Perhaps the most difficult aspect of preparing for renaissance faire is not putting your costume together, creating and researching your persona, or even the camping - its teaching yourself to speak naturally in what's commonly called "basic faire accent", or BFA. Fear not, however, the basics are not that hard to master and you can easily teach yourself the basics in under an hour (though it make take a bit longer for the words to flow naturally off your tongue).

The first thing you'll want to know is how to greet both faire goers and your fellow actors in an Elizabethan fashion. "Good Morrow", "Good Day", "Good Eve", "How Now" or "Well Met" are all good replacements for hello in conversation.

Instead of Yes and No, say "Aye" or "Nay".

Instead of You, you can sometimes say "Thou" or "Thee", depending. This is the trickiest one to determine, so for a more complete explaination, see the section on formal and informal speech further down the page.

Similarly, instead of Your, say "Thy". "Thy apples are truly wondrous red and juicy, milady!"

Instead of Listen, say "Hark" or "Hark now". "Hark now, methinks I do hear the sounds of the minstrels upon the green!" for example.

Where you would say, "Excuse me" instead try "I cry your mercy" or "I crave your pardon"

Instead of "Please," try "An it please you" (an is an old form of "if"), "Prithee ", "I pray you " or "Pray "

Where you would say, "Thank you," say instead "I thank thee", "I do humbly thank you" or "Many thanks, good sir"

Where normally you would say, "Darnit!", try "Alack!", "Alackaday!", "Alas!", "Fie!", or "Out upon it!"

Instead of Here, say "Hither". "Come hither Mistress Goodwife!"

Instead of Those, say "Yon". "Yon minstrels do make a sound most pleasing to mine ear!"

Where you would say, "No way, really?" you can now say: "Forsooth!" (sooth meaning truth), "In good sooth!", "Go to!" or "It is even so?"

Instead of "Wow!", say "Marry!" (A contraction of "By Saint Mary!"), "I'faith!", or "Now, by my faith!"

When you're ready to say goodbye, instead try "Fare thee well" or "I shall see thee anon", both of which are good partings.

Now you have some of the basics, try simply replacing some of the more modern words in your speech with Elizabethan ones, and you will instantly sound more period. Try it with some of the words from the following list:

Anon - Later
Aroint - Away
As you will - Okay, or whatever.
Belike - Perhaps, or possibly
Betimes- Very early in the morning
By your leave - Excuse me or please
Carouse- Party!
Chide - Scold or nag
Cutpurse- Thief
E'em - Evening
Enow - Enough
Ere- Before
Fie - A curse, as in "Fie on thee, poxy harlot!"
Forswear- To lie or cheat
Grammercy - Thank you
Maid or Maiden - A young woman of upstanding virtue
Marry! - An exclaimation of shock
Mayhap - Perhaps. This is often mispronounced "mayhaps", which is incorrect.
Morrow - Days or tomorrow. As in "I shall see the on the morrow."
N'er - Never, pronounced "nair".
Nonpariel- A beauty
Oft - Often
In Faith - In truth, sometimes just "faith". A mild exclaimation.
Perchance - Maybe or Possibly. "Perchance we shall see the Queen on the morrow!"
Poppet - A doll, and sometimes a young child
Prating - Babbling, talking too much.
Pray pardon me - Excuse me
Pray tell - Please tell me
Prithee - Please, literally "I pray thee"
Privy - Bathroom, or more literally, outhouse
Stay - Stop or wait.
S'wounds! - An exclaimation, like wow. A shortened from "gods wounds".
Tosspot- Drunkard
Verily - Very, Truly or Truthfully. "Verily, the maiden is comely as a spring morn."
Wench - A young woman
Wherefore - Why and sometimes where
Yonder - Over there. "Yonder merchant sells most wonderous baubles!"

This may all sound quite strange to you if you are just starting out, and you may feel self conscious come the first day of faire. Relax, however - to the faire patrons, most any attempt to sound period will charm their socks off. Still, until the accent and speech patterns become second nature, it might be a good idea to have two stock things in your repetoire:

-   Something to say when you are stumped. "Indeed!" "Forsooth!" and "In truth!" all work quite well, as they are all basicly replacements of "really". If the patron says "You talk funny!" and you draw a blank, you can always fall back on a puzzled "In truth?" or if you are inclined to take offense then an exclaimed "In truth!".

-   An exit. Some stock line to say when you really just want to get out of a situation or a conversation and can't think of anything else to say. Anything can work, from "God's teeth, there be my master! If he were to catch me dallying upon the village green, he would surely stripe my backside with his belt!" or "Zounds! I did forget the baby in the tavern. Again. I must away good gentles."

Simply addressing people in the renaissance was a much more complicated prospect then it is today. People were very conscious of their social standing. Well, that all depends on what the person standing in front of you is like. Is he an elderly man? You could say Good day, good sir. In fact, you can use that greeting for almost any male of any social station. Is it an elderly peasant? You could say Good day to thee, Father, or Good day to thee Gaffer (Gaffer is short for grandfather). This would be more of an affectionate greeting than a respectful one, though. Or, you could say Good day, old lad, but this would be considered quite rude unless you too are an elderly man. Do you know his name? You could say Good day, Gaffer Jones, or Good day Father Culpepper! (And no, you are not implying that he's a priest, Father is just a term of respect.)

Is this person an elderly woman? You can say Good day, Good Mistress. That is neutral and polite. Or you could say, Good day to thee, Gammer, which is short for grandmother. You could say, Good day me old lass, if you happened to be her old lad. And you can always address her by her name: Good day, Mistress Smith.

Are you facing a respectable man of adult years? You can address him as Sire or as Master. This is courteous without being servile. Is his profession obvious? Does he carry a bow and arrows, or does he wear a leather apron and carry a hammer? Or perhaps he has a mandolin on his shoulder? You could say Good day, Master Archer, or Master Blacksmith, or Master Musician. Or course if you know his name, that's what you call him by. Is he a peasant? You can say, Good morrow, Goodman or even Good my man-about the most polite way possible to greet him while acknowledging the he's poorer than you are (if he is). He would take no offense at such a greeting, either: he'd assume you were a nice, courteous person. And courtesy meant a lot in this age.

Is this a woman you see before you, of mature years? Good day, good mistress is just about right. So is Good Lady. Is this a homey, housewifely person? You can call her Good Mother or Goodwife or even Good Gossip.

Is this a fine, lusty young fellow you are greeting? You can say Good day, my fine lad.

Or is it a young lady? Again, you could use lady, or mistress. If you feel like being flattering, you can call her sweet mistress, dear mistress, fair mistress or what you will. By the way, there is no dirty joke here: you are not implying that she is your "mistress" in the modern sense. Mistress was simply the 16th century form of "Ms." It was a polite title making no reference to her marital status or rank. If you're being quite flirtatious, you can call her pretty maid, sweet lass or even sweetheart.

Is it a little boy? Little sir, little master, young lad will all do well. Simply to call him "boy" would be rude, and what we are discussing here is courteous address.

Is it a little girl? Obviously, you can call her little mistress, little lady, little lass. You can also call her little wench.

And about the term wench. Wench, in this day and age, didn't mean "slut". It did not mean doxy, whore, bawd, or anything insulting. It simply meant girl. A woman's father, or husband or close friends might all call her wench, very affectionately.

And...while we're on the subject:

Three Forms of Address You Do NOT Use In Polite Conversation:

Sirrah. This is not a form of the word sir. It is an insult, and you use it on bad little boys, lazy servants, and any male you wish to infer is a lying rogue.

Sire: You might address your King as sire, but there is no King on the throne of England or Scotland in the time period we are dealing with. You do not use it as a substitute for sir. Anyway, it sounds medieval.

Fellow: Innocent as this word sounds to us, the average Elizabethan male appears to have felt insulted being addressed merely as fellow. Apparently, it had the same general meaning as dude, or pal.

Now, what if this person in front of you is a noble man or woman? Forget their age or appearance: it would be foolish and rude to refer to either, unless you are noble yourself. You say My lord, my lady, your worship, noble sir, noble lady, noble madam, good my lord, good my lady. If there is a pair of them, say Good gentles..

Whatever your favorite 20th century expletive is, it's a safe bet that it's anachronistic. Instead, here is a list of rather colourful terms for you to use instead, or you can feel free to develop a few of your own. Elizabethan cursing was far more of an inventive artform than its modern counterpart.

