Friday, October 23, 2015

Thou vain tickle-brained moldwarp

My brother Bob is working on a book that culls material from Shakespeare's writings for inspirational benefit.  Eighteen years ago, his attentions on Shakespeare were less noble; he sent me the "Shakespeare Insult Kit."

The entire "kit" can be found at Pangloss.com, where Chris Seidel writes, "Since 1996, the origin of this kit was listed as anonymous. It came to me on a piece of paper in the 90's with no attribution, and I thought it would make a cool web page. Though I searched for the origin, I could never find it. In 2014, Lara M informed found the originating author. It appears to be an English teacher at Center Grove High School in Greenwood Indiana named Jerry Maguire."

Seidel also created a web site that generates its own Shakespearian insults, with a button that reads "insult me again."  Here are a few of my favorites (although I would not dream of actually using them in real life, it's fun to think about using them):

  • [Thou art] a disease that must be cut away. (from Coriolanus)
  • [Thy] face is not worth sunburning. (from Henry V)
  • Thou villainous fat-kidneyed nut-hook! (from insult kit)
  • Thou loggerheaded dread-bolted skainsmate! (from insult kit)
  • Sell your face for five pence and 'tis dear. (from King John)

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