30 Comments
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Brooke Smith's avatar

This was brilliant. "A drynke of derknes, thik and broun," is going to be my new name for coffee. XD

Jed Jordan's avatar

Cool. I kept wanting to stop reading and do something else, but I couldn't. Well done

Billy Thistle's avatar

I was struck by the word 'onlinesse' because I'd heard it before in a popular song by folksinger Tim Hardin, If I Were a Carpenter. He spells it w/o the final e.

polistra's avatar

Purely wonderful!!!

On the webbe device, I suspect Chaucer would have described those gadgets as qiblas. He was well aware of Islamic astronomy and wrote a book about astrolabes.

https://books.google.com/books?id=XDIDAAAAQAAJ

The modern qibla has the same purpose, except we're pointing toward the opposite of Mecca.

http://polistrasmill.blogspot.com/2021/06/astrometeorology-5-qibla.html

Lucy Seton-Watson's avatar

Except qibla is a direction, not a finding device. Qibla means, in real life, the direction in which you lay down your sigada to pray.

Kathlyn's avatar

I found that bloody funny! You’re right, the job titles may have changed, but people haven’t.

N Raines's avatar

Is it too much to ask for a full audio reading clip? I really want to check my understanding of the pronunciation.

Lucy Seton-Watson's avatar

Just utterly wonderful. Gives so much pleasure. Made me laugh & laugh. My favourite line, I think, is:

“Disrupcioun!” cryed he to ech he mette,

Marty Pilott's avatar

A splendid modern satire which I'm sure Chaucer would have approved of!

bill walsh's avatar

That is very, very clever and equally entertaining. Thank you!

sharon's avatar

Fantastic!!! So clever and beautifully written. I love it ❤️

Kerry Sutherland's avatar

This is incredible - loved it!

Banji Lawal's avatar

I'm still amazed that Chaucer's descendants became part of the royal family. Middle English is easy to read once you get started. Old English definitely not. Still wish we had all The Canterbury Tales.

There's a Canterbury Tales movie from the BBC I believe, set in contemporary times. Still preferred Paosolini's interpretaton.

Emma's avatar

That was great. Have you heard Bill Bailey performing his Chaucer Pubbe Gagge?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4wzJZdmelA

David Lord's avatar

The Bariste section has a line in English that appears twice.