Cropped image of medieval-stylized printed text, focused on a line which reads: “This wenche thikke”
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Thank you for adding this image description! Just wanted to clarify that it’s not stylised, but actual Middle English. The text is from The Canterbury Tales.
Okay, had to track it down. It’s from the Reeve’s Tale, and it’s a description of a 20yo young woman:
This wenche thikke and wel y-growen was, With camuse nose and yën greye as glas; With buttokes brode and brestes rounde and hye, But right fair was hir heer, I wol nat lye.
In modern English (had to look up “camuse”, so that’s as good as my source, but I know the rest)
This wench was thick and well-grown With a pug nose and eyes grey as glass; With buttocks broad and breasts round and high, But right fair was her hair, I will not lie.
The fact that Chaucer had “big butt” and “I will not lie” within two lines of each other is causing me disproportionate amusement. Also the fact that “this wenche thikke” works equally well in Middle English and in modern slang.
nice to know people have always been fokin hornby for thikke wenches
From: Andrews, Thomas. An enquiry into the causes of the encrease and miseries of the poor of England. London : Printed for A. Bettesworth and C. Hitch, 1738
VERY controversial opinion of me to have as an english major, i know, but i can’t stand james joyce’s ulysses. why is this zillion-word-long garbage heap of pretentious nonsense hailed as one of the greatest novels in history…. truly i will never understand it. i don’t even think it has much merit as a piece of ‘transgressive linguistic progress’ or whatever because there’s no point in finding new ways to use words if said new ways make zero sense. joyce has shoved so many asinine, barely-relevant allusions into the nonexistent “plot” that it’s utterly unreadable to anyone except himself, and once you DO parse through it enough to vaguely understand what’s going on, you realize it’s literally just about Some Guy going about his day in dublin and joyce has essentially promised depth and Deep Meaning where there is none. my theory is that everyone who agrees that ulysses is great is only saying so because they didn’t understand a single word of it and desperately want to maintain their facade of intelligence.
