What did Shakespeare’s plays sound like in his day? An acting teacher with an interest in dialects wants to know how researchers reconstruct Elizabethan speech. This is part of a complete episode.
Hi! "It was bright cold day in April and the clocks were striking thirteen." In this week's episode of "A Way with Words," we share favorite first lines. Also, beanplating, meeting cute, looking like "a tree full of...
You know that grammatical “rule” about not ending a sentence with a preposition? Well, who ever decided finishing off a sentence like that is a bad thing? (Personally, we think it’s one of the silliest things anyone ever came up...
This week’s “Slang This!” contestant is literary historian Jack Lynch, author of The Lexicographer’s Dilemma: The Evolution of ‘Proper’ English, from Shakespeare to South Park. He tries to guess the meaning of...
Martha muses about the language of falconry, and in the process, reveals the origins of several words and phrases in one fell swoop.
fight call n.— «On Saturday morning, right before the second show of the day, the cast partook in what is known as a “fight call,” a last-minute rehearsal of the sword fights.» —“Shakespeare Acting Troupe Learns, Laughs, and...