That if any person or persons, after the saide first daye of June nexte comyng, shall use practise

[beboots]

or exercyse any Wytchecrafte Enchauntement Charme or Sorcerie, wherby any pon shall happen to bee wasted consumed or lamed in his or her Bodye or Member...
Yep, I'm reading from "An Act agaynst Conjuracions Inchantementes and Witchecraftes". Oh, Tudor England, how awesome can you get?

...At least the paper I'm writing for that class is currently much more interesting than Cardinal Wolsey. I actually don't mind doing the readings for this one. It helps that they're shorter...

So I was having a bit of a bad week. My computer is well and truly deceased, and I ordered a new laptop, but it won't come in in time to be any good for typing up the two papers due this week, so I'm using the family PC. It's working out fine, I suppose, though I miss my lovely laptop keyboard. ;_; But apparently my new laptop shall look the same as my old one, but $150 cheaper, with more memory and more advanced overall. So... things shall look up.

I only have to get through until this Thursday. On that day, I'll have handed in my Hist 332 paper (Tudor Regime) and done the presentation on Tuesday, handed in the Hist 260 paper (Pre-confederation Canadian History) on the Wednesday, and will have completed my Art History midterm (my only evaluation besides the final, worth 40% of my mark) that morning. I can't wait for Thursday afternoon...

I mean, I was having a stressful week, but it's now no longer as oppresively bad. I mean, I was worried that with my two seven hour shifts at Superstore this weekend, I wouldn't get anything done. In fact, I really shouldn't be typing this, I should be working on my assignments in the word documents two windows over... BUT a few good things have since happened to me:

1) I've gotten stuff written down for my witchcraft assignment. And a plan for my essay. Isn't that nice? :) It's an improvement on what I had (not) done as of three days ago.

2) I was seriously considering quitting my job because I felt under-appreciated, harranged and harassed. Then, today at work, I was working side by side with my boss, Teri, and David, a worker more junior than I. Teri had to leave for an hour to go to an appointment of some sort, and David and I were left in charge of sorting out this disaster zone of an aisle. I also went for lunchbreak during that time. David and I focussed, and we got the aisle cleaned up. We were just finishing up when Teri returned - and she told us she was stunned at how well we had done, that it looked really nice and neat. She actually was under the impression that I'd skipped by lunchbreak to work hardcore at this aisle. I felt much better. :)

3) The next paycheque is all of my back-pay, as per the new union agreement! :D It shall be like the lottery, only I'm sure to win - I just don't know how much I'll get. It shall be a surprise. I just know that I get 60 cents for every hour that I've worked since August 2006. And I've worked at least 2000 hours since then.

4) I got an e-mail saying I've been accepted for the Louise McKinney scolarship - which means that they throw $2500 at me for being in the top 2% of my faculty. I feel better for having worked myself nearly to death last year. The GPA for my first year will keep me afloat for the rest of my University carreer, I do believe.

... and now BACK TO OUTER SPACE! D:<

... I mean, homework. Yes.

Also, I have learned the manliest name ever, topping even the phallic symbolism in the word "Shakespeare": Manwood. I kid you not, this is an actual last name. Doesn't Early Modern England rock? :D

Comments

[anyjen.livejournal.com]

Yep, Middle English is fun. We had "History of the English Language" at my uni and we had a lot of fun trying to understand some of the stuff written back in those days. From Chaucer to Shakespeare... though I must confess that I found Chaucer rather frustrating. :P

[beboots.livejournal.com]

Speaking of Chaucer... check this out: http://houseoffame.blogspot.com/

I had to read a selection from Canturbury Tales for my English class last year, and it was like reading another language. You know, grammatically, Old English is closer to modern German than it is modern English? Also, old French is closer to modern English than Modern French. I actually have very little difficultly reading Old French, not just because I speak French - many of the spellings are identical to those in English ("forest" instead of "forêt", etc.,etc.). Cool, eh?

Your first language isn't English, right? Man, studying middle English must have been difficult, then. D: I have difficulties with it, and I consider myself fairly well-read.

[anyjen.livejournal.com]

Tell me about it. We also had to read "Beowulf" (with the handy translation at the margin); Old English really was like another language. Middle English seemed easy by the time we reached it. XD
Old Spanish is a lot closer to Contemporary Spanish than OE was to Contemporary English... I have a copy of "El Cid Campeador", our oldest recorded epic story, and I can read it without a translation... though I get mightily lost at times. XD

Most people would have trouble nowadays to read Middle English. The main problem was that people wasn't sure how to write their own language, since the people who knew how to read and write hadn't spoken English for nearly three hundred years, thanks to the Norman Conquest... The educated people wrote either in Latin or in French, so it was a problem when they decided to start writing in the vernacular again. They couldn't make up their minds how to spell things out, and the norman scribes made a mess of things by writing english words with French spelling systems...
I had to write an essay in a mid-term about it, but I can't remember much now. XD
Shakespeare himself used to write his own name in at least twenty different ways, did you know that?

