1The Bob and Rob Show Study GuideLesson 73: Shakespearedate: Feb 19, 2007file name: bobrob 02-19-07

Show notesThe Bard, William Shakespeare, or plain old Bill1. Were talking about one of the greatest writers of all time onthis weeks show.

The Bard: 1564-1616

Note: Bob and Rob highly recommend the movie Shakespeare in Love. To find out more about this greatfilm, see this site: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0138097/

Phrasal Verbs and IdiomsTodays expressions were all coined2 by Shakespeare.

"to bet on (something)"1) To gamble e.g: I bet 100 pounds on that horse and it came last.2) To rely on someone or something on doing something e.g: Dont bet on me reading that Shakespearianwork.

Idioms: Its Greek to meTo be incomprehensible e.g:1) I tried reading a book on chaos theory but I gave up because it was all Greek to me.

Bonus Idiom: a wild goose chaseTo be misdirected, sent on a long and crazy journey e.g:1) The police were sent on a wild goose chase by the gang of criminals.

Grammar BluesWe dealt with Kazuyas question about it and that in sentences such as the following: A) Forget about it/that.B) Sorry about it/that. It basically depends on the situation. When more than one thing has been mentioned, itusually refers to the main subject of discussion whereas that usually selects the last thing that was mentioned.For example:I have another PC in the spare room. It is mainly used by my daughter, incidentally. (the daughter uses thePC)I have another PC in the spare room. That is mainly used by my daughter, incidentally. (the daughter uses thespare room)

Email BagRie wrote to us and said Rob resembled a DJ from Osaka, Japan. Thank you, Rie.

Also, Oleg asked us about the use of about. For example: Today were talking Shakespeare. This is veryinformal and in the U.S. The preposition should be included so that it looks like this: Today were talkingabout Shakespeare.

2Both Sides of the Pond(US) orchestra (UK) stalls(US) mezzanine (UK) circle(US) balcony (UK) upper circle(US) the peanut gallery / nosebleed section (UK) the gods

EXTRA: (US) theater (UK) theatre(spelling difference)

SongNot Quite Like Shakespeare by Juliana Marx. See more at http://www.podshow.com

Quotes"To be or not to be, that is the question". Hamlet"Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none". Alls well that ends well"Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrustupon them. Twelfth NightIf I lose mine honour, I lose myself. Antony & Cleopatra

EXTRA:If music be the food of love, play on, give me excess of it. Twelfth Night

Find out more about the Bard here: http://www.bardweb.net/

Show transcriptBOBHi, it's the Bob and Rob Show. This is Bob.

ROBAnd this is, Rob. And are we recording?

BOBWe are recording.

ROBExcellent. So, Bob?

BOBHow are you doing today, Rob?

ROBPretty good, pretty good, thank you.

BOBHey, today we're talking Shakespeare. We're talking about the best known playwright3 of all time.

ROBThe bard, William Shakespeare.

BOBContributed more to the English language than the Bible.

ROBReally!

BOBOr, any other writer.

ROBWow!

ROBIn English, yeah.

BOBHe is "the man."

3BOBFor the English language.

ROBA bit like, Goethe4, in German - is the equivalent in the German language. Shakespeare, okay. He was bornsometime around 1564, and died 1616 at the age of 52.

BOBProbably, lived longer than average for that time period.

ROBI believe so, that's an old age for that time. He wrote around 38 plays, comedies, histories, tragedies, and heaveraged one point five plays a year. That's pretty busy.

BOBHave you seen any of his plays, Rob?

ROBYeah, I have.

BOBDid you fall asleep?

ROBNo, no, no , no, I enjoyed them.

BOBMy mom lives in a town that has a very popular Shakespearean festival.

ROBAll right.

BOBIt's very popular in the US, so I have seen one or two Shakespeare plays.

ROBThey're good. Did you fall asleep?

BOBNo comment.

ROBI saw Anthony and Cleopatra with Dame Judy Dench - now, she's a Dame - and the Tempest, which is prettygood.

BOBSo what are his most popular plays, do you think?

ROBHis most well known ones are Macbeth, Hamlet, and of course, Romeo and Juliet. These are probably themost popular and most well-known.

BOBAside from his plays, his sonnets are apparently very popular. He wrote around 154 sonnets. In case youdon't know what a sonnet is, S-O-N-N-E-T, it's a fourteen line poem in which the lines are an Ionicpentameter. How do you say that?

