A hackneyed phrase is making a comeback in an ironic sense. Seems that as people get overwhelmed, frustrated, or aggravated, some begin to use the quote “I am become Death.” This apparently reveals how fatigued or angry they are.

Astute readers will recognize this as part of a famous quote by J. Robert Oppenheimer, reflecting later on his awe over the first atomic test explosion: “Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” Oppenheimer, some of you will know, attributed this to the Bhagavad Gītā, although which published English translation has this phrase has never been pinpointed.

Anyway, most modern English speakers find that an odd construction. In fact, it is a very old construction dating back to English’s earliest days when the word “be” and its forms could be readily substituted with the word “have.” If you change am become to have become, the phrase sounds fairly modern.

You can find numerous examples of this in the King James bible and throughout Shakespeare, as well, including more modern texts such as the full first verse of a well known Christmas carol: “Joy to the World; the Lord is come.” Switch that to has and it does not seem awkward. In colloquial English, for example, you might say “I’m gone,” after leaving a place. It is in fact the same construction.

German has a related version of this construction (ich bin gegangen, “I’m gone”) in much wider use: bin is the word, not habe. This usage phased out of English fairly early on, which is interesting for one reason: by the time the KJV and Shakespeare’s plays were written, the use of this construction was already archaic—meaning it was purposefully used to sound “old,” as it were. Kind of a shortcut to adding gravitas to the phrase in question.

Anyway, your Czar is become bored with this topic already.

The Czar of Muscovy

Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.