Housekeeping If You’re Going to Get All Shakespearean On Our Asses, Dwight…
posted by June 17 at 14:20 PM
on…do try to get it right. Dismissing the complaints of die-hard Clinton supporters, Dwight Pelz described their gripes to Eli as…
“…sound and fury which signifieth little.”
Lots of people—particularly politicians—like to work a Shakespeare reference into their public statements because, you know, it sounds so damn smart. But there’s nothing smart about botching the reference and making Shakespeare’s language seem more elaborate and archaic than it actually is. Most of the prose and poetry in Shakespeare’s plays is remarkably clear, straightforward, and direct. So while that “signifieth” of Dwight’s sounds all Elizabethan and shit, not only is the third-person singular present simple form of “signify” archaic as hell, it’s not the word that Shakespeare himself used.
Informed in Act V that the queen, his wife, is dead, Macbeth responds…
She should have died hereafter;
There would have been a time for such a word.
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
If “signifying” was good enough for Shakespeare, Dwight, it ought to be good enough for you. And why leave off the best part of the line? The next time someone asks you about those Clinton dead-enders, Dwight, you can quote Shakespeare and call ‘em names. Just smile and say…
Tales told by idiots, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
Comments
You'll have to forgive him, he knoweth not what he does.
Eh. Give the guy a break. I'm sure this was an off-the-cuff comment. Reporters and the media make too much of such things, all the while, they get to practice their art in a highly-edited format. Not comparable.
Eh. Give the guy a break. I'm sure this was an off-the-cuff comment. Reporters and the media make too much of such things, all the while, they get to practice their art in a highly-edited format. Not comparable.
Lord, what fools these mortals be!
Hugs Dan.
No don't give the guy a break. That is one of the greatest quotable quotes of all time and there is no excuse or forgiveness.
To beith or, not to beith a jackass. That is the questioneth.
In a related story, the next person I hear say "methinks the lady doth protest too much" gets a punch in the face.
What's done is done--that it should come to this!
Oh, Dan, how parsimonious of you.
But, seriously, it was off the cuff man. Screw Shakespeare (but, also, damn that passage is pretty to read).
Methinks the homo doth protest too much.
Are you sure it wasn't the reporter who screwed up the quote? I've been in the paper a few times and have been surprised by the things I supposedly said.
You know, Dan, one of these days you're going to misquote someone, and I'm going land on you like a sumo wrestler.
Erm, except Shakespeare didn't use "which"... I'm not so sure "which signifieth" is wrong.
Unless you're assuming that he was making a direct reference to the passage. I doubt he was, just being on-the-fly archaic.
Oh wait. I eat my words and apologies. The "sound and fury" didn't register the first time around.
apologize*
I apologize again.
You do realize that Shakespeare didn't invent the English language, right? And maybe you've heard of this nifty literary device called an "allusion"?
Perhaps Pelz got Kiley's memo that blind reverence of Shakespeare is very, very lame and, in sparing Brendan's delicate sensibilites, trampled yours. Poor dears, all of you.
Ah a wanna-be elitist who doesn't have shit to say.
Yeah. And, once, I noticed a blogger has a misspelling. And questionable grammar. A commenter did too. Once. Twice maybe. Even.
Q: Is this Pelzy's scribbling or a transcription?
Olde English, Motherfuckre, dost thou speake it?
he lost me at "signifieth".... If he had said "signifying little," that would have been clever instead of hackneyed. But I do really appreciate the internal rhyme of that line, which is a great example of consonance
@19: There hast thou mowderne English, jack-asse; get thee to a library.
Oh, and Dan: according to the first folio, the quote is:
"It is a Tale / Told by an Ideot, full of found and fury / Signifying nothing."
as a note, he didn't even want the singular form; "sound and fury" call for the plural form: sound and fury signify little.
Methinks Chris doth protest too much.
@12, aw c'mon, we all make mistakes. Even about the war.
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