SARAH: When Hamlet says he peaks like a John-a-dreams, he means that he wanders around aimlessly like someone with his head in the clouds.

RALPH: The origin of this verb, to peak, is, well, pretty weird. It came from the noun peak, which was short for a hoddypeak — which was a fool, or an idiot. And this strange term apparently came from another strange term, hoddy-dod, which is a snail's shell. I hope everybody followed that.

SARAH: Perhaps it's because idiots were no smarter than snails?

RALPH: Your guess is as good as mine, Sarah! It gets pretty obscure at this point. Some of these words were common during Shakespeare's century, but stopped being used soon after.