More than four hundred years separate us from Shakespeare’s time — four centuries’ worth of linguistic change. I was curious what might happen in the course of 24 eighth-graders’ first true encounter with Shakespeare.

We began Romeo and Juliet today, and students acted out the opening quarrel scene. After class, one student came up to me.

“You know how pirates say ‘argh’ and such?” he began, hesitantly.

“Yes,” I replied, wondering where this was leading.

“Well, when Lord Capulet was trying to get Lady Capulet to hand him the sword, was he just, like, saying something pirate-like, or was he degrading her?”

“No,” I answered, smiling. “No, he wasn’t degrading her. He was just being enthusiastic.”

The line in question, of course, is, “What noise is this? Give me my long sword, ho!”