Shakespeare's Language . . . and more

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Each episode focuses on some aspect of Shakespeare’s language – usually, though not always, on a single word Shakespeare uses. But each time discussion broadens out, to look at some aspect of language in general, or of English as we use it today. Best to start with episode 1 and work through them in…

Keith Johnson


    • Aug 3, 2018 LATEST EPISODE
    • infrequent NEW EPISODES
    • 15m AVG DURATION
    • 10 EPISODES


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    Latest episodes from Shakespeare's Language . . . and more

    10. Good my lord - 02_08_2018, 16.12

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 3, 2018 8:44


    The phrase 'good my lord' is the topic of this episode, which looks in general at 'words in curious orders and combinations'.

    9. Eyes - 02_08_2018, 15.32

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 3, 2018 20:21


    The episode is all about punctuation, and begins with Shakespeare's sentence 'Eyes, do you see!'. Notice the exclamation mark.

    8. Why - 02_08_2018, 14.36

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 3, 2018 15:00


    The episode looks at some words beginning with 'wh-' which are used to ask questions, like 'what' and 'when'. Most attention is given to 'why'.

    7. Fathom - 02_08_2018, 11.32

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 3, 2018 12:21


    The general theme of this episode is 'units of measurement', and we begin with Shakespeare's word 'fathom'.

    6. Fardel- 02_08_2018, 11.09

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 3, 2018 12:31


    Shakespeare's word 'fardel' is the starting-point for this episode, which also looks at the topic of 'suffixes'.

    5. Blesseth- 02_08_2018, 10.49

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 3, 2018 14:33


    This episode's word is 'blessed'. We look at the general theme of 'language contact and language change'.

    4. Shrewd - 31_07_2018, 14.42

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 3, 2018 16:55


    The starting-point is the word 'shrewd'. We also look at how words can start off meaning something nasty, and end up meaning something nice.

    3. Pandar - 31_07_2018, 11.39

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 3, 2018 17:37


    This episode's word is 'panda' (spelt 'pander' today. The episode also looks at the theme of 'proper and common nouns'.

    2. Discandied - 31_07_2018, 11.10

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 3, 2018 25:13


    In this episode the Shakespeare word is 'discandied', and we also discuss the 'death of words'.

    1. Bully - 31_07_2018, 10.16

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 3, 2018 14:33


    The episode starts with Shakespeare's use of the word 'bully. It then goes on to talk about 'beliefs about word origins'.

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