Discussion Thread II: Bots? What bots?

[Sampson]

Oh, I see. I actually had no idea if it was a lame horse or not. I just typed "lame horse" into Google Images and chose one of the pictures.

[Kinokokao]

GODDAMMIT SAMPSON THAT IS NOT APPROPRIATE

@Kimiko

Stupid American question time! Is horse-racing very popular/common in the Netherlands? It's very popular here, especially in my part of the country. I know it's also popular in the UK

[Sampson]

I do bite my thumb, sir.

And conforming to social appropriateness is boring, at least on the internet.

[Kimiko]

Horse racing? I don't think I've ever seen it on TV here (back in the day when I still watched TV). The jumping over fences kind is occasionally on TV, but that's not really racing I guess. So, no, I don't think horse racing is popular, possibly even non-existent.

[Kinokokao]

Here it's not necessarily a popular sport that's on TV (like baseball or hockey, with teams and all that) but a more local-ish one with tons and tons of gambling. Horse racing is pretty synonymous with betting. Besides the big races (Kentucky Derby, Preakness, etc) it's just a local track situation. The results get printed in the papers, but other than that you'd typically go down to the track and bet on the individual races.

This being Oklahoma, though, rodeo is also very popular locally. One of my co-workers does barrel racing for the college team; funnily enough she's from Minnesota and came here on rodeo scholarship. My mind was a bit blown by that fact. (I also enjoy getting her to say things with her Northern accent. So cute!)

Also, Sampson, dost thou bite a thumb at me, sir?!

[Sampson]

No, sir. I do not bite my thumb at you, sir, but I bite my thumb, sir.

[noodles]

shakespeare plays suck

I only love them for their use of iamb

[Sampson]

They can be boring, but some are really good. Hamlet comes to mind.

[Kinokokao]

The plots are boring because EVERYONE was using those plots. The innovation comes from the masterful use of language.

Although, one has to wonder if he wasn't the best but simply the best preserved. I shudder at the sheer amount of ephemera that's been lost to us over the eons and ages.

Sort of like how the Mona Lisa isn't that great of a painting... it's just really fuck famous.

[Rain]

oh god i hate shakespeare.

i have to read othello. fffffffffff

macbeth was horrible. i've never read hamlet, but i saw the movie. D:

[Maxine MagicFox]

<_< I love Shakespeare.... *goes to sit in the corner as a lonely outcast*

[noodles]

[Kimiko]

[noodles]

well

shakespeare is credited with bringing like 3000 words into English

I mean the whole idea of using a word with a Latin route and adding english suffixes on it, something so many of our words are, was something people just did to look cool back then. Other playwrights had their own vocabulary. Shakespeare's is the one we use today.

[Kinokokao]

What I always find crazy is how quick these productions were from conception to execution. I would LOVE to be able to go back in time and watch an authentic Globe production on the opening night. I'm sure there are plenty of flubbed up lines because the actors were just given their parts a few days ago.

Also watch Romeo and Juliet with Juliet being a boy in a dress. HA.

@Shakespeare and English

It is often stated that Shakespeare "invented" ("coined") more words into English than any other author. This is a misconception – rather, Shakespeare's works are often the earliest cited written record of many words. (wikipedia)

Which sums up what I was going to say nicely. Beyond that, at this time English was undergoing a massive shift in prominence from a vernacular to a nationalized, elevated tongue... it was already importing vocabulary like mad in order to express matters of law, philosophy, etc. Shakespeare's plays, being written to be spoken, tend to reflect the vernacular far more readily than other written sources. So, thus, he likely did not invent many words so as popularize them. Chaucer stands out as the foremost writer of Old English, and so likewise Early Modern English is dominated by Shakespeare. He "proved" in a sense that proper drama and poetry could be written in English rather than Latin or Italian.

On the topic, I do rather like his sonnets. I maintain that the Fair Youth is indeed intended to be portrayed as a homosexual lover, although I suppose it is entirely possible (though unlikely) that the sonnets were not autobiographical.