What, you egg!
“What, you egg!”
What, you egg! is generally considered to be Nobel-prize winner William Shakespeare's finest one-liner and hence the best thing ever written in the English language. It was, however, later found to have plagiarized Monkey Island, so Shakespeare was stripped of his Nobel award and banished to the 16th century. The title Shakespeare's best one-liner instead went to "Killing swine" from the film by the same name (that is, the Scottish one).
The line in context:
“
Son:
- Thou liest, thou shag-hair'd villain!
First Murderer:
- What, you egg!
[Stabbing him]
- Young fry of treachery!
Son:
- He has kill'd me, mother:
- Run away, I pray you!
[Dies] ”
Aftermath[edit]
The line What, you egg! was at first not appreciated by anyone in particular nor regarded as a literary gem, even by the Great Man himself. He was always of the opinion that other lines in his plays like 'Horatio! I need a shave!' in Hamlet or Cleopatra's immortal lines 'Quick sweet Antonious, I am hot and hungry for your hot lusty ways' were way better.
It took a later writer who saw the true genius of What, you egg!. British writer Fay Weldon used it for day time job writing advertising copy for Cadbury Creme Eggs. However, this assertion at authorship was challenged by John Lennon who claimed prior authorship against both Shakespeare and Weldon. His plagiarism case was dismissed. However Lennon got in his musical revenge with I am the Eggman.