The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 14.1427  Thursday, 10 July 2003

From:           Jeffrey Myers <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Wednesday, 9 Jul 2003 20:45:12 -0400
Subject: 14.1403 Re: A Fifth Grader's View of Shakespeare
Comment:        RE: SHK 14.1403 Re: A Fifth Grader's View of Shakespeare

>Richard Lederer has made a career out of publishing these
>"student answers," in books like "Anguished English," and
>frankly, I find them offensive.  Is he making fun of
>teachers?  Children?  The education
>system?   I suspect that this response, as well as so many others like
>it, fall into the urban myth category and were written by
>some humorist (Richard Lederer?).

Yes, that Lederer is offensive.  I can't find anything funny about
malapropisms and can only think that Shakespeare was being deeply ironic
when he created the otherwise unavoidably offensive Dogberry and Elbow.
Clearly these characters need our sympathy and perhaps remediation (if,
indeed, even these responses aren't too linguistically imperial); they
do not need to be made fun of.  I'm glad you brought this injustice to
our attention.

Jeff Myers

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