I love the poem. Its honesty flies in the face of its contemporaries. An excellent choice, and I'm glad his recital went well.

For a comparison, here's an article and recording of what some scholars believe Shakespearean dialect would've sounded like in his day.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/9143302/How-should-Shakespeare-really-sound.html

and another

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi-rejaoP7U

"I never found ‘shit’ in a Shakespeare sonnet before, so I googled it. I didn’t find any, thank God."

Bill preferred turd and excrement

"I never found ‘shit’ in a Shakespeare sonnet before, so I googled it. I didn’t find any, thank God."

 

Bill preferred turd and excrement

So, Bill says, "Aww turd!"  Maybe: "Turd and excrement!" 

I love the poem. Its honesty flies in the face of its contemporaries. An excellent choice, and I'm glad his recital went well.

 

For a comparison, here's an article and recording of what some scholars believe Shakespearean dialect would've sounded like in his day.

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/9143302/How-should-Shakespeare-really-sound.html

 

and another

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi-rejaoP7U

Thanks for the links, especially the second. Next lesson will be fun.

It is hard to convey to a native English speaker how difficult Shakespeare was in high school. We had to have at least one Shakespeare play on our "list" of English books about which we could be examinated at our oral final exams, and we all kept our fingers crossed that the examiner would choose one of the other books.

Maybe Shakespeare is just as difficult though for a native English speaker as when I read 16-17th century books in my own language.

I suppose only a bilingually riased person can be the judge of that.

Thanks Adi for this charming example.

For the "original pronunciation" in the second link that Rustle posted I certainly would need subtitles. :-)

So, Bill says, "Aww turd!"  Maybe: "Turd and excrement!" 

He only used turd once (in MWOW) and as a joke, so it doesn't really count I'm sure the jokes were very funny when the plays were first performed but when people laugh at them now it's probably more about showing off their education...