Shakespearean insults can be a great way to engage students in English. © Frank, Adobe Stock
Expressions such as ‘love is blind’, being ‘in a pickle’, ‘green-eyed monster’ and ‘to break the ice’ are phrases the Bard wrote for plays almost 450 years ago that we commonly use today.
However, there are some less common – and more colourful – words that are worthy of being brought back to Australian classrooms and literature – and what better way to meet the English curriculum than with a little Shakespeare?
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We’ve compiled a whole heap to inspire your lesson plans today….
Some activity ideas: In small groups, challenge students to come up with the most grammatically correct insults possible using Shakespearean turns of phrase. As part of a creative writing exercise, ask students to choose one as a prompt and then write a poem or short story. Develop their research skills by assigning them a word or phrase and ask them to track its different usages, finding out how its meaning has developed over time.
Mumble-news – a gossip
Churl – someone who is rude or impolite
Geck – a fool
Barnacle – someone who is tenacious and hangs around
Younker – a fashionable young man
Foot licker – obsequious, sycophant
Candle-waster – someone who sits up all night, probably studying or reading
Reeky – smelly
Odoriferous – really smelly
Artless – unsophisticated
Currish – bad-tempered
Droning – dull
Barren-spirited – emotionally numb
Lumpish – awkward
Bacon-fed – eats too much bacon
Belly-pinched – to be very hungry
Unmuzzled – someone who speaks their mind (but probably shouldn’t)
Lily-livered – cowardly
Weedy – skinny
Gleeking, to gleek – to jest or make sport
To cap and knee – to remove one’s hat and take a knee, a sign of extreme respect
Beslubbering, to beslubber – to coat something thickly with a liquid, like blood or mud (or vegemite)
Bemoaning, to bemoan – to be full of sadness, to speak plaintively
To bewray – to expose or reveal
Cleaping, to cleap – to embrace (either a hug or to embrace a concept)
To disvouch – to deny the existence of something, to contradict
To boggle – to flinch, to show signs of physical fear
Constering, to conster – to give information to others, to tell a story
What are your favourite Shakespearean phrases or words? Have you tried something similar with your students? Comment below.
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