Slog - Comments on If You're Going to Get All Shakespearean On Our Asses, Dwight... http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/if_youre_going_to_get_all_shakespearean ...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... Copyright 2008 Tue, 17 Jun 2008 14:20:56 -0800 Tue, 17 Jun 2008 17:50:54 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by Will in Seattle You'll have to forgive him, he knoweth not what he does.

]]> Will in Seattle http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/if_youre_going_to_get_all_shakespearean#c1052775 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/if_youre_going_to_get_all_shakespearean#c1052775 Housekeeping Tue, 17 Jun 2008 14:22:52 -0800 Comment by Timothy 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.

]]> Timothy http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/if_youre_going_to_get_all_shakespearean#c1052778 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/if_youre_going_to_get_all_shakespearean#c1052778 Housekeeping Tue, 17 Jun 2008 14:24:52 -0800 Comment by Timothy 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.

]]> Timothy http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/if_youre_going_to_get_all_shakespearean#c1052780 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/if_youre_going_to_get_all_shakespearean#c1052780 Housekeeping Tue, 17 Jun 2008 14:25:53 -0800 Comment by PopTart Lord, what fools these mortals be!

Hugs Dan.

]]> PopTart http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/if_youre_going_to_get_all_shakespearean#c1052786 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/if_youre_going_to_get_all_shakespearean#c1052786 Housekeeping Tue, 17 Jun 2008 14:27:37 -0800 Comment by kid icarus 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.

]]> kid icarus http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/if_youre_going_to_get_all_shakespearean#c1052787 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/if_youre_going_to_get_all_shakespearean#c1052787 Housekeeping Tue, 17 Jun 2008 14:28:31 -0800 Comment by boxofbirds To beith or, not to beith a jackass. That is the questioneth.

]]> boxofbirds http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/if_youre_going_to_get_all_shakespearean#c1052807 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/if_youre_going_to_get_all_shakespearean#c1052807 Housekeeping Tue, 17 Jun 2008 14:38:00 -0800 Comment by Chris in Tampa In a related story, the next person I hear say "methinks the lady doth protest too much" gets a punch in the face.

]]> Chris in Tampa http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/if_youre_going_to_get_all_shakespearean#c1052820 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/if_youre_going_to_get_all_shakespearean#c1052820 Housekeeping Tue, 17 Jun 2008 14:42:22 -0800 Comment by NapoleonXIV What's done is done--that it should come to this!

]]> NapoleonXIV http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/if_youre_going_to_get_all_shakespearean#c1052827 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/if_youre_going_to_get_all_shakespearean#c1052827 Housekeeping Tue, 17 Jun 2008 14:48:40 -0800 Comment by Sam 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).

]]> Sam http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/if_youre_going_to_get_all_shakespearean#c1052839 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/if_youre_going_to_get_all_shakespearean#c1052839 Housekeeping Tue, 17 Jun 2008 14:55:46 -0800 Comment by w7ngman Methinks the homo doth protest too much.

]]> w7ngman http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/if_youre_going_to_get_all_shakespearean#c1052842 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/if_youre_going_to_get_all_shakespearean#c1052842 Housekeeping Tue, 17 Jun 2008 14:57:21 -0800 Comment by Schweighsr 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.

]]> Schweighsr http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/if_youre_going_to_get_all_shakespearean#c1052850 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/if_youre_going_to_get_all_shakespearean#c1052850 Housekeeping Tue, 17 Jun 2008 15:01:22 -0800 Comment by Frasier Crane You know, Dan, one of these days you're going to misquote someone, and I'm going land on you like a sumo wrestler.

]]> Frasier Crane http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/if_youre_going_to_get_all_shakespearean#c1052851 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/if_youre_going_to_get_all_shakespearean#c1052851 Housekeeping Tue, 17 Jun 2008 15:01:47 -0800 Comment by Mr Fuzzy 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.

]]> Mr Fuzzy http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/if_youre_going_to_get_all_shakespearean#c1052869 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/if_youre_going_to_get_all_shakespearean#c1052869 Housekeeping Tue, 17 Jun 2008 15:11:07 -0800 Comment by Mr Fuzzy Oh wait. I eat my words and apologies. The "sound and fury" didn't register the first time around.

]]> Mr Fuzzy http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/if_youre_going_to_get_all_shakespearean#c1052876 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/if_youre_going_to_get_all_shakespearean#c1052876 Housekeeping Tue, 17 Jun 2008 15:13:47 -0800 Comment by Mr Fuzzy apologize*
I apologize again.

]]> Mr Fuzzy http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/if_youre_going_to_get_all_shakespearean#c1052880 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/if_youre_going_to_get_all_shakespearean#c1052880 Housekeeping Tue, 17 Jun 2008 15:15:29 -0800 Comment by Lola 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.

]]> Lola http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/if_youre_going_to_get_all_shakespearean#c1052883 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/if_youre_going_to_get_all_shakespearean#c1052883 Housekeeping Tue, 17 Jun 2008 15:17:09 -0800 Comment by Odrama Ah a wanna-be elitist who doesn't have shit to say.

]]> Odrama http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/if_youre_going_to_get_all_shakespearean#c1052903 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/if_youre_going_to_get_all_shakespearean#c1052903 Housekeeping Tue, 17 Jun 2008 15:33:37 -0800 Comment by umvue 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?

]]> umvue http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/if_youre_going_to_get_all_shakespearean#c1052917 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/if_youre_going_to_get_all_shakespearean#c1052917 Housekeeping Tue, 17 Jun 2008 15:44:29 -0800 Comment by NapoleonXIV Olde English, Motherfuckre, dost thou speake it?

]]> NapoleonXIV http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/if_youre_going_to_get_all_shakespearean#c1052934 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/if_youre_going_to_get_all_shakespearean#c1052934 Housekeeping Tue, 17 Jun 2008 15:53:58 -0800 Comment by jackseattle 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

]]> jackseattle http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/if_youre_going_to_get_all_shakespearean#c1052968 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/if_youre_going_to_get_all_shakespearean#c1052968 Housekeeping Tue, 17 Jun 2008 16:07:21 -0800 Comment by Greg @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."

]]> Greg http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/if_youre_going_to_get_all_shakespearean#c1053030 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/if_youre_going_to_get_all_shakespearean#c1053030 Housekeeping Tue, 17 Jun 2008 16:31:45 -0800 Comment by raff i el as a note, he didn't even want the singular form; "sound and fury" call for the plural form: sound and fury signify little.

]]> raff i el http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/if_youre_going_to_get_all_shakespearean#c1053077 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/if_youre_going_to_get_all_shakespearean#c1053077 Housekeeping Tue, 17 Jun 2008 16:52:41 -0800 Comment by Will in Seattle Methinks Chris doth protest too much.

]]> Will in Seattle http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/if_youre_going_to_get_all_shakespearean#c1053107 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/if_youre_going_to_get_all_shakespearean#c1053107 Housekeeping Tue, 17 Jun 2008 17:04:42 -0800 Comment by CP @12, aw c'mon, we all make mistakes. Even about the war.

]]> CP http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/if_youre_going_to_get_all_shakespearean#c1053187 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/if_youre_going_to_get_all_shakespearean#c1053187 Housekeeping Tue, 17 Jun 2008 17:50:54 -0800