The Shakespeare Effect.

This is, as I'm sure many will recognise, the rebuilt Globe theatre in London. We saw it a few years back on a walk along the South Bank

Fast forward to this week and I was completing a crossword [this is in the vain attempt to keep my brain sharpish although why I bother having found out many moons ago that our brain cells start dying off when we're 16 I have no idea really. Pure vanity I suspect!] for which the clue was "mongrel" and the answer was three letters long. Simples I thought...obviously must be "dog" except none of the other bleedin' clues tallied...erm back to the drawing board. After about ooh thirty seconds of thinking about it I resorted to my usual tactic....cheating and looked it up in the back. The answer was "cur" a word familiar to my from my days of studying Shakespeare for my degree but somehow I had never actually ever known was it meant other than garnering it was an insult.

I was amused by this little gem that a friend sent me last week- it simply appealed to my sense of humour

I in turn emailed it to my dear chum J who is currently studying for her English Masters as I knew she would appreciate the humour of it. Rather marvellously she replied with these links so you can now invent your very own Shakespearean insults if anyone puts your back up this week!

http://www.pangloss.com/seidel/Shaker/index.html?

http://www.pangloss.com/seidel/shake_rule.html

Personally I favour "Thou tottering tardy-gaited strumpet" as my insult of choice for thecoming week!

Arilx