What ? Did you think I was joking ?
online today!
Since we've been dallying here concerning English, I thought I'd mention this fellow, widely thought of as 'the father' of the language. And needless to say, whenever such a phrase is heard, many names come to mind, not least the Bard himself, or the committee that he may have been. But what of Chaucer?
Well, in one of the Ueber-alt-liberal Beeb's programs, I learned a bit about him. First of all, he was well born, and wore many hats, during his half century of life. For a man living in the second half of the 14th century, he traveled a good deal, from the Baltics to Turkey. And much of this was as a combat soldier. (hundred years war!) He was captured and released on ransom, paid by the King Himself. Well connected, I'd say.....
Returning to London, his place of birth, he was a public servant of the court, even as an esquire, the title lawyers use these days. He married well, during which time he wanted for little, with all his wife's dough. But her early death left him in financial straits, and he then worked at different jobs, until his death, in 1400. Some were again as a court official, and he did gardening later in life.
All this apparently left him little time to write, but write he did. But what about all this father of the English language literature stuff?
Seems as though, in the day, English was a lower class tongue, even in England. French was spoken at Court, and Latin was used for much else. But perhaps his best known work was Canterbury Tales. Written in quite colorful vernacular, it contained much not discussed in polite company, but was widely, VERY widely, enjoyed, and known by company of all sorts, anyway.
The twenty four tales, each named after one of the motley pilgrims on their way to the shrine at Canterbury, which they never reached, spared little of the saucy details on intimate dalliance, between women and men. And unusual for the time, the ladies got their good share, and weren't afraid to kiss and tell. And to smell.
Scholars apparently still debate why his writing, much of which was in lively verse, might have brought about the gradual switch to the broader use of English, and the demise of Latin and French. But He's burred in Poets' Corner in London. Not too shabby, for a wine merchant's son.
Just brought this up because his English is a blast to try to read and to understand. Sure, the s*xual antics titillate, especially considering the time it was written. And the earthy-risque' humour, VERY earthy, is a hoot.
But it's the use of words and phrases, most of which are reasonably clear even today, but some less understandable, that is interesting. With the naughty hat on, easy enough to get it all, with help from the context. It all got me thinking, with lots of possibilities, about the evolution of language. And the rhyming verse is great.
Your library should have CT, and other stuff he wrote. Some might even have modern English along with His verse, pages side by side. Check it out. Then check it out.
English. Lots of fun, when not abused, or taken too seriously. We've all had such teachers, sadly so. When your one only important cherished thing in life, is a pathetic box of nails, every tool starts to look like a hammer. I digress
Click on each to see the full cartoons.
and now from Canada;
Yet, he hasn't even gotten the virus.
Maybe we should be the ones suing.
Today in The New Yorker;
In response to:
Satire from The Borowitz Report
Trump Sues the Coronavirus for Treating Him Unfairly
By Andy Borowitz
July 17, 2020
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Alleging that it “has treated me very unfairly,” Donald J. Trump announced on Friday that he is suing the coronavirus.
“This is a very nasty virus, and by that I mean it has been nasty to me personally,” Trump told reporters. “I never thought that there could be anything more terrible than Jim Acosta, but the coronavirus is like an invisible Jim Acosta.”
Offering a preview of his lawsuit, Trump said that he was accusing the coronavirus of meddling in the 2020 election.
“You look at the numbers and, every time the virus’s numbers go up, my numbers go down,” he said. “This virus is trying to rig the election for Sleepy Joe.”
Trump said that he was prepared to take his case against the coronavirus all the way to the Supreme Court, claiming, “My case is so perfect, even those ungrateful beauties Kavanaugh and Gorsuch will side with me.”
Relations between Trump and the virus have reportedly grown so strained that he no longer allows discussions of the coronavirus at meetings of the Coronavirus Task Force.
At the White House, the press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, said that Trump felt “deeply betrayed” by the coronavirus.
“COVID-19 would not be what it is today without President Trump,” she said.
Andy Borowitz is a Times best-selling author and a comedian who has written for The New Yorker since 1998. He writes The Borowitz Report, a satirical column on the news.
The sports world has been waiting for the new name of the Washington Redskins to be announced. Wait no longer the name change has happened. The storied franchise formerly known as the Washington Redskins new name should satisfy the public and quiet their distracters.
Following an outpouring of criticism from across the country, the Washington Redskins announced Wednesday that they are officially changing the team’s name to the D.C. Redskins. “We’ve heard the concerns of many people who have been hurt or offended by the team’s previous name, and I’m happy to say we’ve now rectified the situation once and for all,” said franchise owner Dan Snyder, adding that “Washington Redskins” will be replaced with “D.C. Redskins” on all team logos, uniforms, and apparel.
Today in The New Yorker
In response to:
Satire from The Borowitz Report
Trump Claims Biden Could Never Have a Pandemic As Big As His
By Andy Borowitz
July 15, 2020
WASHINGTON, D.C.(The Borowitz Report)—Trying out a new line of attack against the former Vice-President, Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Joe Biden could never have a pandemic as big as his.
“Biden was Vice-President for eight years and had all the time in the world to have a pandemic,” Trump said. “Where was his pandemic?”
By contrast, Trump asserted, “In just a few months, I’ve built the biggest pandemic this country has seen in a hundred years.”
“People are going to be talking about my pandemic for generations to come,” Trump said. “What did Biden ever have? Swine flu? What a joke.”
Trump said that Biden’s failure to have “any pandemic worth writing home about” makes him a “terrible choice” to be President.
“I’ve worked hard and built an amazing pandemic, but if Biden gets in, all that goes away,” he warned.
Andy Borowitz is a Times best-selling author and a comedian
who has written for The New Yorker since 1998.
He writes The Borowitz Report, a satirical column on the news.
Mary Trump's book on her Uncle Donald is out today.
Dirty Don's brother sued to keep the book from getting published,
but a judge ruled against it.
In the book Mary Trump writes that Donald's father,
was "a high functioning sociopath".
Stephen Colbert's joke following this information was....
"too bad that Donald's father didn't pass down the 'high functioning' part of that."
online today!
Never in my whole life would I imagine that the day would come that my hands would consume more alcohol than my mouth!!!
True what they say: This is the New Now. Terrible.