Today Is... 📆

GregRedd · 23 April 2021 04:47

It is Friday, 23 April 2021

As the name indicates, Talk Like Shakespeare Day encourages you to talk like the literary genius himself! William Shakespeare is the most famous and celebrated poet and playwright in the world.

He was (probably) born on 23 April, 1564, and died on 23 April, 1616. His stories are often studied in schools, and many people have memories of going to the theater and watching a Shakespeare play. So, there is no better way to honor Shakespeare than by dedicating yourself to speaking like him on this day.

Of course, speaking like Shakespeare is not easy! If you have ever read one of his plays, you will know exactly what we are talking about. However, there are a number of tricks that you can use to speak like Shakespeare on this day. For example, instead of using the words they and you, you can use the words ye, thee, and thou.

Creative insults and rhyming couplets were very popular within his work as well, so you are encouraged to use these on Talk Like Shakespeare Day. In fact, did you know that a lot of the phrases that we use today are owed to Shakespeare?

This day has been celebrated since 2009. This is when the first Talk Like Shakespeare Day was launched by the Shakespeare Theater in Chicago. The day was inspired by another day that was honored to speaking like a character; Talk Like a Pirate Day. The theater company decided that since we have a day when we speak like pirates, we should most definitely have a day when we talk like Shakespeare! A lot of theaters all over the world honor this day with various events and celebrations.

The myth of which we speak is the prevalent idea that the entirety of people in Shakespeare’s day spoke like those in his plays. The truth of the matter is that the speech and spelling used in Shakespeare’s day had very little resemblance to that speech used in his works. It was a sort of ‘stage voice’ that was created to romanticize the play and to lend them greater impact on the ears of those who attended them. Regardless, it has been largely believed in the years that followed that this was the speech of the day.

Talk Like Shakespeare Day encourages us to embody that speech, and to bring the stage to all the world that we live in. After all, “All the world ‘s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” This celebration is your opportunity to bring that concept to life and to regale your friends and companions with the rich and colorful speech of Shakespeare’s works. After all, if you cannot bring the people to the Globe Theater, then you can bring the Globe Theater to the people!

Talking like Shakespeare doesn’t need to be complicated. Try these suggestions, practice a little, and soon you too will be Talking like Shakespeare:

Switch up your pronouns! Instead of you say thou (or thee for more than one person), or you could try “thy,” “thine,” or “ye.”
Call all of your friends “cousin.” (This one should be easy for many South Africans, hey my cousins?!)
Drop the word it and just add a ‘t’ – ex: ’tis, t’will, t’would, etc.
Try to speak in rhyming couplets!
When in doubt, add an “eth” or “est” to the end of verbs – “he runneth” instead of “he ran” or “thou thinkest” instead of “you think”.

If you want it a little more “officially”, but still very amusingly, try this short video for some useful explanations for some of the main Shakespearean English language parts.

Finally, for an all-in-one resource of all things Shakespeare, including his use of language, modern English versions of many of his plays, and more translators of Shakespearean to Modern English, visit No Sweat Shakespeare.

‘Tis Friday mine own cater-cousins! Going to has’t excit’ment on Friday! Maketh ‘t a wond’rful one!