cross-pollination

[dwenius]

This is a repost of someone on my FL that at least half of my readership does not know, and therefore would have missed, but I knew you'd like it. Yanked from megasus4 reposting some guy going by geoff_chaucer (and discovered by brannen):

Wha be tha blake prevy lawe
That bene wantoun too alle tha feres?
SHAFT!
Ya damne righte!

Wha be tha carl tha riske is hals wolt
Fro is allye leve?
SHAFT!
Konne ye?

Wha be tha carl wha wolden flee
Whan peril bene all aboughte?
SHAFT!
Verray!

Alle clepe tha carl ane badde mooder-swyver
SOFTE!
Speken of Shaft bene I.
THAN KONNE ALLES WE!

He be a man konne unnethes
Namo save is mayde konnes im.
JOHN SHAFT!

Comments

[eac.livejournal.com]

Arrrrrrrrggghh.

You make my brain hurt.

[hwrnmnbsol.livejournal.com]

That's right up there with the Latin translation of I Like Big Butts.

[nancy73.livejournal.com]

it just gets better and better every time I read it!

[palecur.livejournal.com]

gold, sir. pure gold.

[tongodeon.livejournal.com]

matrygg really needs to read this.

[megasus4.livejournal.com]

I have printed out a copy and placed it on one of the class bulletin boards. I did so without ceremony or attention (figuring I don't need to call attention to "damne"), but I look forward with glee to the day the kids realize it's there. I did just teach them about Middle English, after all.

Hopefully, they won't ask what "swyver" means....

[matrygg.livejournal.com]

My god, this rocks...

Imma gonna spread it.

[tongodeon.livejournal.com]

Is it actually written correctly, mister olde englysh experte?

[matrygg.livejournal.com]

Well, it looks right, but I'd need to sit down and look at it to tell if it makes sense from a dialect standpoint. I'm not nearly an expert in Middle English, but there are five dialect groups that each have things different. That said, there is mixing in most works, so if nothing else it could probably be an example of mixing if nothing else.

When I'm not sitting here with my developer hat on, I'll check it out. I did change the th combinations back to thorns and the gh combinations back to yogh's when I reposted it. But spelling isn't normalized, so that's not necessarily wrong either.

[tongodeon.livejournal.com]

Note to dwenius: he's corrected the typos here.

[spiritualmonkey.livejournal.com]

Totally awesome! Someone buy this person a mead!

[theservant.livejournal.com]

Now that is just absolutely brilliant. Thanks!

EDITED VERSION

[geoff-chaucer.livejournal.com]

((I had no idea this would get so much play. Here's a link (http://www.livejournal.com/users/geoff_chaucer/7400.html) to the edited version, however -- it was late when I wrote the first one, and there was one word that shouldn't have appeared and one that got left out.))

Re: EDITED VERSION

[rikoshi.livejournal.com]

The lingua-fag in the core of my soul loves you forever.

Re: EDITED VERSION

[alcarilinque.livejournal.com]

linguafags

Re: EDITED VERSION

[rikoshi.livejournal.com]

And now I love you, too. :)

Re: EDITED VERSION

[alcarilinque.livejournal.com]

I think I just coughed on some love. I guess it's in the air this time of the year.