Multimedia Monday: Brush Up Your Shakespeare

The topic in my advanced classes' textbook this week is on the evolution of English as a language. Obviously it's hard to pack a whole linguistic history into a one-page essay, so the article in the book can be boiled down to: "Lots of people invaded England, so lots of languages are in English, and it's changed a lot over time." (Aside, I'm currently reading Globish, which is about essentially this story, as well as tracing its trajectory as a lingua franca. Good stuff so far.)

Because I'm an English (Creative Writing) major, I think it'll be great word-nerdy fun to play with some Shakespearian insults—if nothing else, to demonstrate in a clearer way than the book provides just how much English has changed. I printed out a worksheet/word list as soon as I got a chance to flip through the new text book, but just now I also found this TED Ed video. I haven't decided if I'm going to use it or not, but it's interesting nonetheless. At least for me, since I haven't studied any Shakespeare since high school. (I opted for Milton courses in university instead.)

Also for bonus points, here's what I was referencing to in the title (if you didn't catch it on your own). Why doesn't anyone write musicals like this anymore?