WOTD: Mickle
Anything that rhymes with ‘pickle’ is worth mentioning. Especially in Shakespeare.
mickle (adj.) IPA Pronunciation: /mIkl/
great, much, large
DROMIO OF EPHESUS
O villain! thou hast stolen both mine office and my name.
The one ne’er got me credit, the other mickle blame.
- Comedy of Errors (III.i)
I’ll give you a nickel and tickle for that mickle pickle. Cool sentence, huh? Shakespeare wrote that sentence. So it’s not stupid. It’s in that one play…
Note the difference in the above quote between saying “much blame” and “mickle blame.” The latter has a very different feel when spoken, almost a more piercing quality with the more forward vowel.
Posted on February 21, 2008
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Stacy Daniels May 6
Another “mickle” citation at — Romeo and Juliet: II, iii.
“O, mickle is the powerful grace that lies
In herbs, plants, stones, and their true qualities:
For nought so vile that on the earth doth live
But to the earth some special good doth give,…”
(I’ve used this re. the invasive plant, garlic mustard.)
Also the following:
“Why then, the mustard without the beef. …Go, get thee gone, I say.” — Shakespeare, Taming of the Shrew, Act IV, Scene III.
“(T)he mustard was naught: now I’ll stand to it,…” — As You Like It: I, ii.
See article at http://www.clwa.us/PDF/Crystal_Whitecaps_2007_sum.pdf