ROB"Pentameter."

BOBNow, that's something that we learned in high school, and it's just a fancy way of saying that each line in thepoem has a special rhythm. Ten syllables, and the syllables alternate, stressed and unstressed. For example,

4da dum, da dum, da dum, da dum, da dum. Hey, I'm pretty good.

ROBThat's very good, Bob.

BOBI should be a poet.

ROBDid you write that one?

BOBI did.

ROBHe wrote his first play around 25 years old - when he was 25 - and that was Henry the VI, and he was also anactor. He preformed many of his own plays.

BOBI guess back then, boys and men played all the parts. There weren't any women in plays.

ROBThat's a bit like Japanese Kabuki5.

BOBExactly.

ROBOnly men play all the roles in Kabuki too.

BOBThe interesting thing about Shakespeare is, his style was mixed; he used both verse and prose. Sosometimes, characters would speak in verse and sometimes they would just use prose. Now "verse,"basically means "poetry." It would rhyme, or have a certain rhythm, where "prose," is just "everyday speech."

ROBI see.

BOBSo he'd mix those quite a bit, just for effect.

ROBSo, was he quite sarcastic6?

BOBI don't know. What do you think? Apparently, it seems, he was quite sarcastic, which I identify with, being verysarcastic myself.

ROBYeah, I think a lot of his humor is quite sarcastic in nature.

BOBJust like us, no.

ROBHe invented a lot of English words; very popular English words, that he coined

BOB"Coined" means "invented," basically.

ROBRight.

BOB

5I was so surprised to see how many words that we use today were coined by him.

ROBAmazing! For example, "lonely."

BOBWhat! No way.

ROBHe coined the phrase, lonely, or the word, lonely.

BOBBirthplace...

ROBWorthless...

BOBChampion...

ROBCritic...

BOBMajestic...

ROBTorture...

BOBEyeball...

ROBAssassination...

BOBCold blooded7...

ROBBlanket.

BOBAnd many, many more that you'd be surprised to see. And, we'll put a link in the study guide.

ROBRight, that's amazing.

BOBThere's8 hundreds of words that he coined.

ROBA genius, an incredible writer.

BOBWhere was he from in the UK?

ROBI believe that his birthplace was Stratford-upon-Avon.

BOBIs that true? You know, we happen to have the famous Boris Karloff9 here to talk a little bit aboutShakespeare's hometown. Should we listen to it?

ROB

6Yeah, great.

This is Boris Karloff speaking. This is the story of William Shakespeare's hometown. From October to April,life in this ancient market town of Stratford-upon-Avon flows as gently as the river itself, but comes the springand business booms. Stratford-upon-Avon is only second to London, the chief dollar making haunt10 inBritain. But it took Stratford two hundred-fifty years to wake up to its Shakespearean opportunities. In his day,Shakespeare's fellow citizens regarded him as a rather dubious11 blessing. To them the theatre was a den ofvice. For almost a century and a half, the only outsiders interested in Stratford were occasional scholars. Andit wasn't until 1869 that a local landlord was able to rally his townsmen to a public celebration ofShakespeare's anniversary. That year the great David Garrick came from London, to organize a festival withcannon salvos12, public breakfasts and fireworks. There was everything, except, a Shakespeareanperformance. For a hundred years this kind of celebration prevailed13. Local businessmen made a little bit ofpocket money out of the visitors, but the town seemed to be destined to remain a big, dull, village. It wassaved from this fate, by a bearded giant of a brewer named, Charles Edward Flower. It started, when back in1870, the local folk wanted to erect a national monument to Shakespeare. Said Flower, "Shakespeare, meansplays, good ones. The monument we want is a theatre where people can come and see those plays." Flowerscoured14 England to raise money for a theatre, but the London press and the big wigs15 snubbed16 him.They called Stratford "dull," "forsaken," and said that its citizens were nobodys17. Flower roared back, "We'vewaited nearly three hundred years for the somebodys18 to do something, now we'll show what the nobodyscan do." He built a theatre with his own money, and Stratford was on its way. Other local citizens went to workto remake their once sleepy community. They stripped from their homes, shops and inns, the ugly plasterfronts added in later centuries, to reveal the fine timbered facades that lined the streets when Shakespearelived. Fireplaces, cupboards, panels, beams - all the handsome Elizabethan19 details had been restored. Andnow, the entire town is a living monument to William Shakespeare, shared by the plain folk of Stratford withthe people of the whole world.

