I’fecks!

Why, that’s my bawcock. What, hast smutcht thy nose?-

They say it is a copy of mine. Come, captain,

We must be neat;-not neat, but cleanly, captain:

And yet the steer, the heifer, and the calf,

Are all call’d neat.- Still virginalling

Upon his palm?- How now, you wanton calf!

Are thou my calf?

 

-Leontes

The Winter’s Tale            Act I, Scene ii, Line 133

 

To which Mamillius replies, Yes, if you will, my lord. Mamillius is the young son of Leontes.

Leontes was thinking all sorts of jealous and misplaced thoughts about his wife and his friend Polixenes, and then he suddenly turns to his son and begins with today’s lines. It appears that he’s trying to assuage the bad feelings he’s having about his wife and friend by concentrating on the good feelings he has about his son. So there’s quite a bit of interesting language here, and it certainly appears at first that this is hard to understand. Maybe, maybe not. So let’s take a look at it.

I’fecks? It just means In faith. So it’s really just a little exclamation to lead with. Not terribly meaningful.

Bawcock is fine fellow, and I believe that smutcht is just what it looks like, a little slang not very different from what we would use today to talk about some sort of messiness, in this case about his nose.

At first he talks about the need to be neater, but then decides that neat is a word used with cattle, so he goes with cleanly. And it’s a bit odd because in the end he goes back to calling his son a calf, a wanton calf.

Virginalling upon thy palm is tapping as though playing a virginal which is a small keyboard instrument.

Wanton, of course, is playful.

Well, that wasn’t so hard, was it? It makes perfect sense.

 

And here's a pic of me and my little bawcock. He's a wanton little bawcock, yes he is.

 

That’s a sheal’d peascod.

                Pointing to Lear

 

-Fool

King Lear                Act I, Scene iv, Line 109

 

Two days in a row with a little stage direction: that’s unusual. Anyway, sheal’d is simply shelled, and peascod is a pea. So basically, Lear is a pea out of his pod. And that’s a fairly apt description of him right now, as he is being treated as quite a bit less than a king by his daughters. Interesting.

Perhaps we could use this instead of the very weary expression out of your comfort zone. I’m sure you’ve heard that one. It’s usually used in a positive sense in that it is a recommended, good thing. You really need to get out of your comfort zone. To which I generally reply Yah, zone this, with an appropriate hand gesture. This would be a much better response, and the other person would have no idea what you’re talking about, which is a bonus.

“You really need to get outside your comfort zone, Pete.”

“Yay, why don’t you become a sheal’d peascod.”

“A what?”

Okay, that’s perfect. Now, I just need to remember it. That’s the trick.

 

Here's Pete in the water. You can't see his face, but you might be able to tell by the body language: he is a sheal'd peascod - out of his element, and out of his comfort zone.

Here's Pete later that same day, in the water; but this time there's no waves and there's a draft beer in front of him, and a bar stool to sit on. He's a bit less of a sheal'd peaspod in this pic.

 

First rehearse your song by rote

To each word a warbling note:

Hand in hand, with fairy grace,

Will we sing, and bless this place.

Song and dance

 

-Titania

A Midsummer Night’s Dream    Act V, Scene i, Line 386

 

Unlike yesterday’s line, these are only a few lines removed from the end of the play. All the mortals have left the stage at this point, all their activities complete, and Oberon, Titania, Puck, and the fairies are here. And they’re just singing, dancing, (as you can note by the stage direction) and pretty much making merry before all but Puck depart, leaving him to wrap things up.

So that’s about all I’ve got for today’s line.

 This guy might be able to do some warbling. Ya think?

 

Send us your prisoners, or you will hear of it.

-King Henry

King Henry the Fourth Part I    Act I, Scene iii, Line 124

 

This is near the beginning of the play and Northumberland and Hotspur are being told by King Henry that he wants the prisoners they captured in their battle with the Welsh. It turns out that high ranking prisoners are big business in this place and time, because you can ransom them back to their countrymen for big bucks. Hotspur does not want to give up these prisoners and this will be the beginning of trouble and eventual civil war.

He probably should have just given up the prisoners.

No, no, no; that's not one of Hotspur's prisoners. That's not a prisoner at all. It's just Matt.