Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Prithee, good sirrah, will'st thou speak like Shakespeare or no??


Say what you will about Mayor Daley, but the guy likes to have fun. From making Superbowl bets with Indianapolis to midnight digging raids on airport runways to reclaim public land, I appreciate his sense of old style city government.
His newest cause, according to CNN? Talk Like Shakespeare Day, this Thursday, April 23. In conjunction with the Chicago Shakespeare Theater's celebration of the day most historians agree is Shakespeare's birthday, Mayor Daley issued a proclamation encouraging students, teachers and the general public to toss out words like "thou" "fie!" and "knave" into the day.
I'm totally into it, and not above throwing out some Henry V with BFF. I'm DEFINITELY going to call someone a rough-hewn hedge pig.
Below are some tips from Talklikeshakespeare.org, the official website created by the Chicago Shakespeare Theater if you feel like being a joiner:
1. Instead of you, say thou. Instead of y’all, say thee.
2. Rhymed couplets are all the rage.
3. Men are Sirrah, ladies are Mistress, and your friends are all called Cousin.
4. Instead of cursing, try calling your tormenters jackanapes or canker-blossoms or poisonous bunch-back’d toads.
5. Don’t waste time saying "it," just use the letter "t" (’tis, t’will, I’ll do’t).
6. Verse for lovers, prose for ruffians, songs for clowns.
7. When in doubt, add the letters "eth" to the end of verbs (he runneth, he trippeth, he falleth).
8. To add weight to your opinions, try starting them with methinks, mayhaps, in sooth or wherefore.
9. When wooing ladies: try comparing her to a summer’s day. If that fails, say "Get thee to a nunnery!"
10. When wooing lads: try dressing up like a man. If that fails, throw him in the Tower, banish his friends and claim the throne.

No comments: