Talk:What a piece of work is a man/Archives/2023/December

Topics missing
These issues have been discussed for a long time. Interestingly, the case of the missing-or-not "a" is similar to the "one small step for [a] man" controversy. Shlishke (talk) 05:30, 11 February 2008 (UTC)
 * The very speech, given as "the speech" in this entry, may or may not have the word "a" in its opening line. The entry needs a major editing to accommodate this and its implications.
 * In addition, differing lineations in Q1, Q2, and F1 give very different meanings, semantic stress, and poetic rhythms.

The case of the missing "a" is a simple one. The first folio has the "a" and the second quarto doesn't. Here's a link for the first folio: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/image?img=1998.04.0770 And a link for the second quarto: http://special-1.bl.uk/treasures/SiqDiscovery/ui/record.aspx?Source=text&LHCopy=93&LHPage=34&RHCopy=93&RHPage=35

Punctuation does not match original text
In this article, much ado is made over the punctuation differences between the First Folio and First (Bad) Quarto editions of the play. In light of this, I think it might be a good idea to use the punctuation that actually appears in the First Folio, not how it appears in a modern edition. It was a dark and stormy night. (talk) 21:46, 3 June 2009 (UTC)

Psalm 8 source
The section on Psalm 8 being a source for this speech needs to be removed. The section states explicitly that the king james version of the bible influenced the writing. That is impossible. The translation work that yielded the king james version did not begin until 1604, and wasn't published until 1611. Shakespeare's hamlet was first performed in 1602.

Popular usage, at least in the US.
POW, noun, used to mean a person whose personality can be challenging.

Example: Man is driving a vehicle and has been lost a while despite using the map & GPS. His woman passenger says "Well, there's an other gas station. We COULD stop & ask directions."

Man: "Nah, I'll figure it out.

Woman: "Phew, you are SOME piece of work."

64.134.103.136 (talk) 22:02, 13 August 2012 (UTC)


 * This usage is covered at Wiktionary. Philh-591 (talk) 20:35, 13 April 2023 (UTC)