HERE are the first 18 lines of the canterubury tales in middle english

[Writer]

I'm sobering up now... this is before I got drunk tonight.

http://www.supload.com/sound_confirm.php?get=28479144.wav

[Writer]

1. Kick for those who care.

Those very, very few.

[barb162]

12. You mean you don't care?

Horrors! Our language origins.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. My dear Writer...

So.....that was you?

You have a lovely voice....

And I must say that hearing it makes it a lot more foriegn than trying to read it...

It really hardly sounds like English at all...

While reading it allows you the opportunity to see the words...

And they at least look like they're related to English...

Very interesting!

Thank you for your considerable effort, sweetie...

:hug:

[Writer]

4. This was supposed to be a "bar trick" from earlier.

Honestly it's the only real "odd" thing I do... I've known it since high school and haven't forgotten it.

[Orrex]

9. A favor?

Keep the sound file posted at least until tomorrow--it's a little too big for easy download on my dialup connection.

Thanks!

[Writer]

16. I don't expect to take it down anytime soon, so have at it.

[barb162]

13. It's very difficult to recite and it's not all that long ago they spoke that way.

800 years or so.

[Orrex]

3. I'm more of an Old English fan, myself

Middle English just doesn't knock my socks off the same way.

Here are some readings from Beowulf, if you've the interest.

Hwaet!

[Writer]

6. I've heard this beofre...

the Nordic influences in Old English are quite striking.

[Orrex]

8. Is that subject line a pun? Shame on you!

But you're right about the Nordic track in OE.

I was lucky enough to study under a prof who was actually fluent in OE (and about a dozen other languages, damn her). I'm hardly fluent, but I can usually read a passage aloud and make it reasonably convincing.

FWIW I can recite the first 60 lines or so. I'll have to keep it in mind the next time I'm itching for a bar bet.

I imagine that your Chaucer comes in handy at those Ren Faires of yours. When I was more involved in the SCA, the Beowulf prologue was a real crowd pleaser.

[Kutjara]

32. My roommate in college took me to his parents' home in NE England.

We drank in a pub north of Sunderland, and spoke to a very old man with an impenetrable Geordie accent, who spoke about how he could understand German tourists much better than he could understand someone like me, with my English/American accent. He was quite able to make out many things said in German and Norwegian, certainly enough to get the sense of what was being said. This man had no education past the age of six, had been a coal miner all his life, and had never traveled more than fifty miles from where I met him.

[wildhorses]

5. that is way wicked cool

you are such a geek!!

course, i am a nerd cos i dug it;)

[Writer]

15. I am a farkin' geek.

A farkin' geek who loves etymology and the history of languages. I wish I could speak a few more of them.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

7. That's easy for YOU to say...

:evilgrin:

[EFerrari]

18. You have to internalize The Farmer's Daughter and go from there.

[Writer]

19. ...

;)

[barb162]

10. hahahah

I had to recite that in high school. We all did.

[racaulk]

11. I remember having to memorize that in my senior year English class in high school!

And I completely forgot it soon thereafter. Wow, thanks for reminding me! ;)

[barb162]

14. Senior year for me too.

I remember it like the back of my hand. It took me a while to memorize it, let alone understand it. It was as if you had to translate every word to understand it.

[Writer]

20. Yup. Senior year for me, too.

[Frank Cannon]

41. Me too. Senior year.

Must have been some sort of national conspiracy.

[SteppingRazor]

17. You're sobering up?

Damn,, it's early yet.

(Hmmmm ... is this the first time I've done long-term drunk posting on DU? I think it might be.)


On edit: Hey, that was great. That was you? Nicely done. Shoot, I had problems acting Shakespeare. That was impressive!

[Writer]

21. Actually I acted Shakespeare in high school and college.

Thanks. :)

[SteppingRazor]

22. I was in Taming, Two Gentlemen and Much Ado

Grumio, Outlaw, and Don John, respectively.