And that link? Yikes. It gives me unpleasant memories of hours of frustrating reading... Middle English doesn't appear in normal dictionaries, so we had to guess what the heck Chaucer was trying to say most of the time. >_<
Why would anybody do that willingly? :P

[beboots.livejournal.com]

I am jealous that you can understand old Spanish with no translations. Why do you have to be so difficult, English?! D:<

Well, it wasn't that they didn't know how to write English, it was that there were loads of different dialects, and spelling really was just a suggestion... Also, English was evolving pretty rapidly at the time, what with all the influence of Norman French. I'm in a French-English translation course at the moment, so we've spoken intensely about the influence each language had on the other, and the pitfalls of each.

I heard that Shakespeare didn't have one set spelling for his name, but 20? Sweet. :3 You learn something new every day! :D

I think the guy that runs that blog is a professor of old English poetry or something. ;) So he's just awesome for setting that blog up, you know?

[anyjen.livejournal.com]

Why, yes, we're lucky indeed. XD
But you have to bear in mind that Spain (where out language comes from) was hardly ever interesting enough a country to be at war with, let alone invade (or not strong enough to encourage those that did find it interesting. ;D), while England has had its population almost completely displaced (and replaced) four or five times, at least... between the Anglo-Saxons, the Scadinavians, the Normans and whoever else saw her as a very attractive Island to occupy (and their respective languages), it's a wonder the English language retains some things in common with Old English.

I actually went back to the article I read that said this, and it turns out I was mistaken... there weren't 20 ways of spelling his name in Elizabethan times... there were 83!!
Some of them include: Shakespur, Shakespert, Shakesby, Shakispere, Shakysper, Shackspeer, Schakespeyr, Shakespear, Shakspeare, Shaxberd, Shakspear, Shaxver, Shaxbee, Shexsper, Shagspere, Chacsper, Sadspere, Shasper, Sashpierre and Shafftespere, among many, many others. :P

But the one in the journal isn't really Old English... just Middle English. You wouldn't be able to write Old English with roman letters (or understand it without a translation). Many letters typical of Old English were lost (including the one that was originally used for both "th" pronunciations... they were originally distinct are are nowadays only used in phonetics)

[beboots.livejournal.com]

That reminds me - did you know that the UK is planning some big celebrations for 2066, as the 1000th anniversary of the last successful invasion of their country? They haven't been truly invaded since! ;)

83? Seroiusly? That's much more cool. XD

Fair enough, fair enough... Although it would be interesting to see what those old letters would have looked like. :3 I know for a fact that "w"s didn't exist for a while - the reason that they're pronounced "double yew" in English is because there are litterally two "u"s (which would have been written like "v"s back then, right?) side by side to make the sound - vv=w

[xlirealx.livejournal.com]

Hmm....mom got me a copy of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales but I haven't read it yet. I'm curious now...XDD

[beboots.livejournal.com]

It's actually a really riviting read - full of juicy tales about sex and murder, whie on the road, pilgrimin'... if you can get through the old english. D: It be very difficult to comprehend...

[dayadhvam-triad.livejournal.com]

Good luck with your papers and exams! ♥ And congrats on the scholarship! :DD

Manwood, haha. But you haven't seen the craziness that was Puritan names yet. Pick up a copy of Bill Bryson's Made in America if it's around and flip to the chapter on names. :DD

[beboots.livejournal.com]

I'm going to have to acquire a copy now, won't I? :3

... also, I've finished writing the Witchcraft paper! :D REJOICE!

... now I just have to present it to a group of half a dozen or so fellow students in a raspy voice, because I've developed a nasty cold. D: I'll probably be high on cold medicine as well... D:

[dayadhvam-triad.livejournal.com]

Bill Bryson has a fantastic writing style--very humorous and enjoyable. :DD

Oh no, everyone's sick nowadays. D: I had a fever just a few nights ago myself, although now it's mainly my throat giving me trouble. I hope you get better soon! ♥ (psst, cough drops are always helpful ;))

[beboots.livejournal.com]

Everyone's sick because the weather's getting colder, the days shorter (and thus more depressing), schoolwork's picking up, therefore there's more stress... D:

Right now, I am drinking chai tea with honey. It is my third cup today. It helps immensely. :3

[dayadhvam-triad.livejournal.com]

Exactly what you said. These few weeks are where most of the classes' midterms are concentrated, and people are more stressed out about work. Oh frabjous joy!

Mmmm, chai tea. I just get hot water from the dining hall; no really good chai tea there, alas. Although perhaps I should start adding honey...

[beboots.livejournal.com]

Yep, Chai tea is delicious. :3 Can't you buy them in tea bags from the grocery store or something...? And add honey! :D

[dayadhvam-triad.livejournal.com]

Well, the nearest groceries are actually a subway stop or so away, and I'm lazy enough to not bother. There's always non-chai tea in the dining hall anyway.