A fellow guest on Radio Wales 'Something Else' programme yesterday told me that 'Shakespeare was tosh'. All of it. Oh and old-fashioned and crude and...more stuff like that my brain couldn't be bothered to remember.. (It's permanently full of the new book, there's a lot of competition for space). I guess that's a point of view- no what am I saying? It's the opposite, it's a bluntness of view...no it's a bluntness of partial-sight. All these terms - opposites in this case- we could do with words for. One of the great things about Shakespeare was that when he couldn't find a word he made one up. A pity he couldn't have left me with the two I needed yesterday.
Considering the English language has more words than it knows what to do with, I'm still surprised to find gaps. Children spot them early on. They regularly get asked questions along the lines of 'What's your favourite...?' Fair enough. But of course what they want to tell you is the opposite- and what's available? Not much. My least favourite...the thing I don't like most of all...my bete noir (ok not really). So they do the Shakespearean thing. They use unfavouritest.
It still leaves me wanting a pithy, ouch sort of word to use when someone (sorry can't remember your name) thinks it's big and clever to say Shakepeare's tosh.
Tuesday, 2 December 2008
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