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All Site ContentTaming of the ShrewAct 2Scene 1
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"Baccare, you are marvelous forward"
Wordplay
Act 2,
Scene 1
Lines 67-73

An explanation of the word “Baccare” in Act 2, Scene 1 of myShakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew.

Petruchio

Petruchio is my name, Antonio's son,
A man well known throughout all Italy.

Baptista

I know him well. You are welcome for his sake.

Gremio

Saving your tale, Petruchio, I pray, let us that are     
poor petitioners speak too. Baccare, you are
marvellous forward.  

Petruchio

O, pardon me, Signor Gremio, I would fain be doing.   

Baccare sounds like Latin for “back off”, but a Shakespearean audience would have known that it’s a made up word only heard in the theater. They would have associated it with a poorly educated character in a play trying to sound more sophisticated than he really is. Gremeo adds some wordplay by pairing this fictional Latin root of backward with forward.