BOBWell there you go. Boris Karloff, he's quite a legend.

ROBYes, he is, he played the mummy.

BOBThat's right, he was kind of a master of horror - the horror genre. Phrasal verbs and idioms.

ROBYes, so today, we're going to look at a phrasal verb invented by Shakespeare, and we're going to do, "to bet."

BOBTibet, as in, the country?

ROBNot Tibet, sorry.

BOBTo bet, like, "to bet on the horses, to gamble," Shakespeare invented that word?

ROBYeah, that phrase.

BOBOkay, to "bet on" - would that be the phrasal verb?

ROBThe phrasal verb is "to bet on something."

BOBOkay, can you give us an example?

ROBYeah. "Last week I bet on the...

BOBIndianapolis Colts for the Super Bowl."

7ROBYeah, the Indianapolis Colts for the Super Bowl.

BOBYou bet on them?

ROBYeah.

BOBOkay, so "bet on something," not "bet something on." You wouldn't say that.

ROBWell, you can use it, you can use it that way, for example, "I bet twenty pounds on the Indianapolis Colts."

BOBOkay, that's good to know. Our idioms today, of course, were invented by Shakespeare, as well. "It's Greek tome." That's Shakespeare, and basically "it's Greek to me means "you don't understand it, It's reallyconfusing."

ROBIt's beyond our knowledge.

BOBFor example, "You know, every time I look at a computer manual, it's just all Greek to me; I just don'tunderstand it."

ROBYou know something, Bob, although I've lived in Japan quite awhile, my kanji skills aren't that great - I knowabout 600 kanji - but when I pick up a Japanese newspaper, "it's all Greek to me."

BOBIt's all Chinese, to me.

ROBIt's very difficult. And so, our bonus idiom this week is, again, a phrase invented by Shakespeare, and it's "wildgoose chase."

BOBYes, and an example, "The criminal sent the police off on a wild goose chase." So, what does that mean?That will be in the study guide.

ROBYes, that's right, "to be on a wild goose chase."

BOBOkay, I think it's time for Ancient Japanese English Study Secret.

ROBAncient Japanese English Study Secret.

BOBKazuya had a question. Kazuya wanted to know the difference between "it," and "that." For example, whenyou say, "Forget about it, or forget about that," or, "sorry about it, or sorry about that." He gets confused aboutthat, so...

ROBYeah, I think they're set kind of phrases. Theyre interchangeable in a way, you can say, "Forget it, or forgetabout that." "Sorry about it, sorry about that," yeah, they're interchangeable to a degree, but I think there are acouple of points that we should point out. Firstly, when more than one thing has been mentioned, then "it"usually refers to the main subject of discussion. Whereas, "that," generally refers to the last thing that ismentioned.

8BOBYeah, it seems more specific. "Sorry about that," it just seems, very specific. Like, the last thing youmentioned. That's very good, yeah, that's a good way to articulate it.

ROBSo maybe, we can think of a quick example...

BOB"You know, Rob, yesterday I felt bad about, you know, you came over to our house, and the dinner wasterrible, and then my dog bit you, and my son was crying, and I'm really sorry. Let's forget about it."

ROB"Forget about it, forget about it, no problem."

BOB"And also, I'm really sorry about the fact that when you left, my neighbor got so angry at you. I feel so badthat, that was really - I'm sorry."

ROB"You can forget about that."

BOBOkay, so that's an example, of it's more specific; it's the last thing that we were talking about.

"NOT LIKE SHAKESPEARENow then, we're going to try something different on this Shakespeare question, kid. You must identify thefollowing quotations, and the character speaking. But, instead of reading the quotation correctly, I'm going toread it backwards. That ought to be very difficult and confusing, not only to you and all of our listeners, but tome too. All right, now this first one is an easy one just to get you children stated. question the is that be to notor be To. Ronny, "Well, that's To be or not to be, that is the question, from Hamlet. I'm not sure who said that.I believe Hamlet himself said it." That's right, Hamlet himself, uh huh. Now here's the next one, hand little thissweeten not will Arabia of perfumes the All. Sound silly, doesn't it? Pam, "Well, Lady Macbeth said it, and it'skind of long for me to translate from front to back, now. But, Lady Macbeth said that in Macbeth." That's right,and you couldn't tell me... "Will all the perfumes of Arabia not sweeten this little hand, I think." That's the boy,that's the idea, huh.

