Re: Unkindest cut of all

Posted by ESC on May 25, 2000

In Reply to: Origin of "kindest cut" posted by Susan Griffin on May 24, 2000

: I use this term all the time and never stopped to think about where it came from. My guesses are surgery or cutting chains/bonds. Can someone help me? I was surprised that this one wasn't in the database.

: Thanks! I just found this site and discussion group and find it useful.

I have not heard "kindest cut." It must be an adaptation of the phrase "the unkindest cut." "...The cruelest, most personally devastating injury or insult; often on inflicted by a person who is thought to be a friend. The phrase comes from William Shakespeare's 'Julius Caesar, In his famous oration over the dead Caesar, (Act 3, Scene 2), Mark Antony fires up the mob against Caesar's assassins..." ("Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Allusions" by Elizabeth Webber and Mike Feinsilber) He points out that Caesar was stabbed by his friend Brutus and says "This was the unkindest cut of all."