![More or Less: Behind the Stats artwork](https://is1-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Podcasts113/v4/26/cf/32/26cf3245-4f2f-bfde-8117-2e08b9e98ab0/mza_3048031617250188411.jpg/100x100bb.jpg)
Shakespeare vs Rappers
More or Less: Behind the Stats
English - September 15, 2014 11:00 - 9 minutes - 8.8 MB - ★★★★★ - 740 ratingsNews Education Science Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Previous Episode: Scottish referendum polls
Next Episode: Kidney donation: the chance of finding a match
It's a 'fact' beloved of English teachers around the world: that Shakespeare, the greatest playwright in English, also had the greatest vocabulary. But research published earlier this year suggests English teachers might have to look elsewhere to establish the superiority of the Bard - apparently his vocabulary lags behind the best and most famous rappers of the last decades. Is this comparison fair, and if so, does it diminish the Bard's lustre? This programme was first broadcast on the BBC World Service.