Meaning:
a great deal of fuss over a thing of little importance
Background:
The phrase `much ado about nothing' is best known to us as the title of
Shakespeare's play, which he published in 1599. He had used the word ado,
which means business or activity, in an earlier play - Romeo and Juliet,
1592:
"Weele keepe no great adoe, a Friend or two."
Ado, or as it was more commonly spelled in Tudor England, adoe was a widely
used word at that time.
Shakespeare didn't coin `much ado about nothing', although we probably
wouldn't consider it part of the language without the boost it got from being
elevated by him.
- www.phrases.org.uk [edited]
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An illiterate woman of small stature and bound feet, my grandma toiled all her
life in her village home, cooking meals, mending clothes, minding kids, and
slopping pigs. The years weren't easy on her generation and many carried
bitterness to old age. Unlike them, grandma sweetened over time and smiled more.
Her face took on a soft pink glow under a shock of wavy snow-white hair, just
like some deity figure in a Chinese new year artwork.
She kept asking before I went abroad: ``That far? What for?'' It was two decades
ago yet felt like yesterday and overnight it was my turn to grow graceful. I
wondered if she had it figured out all along and my adventures and exploits had
been much ado about nothing special.