BOBOkay, digging into our email bag, now. Rie wrote us and email, what did she say, Rob?

ROBShe says, "Hi, Bob and Rob. I started to listen to your show recently. It's very interesting, and I listen everydayon my iPod. Rob's voice resembles a Japanese DJ Heroti" Oh, really. "who works for FM 802, which is inOsaka."

BOBYou could be a star, Rob.

ROBWow!

BOBWell, you're already a star, but you can be a bigger star. This lady wrote, "I have a question aboutprepositions. I heard a phrase on the radio, "Today, we are talking digital cameras, or somewhere else, we'retalking science here. Can we be talking something in the sense that we talk "about something," or can we onlysay, "be talking something"? Well generally, we say "talking about something." Often, we drop the "about," it'smore colloquial. So today we're talking Shakespeare, today we're talking about Shakespeare. Kind of thesame meaning to me.

ROBAnd I also think, this is an Americanization to talk shop. And we don't really use that in the UK. In the UK,British English, we tend to put the prepositions always.

BOBIt's very informal.

9ROBRight, right.

BOBAmerican English tends to be a bit more informal.

ROBIn that respect, yeah, we don't use....

BOBSo, you wouldn't say, "Today, we're talking Shakespeare"?

ROBNo, not in Britain.

BOBIt's just a very casual way of saying it in American English. Of course, the same meaning is "aboutShakespeare."

ROB"Today, we're talking about Shakespeare." I think for grammatical purposes, if you're taking an exam orsomething, you would need the preposition.

BOBYeah, it just kind of has a folksy 20sound to it. Okay, well thanks for your emails everyone.

ROBYeah, thank you.

BOBBoth Sides of the Pond.

ROBBoth Sides of the Pond, next.

BOBWell, we're talking theatre today, and I thought we'd use some theatre terminology here. Now, I'm not atheatre buff21, I don't go to theatre a lot, but you know the "balcony," the higher area where you sit up above.How would you say that in the UK?

ROBBalcony. We call that "the upper circle."

BOBWould you? That's interesting. How about, the area below where everyone sits. I guess, in the US we call itthe "mezzanine." It's an Italian word, "Mezzanine," would you say, "mezzanine" in the UK?

ROBPossibly, but I think we'd also refer to it as the "circle."

BOBThe circle, okay. So circle, and upper circle, meaning "balcony"?

ROBYeah.

BOBHow about the area where the orchestra sits down below from the stage?

ROBThose are "the stalls," S-T-A-L-L-S, and then right at the top, the top of the theatre, we have a little sectioncalled, "the gods," or "the nosebleed section."

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BOBOh, you call it both?

ROBBecause, you're so high.

BOBOh, that's funny. We would say that - like, a stadium, when youre watching a baseball game - you're at thehighest rows, you're sitting in the highest rows - it's called the "nosebleed section" because, you're sitting sohigh. I think in theatre terms, we'd probably call it "the peanut gallery." Traditionally in older times, you'd getsome rougher characters up there throwing peanuts at the actors or actress," so we say, "the peanut gallery."

ROBInteresting, interesting.

MATTHEW FRAISERThis is Matthew Fraiser, and youre listening to the Bob and Rob Show.

BOBLet's do some announcements.

ROBThank you everybody for your donations, much appreciated, and if you enjoy the show and listen regularly,please consider making a donation.

BOBYes, we always appreciate it.

ROBDoesn't have to be much, any little bit helps.

BOBIt helps pay the rent and that way we can eat.

ROBAnd also, if you're interested in getting the detailed notes and transcripts, then think about becoming a Boband Rob Show member.

BOBAlso, please write to us if you have any questions or comments about the show. We're atwww.thebobandrobshow.com; you can send us an email or a voice message. The voice message button is inthe sidebar on our blog. And finally, if you know anyone that might be interested in the Bob and Rob Show, besure to tell them about it.

ROBOkay.

BOBI guess, we'll leave with a few quotations, and well, we're talking about Shakespeare, so I think we shouldquote Shakespeare. Do you got one, Rob?

ROBYep, from Hamlet, this is a classic: "To be or not to be, that is the question."

