used the word.

"Mortal coil"—along with "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune," "to sleep, perchance to dream" and "ay, there’s the rub"—is part of Hamlet’s famous "To be or not to be" speech. "Coil" is no longer used as a synonym for "disturbance."

FROM: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortal_coil
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Always wondered about that...

Interesting. Thanks, Joy.

You're welcome, Jim. It's one of those expressions which we hear so much that we never really wonder what it means or where it came from. We just take it for granted that we know the exact meaning when we really don't.

I had assumed that "mortal coil" referred to the Earth. Then I thought to myself: "The Earth isn't a coil!" So I went to Wiki and found the info in Message #2 above.