…as jealous as a turkey… – TWO NOBLE KINSMEN, II ii

What the hell does that mean? This is one of those times when it’s worth remembering that words keep changing. It’s bad enough when acting Shakespeare that one has to look up all the many unfamiliar words and idioms; it’s even possible to be betrayed by familiar ones. “Jealous” was more in the neighborhood of “suspicious” in the Elizabethan/Jacobean eras. So the wife of the First Countryman in The Two Noble Kinsmen would be as suspicious as a turkey. Which makes much, much more sense.

Gobble, gobble.

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