A few examples of 16th Century curses are:
"You poor, base rascally, cheating, lack-linen mate!"
"You bottle-ale rascal!"
"Away, you scullion! You rampallion! You fustalarion!"
"Standest thou there the lyingest knave in Christendom."
"Thou art a boil, a plague-sore, or embossed carbuncle."
"Whoreson cullionly barbermonger!"
"Thou art...the son and heir of a mongrel bitch!"

If you care to swear BY something, as in to lend credence to your words, you can swear by:
God's death (Referring to Christ on the cross)
God's wounds (As we explained)
God's teeth, etc.

Or they swore by the ancient Roman gods and mythic characters, not by the Greek ones. They considered the Romans to have been nobler. The English also believed they were descended from the noble Romans, thanks to some rather imaginative history by Geoffrey of Monmouth.

Men also swore by their beards, by their swords, by their honours- all that "macho" stuff- or by the tools of their trades, if they were commoners. A smith might swear "By my hammer and tongs!".

Men and women also swore by the Saints, especially their patron saints. Hunt up a copy of Lives of the Saints for a full listing of Saints and what they stood for.

Women did not swear as much, and if they did, it was by their honour, modesty, chastity or maidenhead. Of course, if your character is obviously lacking the latter, it's always amusing to swear by it anyhow.

English at one time had a formal and informal mode, just like the romance languages do. The formal, used to one's social superiors and strangers to whom one wished to be polite, was you. The informal, used to one's intimates or social inferiors, was thou. Example: "How are you?" can be appropriately said to:
Your parents
You employer
Any noble person
Any person you are flattering
Horses. Horses because they're noble animals.

Whereas, "How art thou?" would be appropriately said to:
Your husband or wife
Your close friends
Your children
Your servants
Your non-horse pets and animals
Any person you are insulting
Inanimate objects
God. (because presumably, He is your intimate)

One basic rule of thumb is to never use "thee" or "thou" with anyone you would address as sir.

If you think about the above, you can see that nobody ever, but EVER calls the Queen thou; and she doesn't have to call anybody you-unless she talks to her horse.

Don't make the mistake of assuming that thee and thou are only two different forms of the same word. They aren't. Thou is the subject of sentences, as in "What hast thou done?" and thee is the object of sentences, as in "I shall tell thee a secret."

And what about all those antique verb forms- those ost, est and eth words? Behold, here are some examples all nicely conjugated for you-to show you what person gets the funny endings:
I do, thou dost, you do, s/he/it doth (does)
I love, thou lovest, you love, s/he/it loveth (or loves)
I have loved, thou hast loved, you have loved, s/he/it hath loved (or has loved)
As you can see, the antique verbs are used with the second person intimate, or the third person-never with the first person.

Here's the possessive forms:
Thy is the possessive used before words beginning with a consonant, as in "Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."
Thine is the possessive used before words beginning with a vowel, as in "Drink to me only with thine eyes."
The possessive form of you doesn't change, of course-it's still your.
The same rule applies to my and mine as it does to thy and thine. My is used before words beginning with a consonant, and mine is used before words beginning with a vowel: "My hat", "Mine eyes".
Now, what about "Ye"? "Ye" is the plural of both you and thou. It's used when addressing a crowd of people, as in "Hear ye, hear ye." Or "O come, all ye faithful." Occasionally, it's used as s sort of slang contraction for you or thou, "D'ye hear me?" or "I tell ye true."

Simple-right? But this tiny little word has a perfectly huge mistake often associated with it. "Ye" is not now, or has never been, synonymous with the word "the."

Now, let's also keep in mind that people in the 16th century spoke more slowly, and used more imaginative speech than people do today. Not only did double positives (she is much more beautifuller than her sister) not sound out of place, they sounded refined.

People tried to make their speech romantic, interesting and picturesque. Being that there were no movies, radios, telephones, televisions...people had limited forms of entertainment, and the most popular and accessible form was good conversation.

Try to sound as authentic as possible while talking not only to the paying customer, but also to the other people working at the Faire. The walls have ears, kittens. People that overhear authentic speech will be under the spell of Faire, it makes it just that much better.