[Writer]

23. Oh yeah? How cool.

I did an adaptation of Julius Caesar set in Latin America (it was a Latin American coup...) We literally said "Cesar" instead of Caesar. I played Carpathia.

The other production was Pericles. Thaisa.

[SteppingRazor]

24. Wow. Way different experiences...

I'm all comedy, you're all historicals. I did Taming and Much Ado in high school, Two Gentlemen in college (hence the much smaller role as "Outlaw No.2." My acting abilities hit a bit of a peak at that level, I'm afraid ;)

[Writer]

25. I've lost all interest in acting.

This sounds a bit odd, but in RL I hate putting myself on display...

online on the other hand... ;)

[SteppingRazor]

27. I don't ever really think about it anymore ...

I still kinda get a chuckle out of being in front of a bunch of people, but my tastes changed. Repeating other people's lines gets boring. Given the username, I'm sure you can sympathize when I say I'd rather write my own. :toast:

[Writer]

28. Cheers to that, mate.

It certainly was good to feel human for a while.

[EFerrari]

26. OOOOoo! Don John is a great part!

I was in Taming and got to direct A&C.

Have you ever heard of that company that does SH in 90 minutes? Their idea was that most productions drag horribly so they set themselves the goal of doing each play in 90 minutes. It worked pretty well. :)

/ack. they're/their

[SteppingRazor]

30. Huh. Cool. Haven't heard of that. I've seen some of the other permutations...

you ever see "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)" or "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead"? Those are both kinda funny in theiir own way.

I'm kinda ambivalent about 90-minute Shakespeare, though. I mean, you couldn't possibly do Hamlet or one of the other monsters. At least not well.

[EFerrari]

31. What a challenge that would be. Have you seen "The Chimes

at Midnight"? I used to show it to my students to help them get the Henry 4 plays.

We have a great amphitheater out here in the SF Bay area where they perform SH in natural light -- with some cheating. You can have a picnic and nearly duplicate the Globe experience -- without the pickpockets or the stink, of course. lol

[SteppingRazor]

33. Well, if it doesn't have the pickpocketing street urchins, I want no part of it!

:P

Sounds cool, though. The one Shakespeare play I did in college, Two Gentlemen, was outdoors. In Colorado. In the foothills. By the time the play's run was over, the female lead had a whole soliloquy worked out for when she sets the letter on the ground (in the script) and then it gets blown away by a massive gust of wind (not in the script).

:rofl:

Anyway, haven't seen Chimes. Will check it out if you recommend. I dig the Henry IV plays for Falstaff if nothing else. Dude's hilarious. But Henry V is especially good.

[EFerrari]

36. LOL! Oh, no!

Do see Chimes. Orson Welles. I think you'd like it. :)

[AnotherGreenWorld]

42. Chimes at Midnight is very good,

as is pretty much everything Welles did.

[Kutjara]

29. Sorry, Writer, I missed this.

Lovey rendition, my dear. I'm amazed again at how much Middle English sounds like Dutch. One of those languages you almost understand, but not quite.

Thanks for making the effort to post it.

[Writer]

34. It does have that flare, doesn't it... but I'd guess those are the Latin and Norman influences?

Anyway it's all quite fascinating. I'd love to study the history of English.

[Kutjara]

37. Yes, indeed.

You can almost hear the history of English flowing through the words. The strong Latin, with later Germanic branching, and quite new (300 years) French influence. Of course, all of Latinized northern Europe's language was in flux at the time. Thankfully, Chaucer and those like him provide a glimpse of a vibrant language undergoing radical transformation.

[Writer]

39. Very well said.

"... a language undergoing radical transformation..." - without a doubt!

[EFerrari]

35. It would be fun to put up this material in the approximate accent.

Very nicely done, and very dear for those of us who wrestled with the words and the sounds. :)

[Writer]

38. I don't know if the accent we were taught is authentic or not... but I'd love to know what the real

accent is!

[EFerrari]

40. Me, too, Writer.

:)