10. are

ARE is a verb form of the irregular verb “to be.” A verb is irregular when it does not follow the typical conjugation of most verbs. Compare “I see,” “you see,” “he sees” (regular) with “I am,” “you are,” and “he is” (irregular).

During William Shakespeare’s time, “you are” was “thou art.” The most famous use of “to be” in Shakespeare’s plays is the soliloquy by the title character in the 1603 tragedy Hamlet. “To be, or not to be: that is the question,” says Hamlet, deeply depressed over the death of his father and contemplating suicide. Hamlet muses on the life’s suffering and wonders whether death, with the mystery surrounding the afterlife, is a better alternative. Later in the soliloquy, he relates:

But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover’d country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;

One of the more notable misappropriations of “are” is in the name of the store chain Toys “R” Us. In the store logo, the “R” is backward, further infuriating English teachers already upset about the grammatical incorrectness of the name.

Toys “R” Us was the extension of a business started by Charles Lazurus in post-World War II Washington, D.C., called Children’s Bargain Town. Although initially only stocking baby furniture, Lazurus ultimately listened to customer demand for toys for older children and changed his business to accommodate their wishes. The spokesgiraffe for the company, Geoffrey, was introduced in 1960.

“All your base are belong to us” is a poorly translated phrase from a Japanese game manufactured for Sega called Zero Wing. The phrase received exposure in 2001 after Flash animation montages of the phrase in various fonts and locales appeared on the Internet, notably on the Web site Something Awful. The phrase regularly appears in Internet chat exchanges among gaming and pop culture enthusiasts.