Talk Like Shakespeare Day - April 23

You've probably heard of the holiday the day before this day, which is April Showers Brings May Flowers Day, but you probably have never heard of this strange yet wonderfully cool holiday Talk Like Shakespeare Day - April 23. This is a day to confuse your friends confound your enemies and annoy your coworkers.

Copper engraving of Shakespeare by Martin Droeshout. This was used on the title page of the First Folio, printed in 1623 which was 7 years after Shakespeare's death.

Why is it Talk Like Shakespeare Day you ask, well this is Shakespeare's 448th birthday and to celebrate this grand and awesome day we talk like him in the old way. Many have waited with baited breath for this day because Shakespeare contributed over 17,000 words and phrases to the English language.

May I ask you is all's well that ends well, is it to be or not to be, will you celebrate this day?

I pray you, do not say you, say thou and thee and instead of all or y'all say ye. Men are Sirrah, Ladies are called Mistress and your Friends are now called your Cousins. Cursing is now not a crime as long as you replace the offending words with jackanapes or canker-blossoms or poisonous bunch-back'd toads. Your tormentors will never be more confounded then on Talk Like Shakespeare Day. It will be a word of the future that thou shall not use use, nay the letter T will be the key, as in tis, t'will, I'll and do't.

Verses and rhymes are things for lovers, ruffians, songs for clowns. When all is lost and you doubt what to say try to add "eth" to verbs of today. You do not run you runneth and then trippeth and then falleth. To add weight to your opinions, try starting them with methinks, mayhaps, in sooth or wherefore.

Get thee hence from this place and celebrate this Talk Like Shakespeare Day.

You can celebrate by merely speaking like him, throwing a party or ball. My personal favorite is too read a play days or maybe weeks before to get you in the mood for the holiday. I find that reading things from the past helps me talk in the way of the past.

You could also watch Shakespeare movies modern and classic and maybe see one of his plays.

Painting by Dicksee, a painter from the 1800s who painted in the classic way.