October 16th, 2017 → 6:10 am
“The poop was beaten gold.” – Antony and Cleopatra
‘Poop’ in no way means poop in this sentence; it refers to a short deck built over the main deck in an old sailing vessel. But if my seven year old son had been reading the text with me when I came across this sentence, he would have devolved into helpless laughter. So this morning’s post is for all of you seven year olds out there, with an appreciation of silly humor.
October 7th, 2017 → 6:52 am
🎂 🎉 😊 🎈
No quote today, just happy birthday to me! I’m always amazed when I’ve made it another year in the Book of Life. Now, when do I get to dive into that chocolate birthday cake I know is in the refrigerator?
Filed under: Blog & Self/My Life
October 4th, 2017 → 6:34 am
“Noble friends,
That which combined us was most great, and let not
A leaner action rend us. What’s amiss,
May it be gently heard. When we debate
Our trivial difference loud, we do commit
Murder in healing wounds.” – Antony and Cleopatra
First, yes, I am reading Antony and Cleopatra right now, which is why all my quotes lately are coming from this one play. Second, this quote could apply to Democrats and the fight between moderates and more left-leaning liberals. Or, this quote could apply to Republicans and the internal divisions therein. Come to think of it, this quote could apply to Spain and the Catalonia referendum. Wherever one looks, there is division and in-fighting at the moment!
Filed under: Blog & Politics/Politicians
September 30th, 2017 → 5:41 am
“Leave thy lascivious wassails.” – Antony and Cleopatra
wassail – to drink copious amounts of alcohol and enjoy oneself with others in a noisy, lively way; to carouse (n. a carousal)
Personally, I could go for a lascivious wassail right about now.
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art
September 23rd, 2017 → 5:20 am
“By the fire that quickens Nilus’ slime.” – Antony & Cleopatra
I have a recurring theme in some of these posts – ShakeDic – where I discuss novel words from Shakespeare’s texts. This is the opposite. Sometimes I’m amazed when reading Shakespeare to come across a word I would have thought was contemporary and not at all around in Shakespeare’s time. For example: slime. Doesn’t slime sound like something out of Ghostbusters? Or at the very least, the 20th century? Apparently not, as it is used in Antony and Cleopatra to describe the mud of the Nile. A quick look up of it in the dictionary claims it to be of “old English” and that it has been in consistent, frequent use since well before the 1800s. Huh.
Filed under: Blog
June 13th, 2017 → 5:57 am
“‘Tis strange. A threepence bowed would hire me,
Old as I am, to queen it.” – Henry VIII
So Shakespeare didn’t actually write the word “quean” here – meaning a prostitute or an ill-behaved girl – but my Shakespeare text (David Bevington, 4th edition) notes that speakers of this passage would imply “quean” where “queen” is written, in a kind of wink-wink to the audience. (“bowed” could also be pronounced as “bawd”). Now I’m wondering how many other times in Shakespeare when I see the word “queen,” might an actor pronounce it to imply prostitute!
(I’m also thinking how sad it is there is no parallel for “king.”)
May 31st, 2017 → 5:35 am
“My nature is subdued
To what it works in, like the dyer’s hand.” – Sonnet 111
I’m back from a brief family vacation. Trying to get back into work again. I sat at my desk all day yesterday subdued…quiet…pensive, like the professor I am.
Filed under: Blog & Self/My Life
May 14th, 2017 → 5:56 am
“Do you know me, Father?
…
Do you not know me, Father?
…
It is a wise father that knows his own child.” – The Merchant of Venice
The next two weeks are family time. In-laws come to visit, then a quick trip to Legoland with a six year old. We’ll see who knows who by the end of it…
Filed under: Blog & Self/My Life
May 10th, 2017 → 5:47 am
“I can easier teach twenty what were good to be done
than be one of the twenty to follow mine own teaching.” – The Merchant of Venice
Apparently yesterday was national teacher’s appreciation day, or Teachers’ Day. I didn’t realize this until a student reached out to me to thank me. I’m always so humbled by that. Especially as it is easier to be the teacher, than the student sometimes. Shakespeare clearly understood that.
May 6th, 2017 → 5:29 am
“These news are everywhere; every tongue speaks ’em.” – Henry VIII
Apparently in the 16th century ‘news’ was considered a plural noun. Today, it is “singular in construction.” When did that happen? I often forget whether ‘data’ is considered singular or plural. Politics? Economics? They can be both. It’s exhausting, this protean nature of language!
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art