William Shakespeare, the man who made us tortured souls in high school. One of the greatest poets and playwrights in history would be 450 years old today. To be or not to be!

Today is Talk Like Shakespeare Day and there are some rules (just like Talk Like a Pirate Day):

  1. Instead of you, say thou or thee (and instead of y’all, say ye).
  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.

Now, if you think that Shakespeare is so 17th century, remember he is quoted and stolen from and honored even today! The fine people behind this day have created a website to prove how cool the Bard is. Thanks to them, I got the rules above, too.

Here are my favorite Shakespeare quotes. Some are commonplace today.  Try reading him this weekend!

From "As You Like It" : "All the world 's a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts"

From "Hamlet": "This above all: to thine own self be true"

From "King Richard III": "A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!"

From "The Merchant of Venice": "If you prick us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?"

From "The Merry Wives of Windsor": "Why, then the world 's mine oyster"

From "Julius Caesar": "But, for my own part, it was Greek to me"

Farewell! parting is such sweet sorrow, dear readers.

 

 

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