BOBThat's probably his most famous quote. From the play All's Well that Ends Well: "Love all, trust a few, dowrong to none."

ROBAnd from Twelfth Night, which is a comedy: "Be not afraid of greatness, some are born great, some achievegreatness and some have greatness thrust upon them."

BOBVery good. And from Anthony and Cleopatra : "If I lose mine honor, I lose myself." And "mine" in that case is

11

an archaic22 form of "my."

ROBWell, hopefully, we'll achieve greatness someday, hey, Bob?

BOBI think we already have - The Bob and Rob Show. Yes, well hopefully, Rob, we can only strive for greatness.Maybe we will add a few of our own words to the English language.

ROBYeah, yeah, yeah. They're actually called, "neologisms23."

BOBBoy, that's a good word.

ROBThomas Hardy used to do it too - a lot of authors do it - they makeup words.

BOBI'm always making up words, that's my excuse. "Hey, that's not how you pronounce that, Bob." "Oh, it's aneologism." Anyway, todays song is called, "Not Quite Like Shakespeare," and it's by, Juliana Marx. Norelation to Carl Marx. And we got the song from podshow. If you want to learn more about this artist go towww.music.podshow.com. Don't forget to study your Shakespeare this week.

ROBGood luck with all your studies and your literary ambitions.

BOBIt's funny, everyone love's Shakespeare, but no one's ever read any Shakespeare plays. It's interesting howthat works.

ROBYeah, it's difficult.

BOBIt is difficult, yeah. Who has time to read, these days, well Shakespeare, at least? Okay, I'm going to go readmy Shakespeare now. Bye, bye.

ROBBye, bye.

So we played out a scene that wasn't quite Shakespeare and still I was the more deceived. I only said what Imeant but it just went in one ear, not as what you heard but as what you believed. I've been picking this scabfor a week now, resigned to defining a scar. Can't even will it to heal cuz 24as long as I feel it, thats how iknow where you were, and where you are. A rawness still pink and tender, a rough little rendering of ourheated fender bender25. They say that someone's to blame but between us it's no one and as long as weread from the same script, you hit and I run, you hit and I run, you hit and I run, you hit and I run, you hit and Iruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun. So we played out a scene that wasn't quite Shakespeare and still I was the moredeceived. I only said what I meant but it just went in one ear, not as what you heard but as what youbelieved.

Extension and Review Study*note: we encourage you to respond to the questions and readings by posting on the discussion board (Loginusing your Bob and Rob Show membership username and password)http://englishcaster.com/discussionboard/

1/ Have you ever bet on something? If so, on what and how much? Did you win? Have you ever been led ona wild goose chase? Tell us about it.

2/ Have you read any of Shakespeares work or seen one of his plays at the theater? If so, which one? Was itall Greek to you? Who is the most famous writer from your country?

Glossary

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1 Bill = or Billy or Will, are nicknames for William.2 Coined = created. Coined is only used with words, phrases and expressions. A slang meaning is used inthe sense of throwing coins at someone to hurt them: the crowd coined the police at the demo.3 Playwright = another word for a writer of plays.4 Goethe = Find out more about the great man here:http://www.aspirennies.com/private/SiteBody/Romance/Poetry/Goethe/jwvgoethe.shtml5 Kabuki = Like Shakespearean English, the Japanese used in Kabuki plays is very old and very difficult evenfor Japanese people to understand.6 Sarcastic = adjective of sarcasm, a dry wit which uses the opposite meaning of something to be funny.7 Cold blooded = without emotion.8 There's = This should read there are, but increasingly in colloquial English, people use theres even withplural nouns, as in this case.9 Boris Karloff = an English actor, best known for his roles in horror films.10 Haunt = slang for place.11 Dubious = suspicious, doubtful feeling.12 Salvos = shots fired from a cannon.13 Prevailed = continued to take place, or occur.14 Scoured = to scour means to search somewhere thoroughly for something or someone.15 big wigs = important and powerful people, VIPs.16 Snubbed = rejected17 Nobodys = people of no importance or significance.18 Somebodys = opposite of nobodys.19 Elizabethan = this era runs from 1558-1603.20 Folksy = colloquial, slangy.21 Buff = a kind of expert. Someone who is very interested in something and knows a lot about the subject.22 Archaic = old.23 Neologisms = words that are made up or invented.24 Cuz = slang for because.25 heated fender bender = big argument.