Today's Word "Falstaffian"
Published in Vocabulary
Falstaffian \fohl-STA-fee-ehn\ (adjective) - Characterized by joviality and conviviality.
"Colton's bushy beard, boisterous manner, and overall Falstaffian personality endeared him to as many people as it put off."
A large word for a large personality, today's word comes after Sir John Falstaff, a fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare primarily as a companion to Prince Hal, the future King Henry V. Round and glorious, tradition holds that Shakespeare wrote the part for his second comedian, a fat man, John Heminges, who played a bold, bawdy humor of a John Candy sort. An alternative theory is that Falstaff was written for Will Kemp, the clown of Shakespeare's company. The original actor was later succeeded by John Lowin, another portly comic actor. Flush with flatulent humor, Falstaff still managed to embody a kind of depth common to Shakespeare's tricky comedy. In Act II, Scene III of Henry V, his death is described by the character "Hostess", possibly the bar-lady Mistress Quickly, who describes his body in terms that echo the death of Socrates.
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