Shakespeare’s Language Playfulness

Anne Curzan – University of Michigan linguistics professor, podcast host, and author of Says Who? A Kinder Funner Usage Guide for Everyone Who Cares About Words – returns to the podcast to talk about how William Shakespeare is used as a source for the origins of hundreds of words, as well as inspiration for a playful approach to language. Anne discusses the unprecedented speed with which language travels and changes today; how slang is "the people's poetry;" an unconventional definition of the word expert; how “it’s even in Shakespeare!” can serve as classroom legitimization; the British and American distinctions between collective nouns; and how Shakespeare might have been the TikTok of his day. (Length 22:02) The post Shakespeare’s Language Playfulness appeared first on Reduced Shakespeare Company.