I blogged about this some time ago. While looking through my posts for another article, I found it and thought I'd share it again. Enjoy! While going through my email files, I found the following quote: “Conversation should be pleasant without scurrility, witty without affectation, free without indecency, learned without conceitedness, novel without falsehood.” ~William Shakespeare Shakespeare packs quite a lot into this one line and I thought it so profound that I wanted to dissect it to get the full impact of what he is saying here. Shakespeare says that conversation should be pleasant without scurrility. Scurrility is abusive language or a rude remark. This is quite unique today with the invention of electronic communication such as you are...
Wednesdays are usually the times when I share an obscure word or a deeper meaning of a commonly used word. Since we've been celebrating Dr. Seuss this week, I thought I'd ask you all to share your own favorite made up words/terms this Word of the Week. Dr. Seuss made up silly, nonsense words and terms for his books. It's what made his books so much fun. Some made up words eventually find their way into the dictionary. Many of the words we commonly use today were made up by a man named William Shakespeare. My family has made up words and terms. My daughter and son made up the word "nork," a combination of the word nerd and dork which they affectionately use...
For the past several weeks, I've been talking about misused words. Some have been misused on purpose in order to deceive and some have been misused by accident due to the complexities of the English language. Today, I'd like to talk to you about the words that are misused on purpose for humor or for effect. Shakespeare was famous for inventing or coining words. Many of the words we use today are words he created. I've dabbled in the creation of words here and there in order to entertain and to make a point. But is there a point at which intentionally misusing words becomes confusing and counterproductive? Indeed there is. I'd like to start off by citing a few...
According to Gertrude Stein, "A rose is a rose is a rose." Shakespeare's young Juliet tells Romeo that he is not an evil Montague, but asks "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." What IS in a name? Most parents spend nine months searching out the perfect name for their children. Why? Because going through life with the wrong name (or more to the point, a silly name), can be difficult at best and devastating at worst. Consider the song "A Boy Named Sue" sung by Johnny Cash. How'd you like to go through life trying to explain that one?! What's in a name? Who people think we are,...
Communication Lessons from Shakespeare While going through my email files, I found the following quote: "Conversation should be pleasant without scurrility, witty without affectation, free without indecency, learned without conceitedness, novel without falsehood." ~William Shakespeare Shakespeare packs quite a lot into this one line and I thought it so profound that I wanted to disect it to get the full impact of what he is saying here. Shakespeare says that conversation should be pleasant without scurrility. Scurrility is abusive language or a rude remark. This is quite unique today with the invention of electronic communication such as you are reading here. More and more I see people who feel free or even justified to be rude just because they don't...
