So the big news is that John McCain picked Sara Palin as his VP running-mate, with the obvious issue being Palin’s gender. That’s why I found McCain’s campaign slogan so interesting. I saw several television shots of the duo in front of a McCain-Palin graphic that says "Country First." It reminded me immediately of the phrase "Country Matters," which comes right out of Hamlet. So for all you Shakespeare lovers out there—and even for those less familiar with The Bard—let’s take a tour of Hamlet and the world of Elizabethan sex jokes.
Hamlet: Lady, shall I lie in your lap?
Ophelia: No, my lord.
Hamlet: I mean, my head upon your lap?
Ophelia: Ay, my lord.
Hamlet: Do you think I meant country matters?
Ophelia: I think nothing, my lord
Hamlet: That’s a fair thought to lie between maids’ legs.
Ophelia: What is, my lord?
Hamlet: Nothing.
Check out this excerpt from an article in the The Independent entitled "The C Word."
It appears several times in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, written around 1390, and notably in "The Miller’s Tale" where it appears in the line "Pryvely he caught her by the queynte" (an old spelling of the word). By Shakespeare’s time it was considered quite obscene, but the Bard alluded to it in his work, if not quite so explicitly. Hamlet asks Ophelia: "Lady, shall I lie in your lap?" When rejected, he responds, "Do you think I meant country matters?", then hammers home that the emphasis should lie on the first syllable by adding: "That’s a fair thought, to lie between maids’ legs."
For those who don’t know, the word "nothing" was Elizabethan slang for a woman’s private area (which gives a whole new reading to the title Much Ado About Nothing, for those not already in the know!).
In any event, I just couldn’t help think of Hamlet’s perverse sense of humor when I saw the McCain campaign trotting out Palin for the "diversity vote," in front of a banner proclaiming "Country First."