Talk Like Jane Austen Day!

I'm sure many of you Readers have heard about the dual rallies being held on the 30th of October by both Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. If you haven't, you can click on their respective names to learn more about their shows or on the links under the posters to learn about their individual rallies.

Stephen Colbert's Rally

Jon Stewart's Rally

I'm sure you're wondering exactly how this relates to Nostalgia and to my blog - well, I'll tell you. The thirtieth of October also happens to be "Talk Like Jane Austen Day"! Just like other novelty days, "TLJAD" asks participants to step back in time and invoke the language of her novels. Austen only published four novels during her lifetime: Sense and Sensibility (which was published on October 30th - thus the date of the event), Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, and Emma. Her other novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion were published posthumously.

Our tragic heroine, Jane Austen (1775-1817)

In any case, "TLJAD" be a great opportunity to host that Jane Austen party you've always wanted to throw! You can have period-appropriate party games and dancing, or have a Jane Austen film marathon. Some might even opt to dress with a Regency flair on that day - for which I refer you to my previous post on my Regency Portrait for some more information on Regency garb.
The "TLJAD" official website has some helpful hints on speaking the way she would have 200 years ago. It features definitions such as "Nice: fussy, over particular, affected" and reminds us how they would have spoken "Numbers: Not 'twenty-four', but 'four-and-twenty'". They say the list will grow as the day approaches and also offer the resource of Dr. Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language. Published in 1822, it gives an approximate idea of how Jane Austen would have spoken.

On a similar note, there's a new episode of "Sex and the Austen Girl" out this week. I've included it below. If you'd like to read my previous post and review on the subject, click here.






[Insert Austenian Remark Here]
Nostalgically Yours