What does the story mean that Amy told on the girls' night out in "The Big Bang Theory"?

Question

In season four of The Big Bang Theory, "The 21 Second Excitation", Bernadette dared Amy to tell a dirty story. The story Amy told was not in English (gibberish, I believe). However, I'm curious if what Amy said had some meaning. Does anybody know what that means?

Answer 1

The quote from the episode is as follows.

Amy: And Absolon hath kist hir nether ye, and Nicholas is scalded in the towte. This tale is doon, and God save al the rowte.”

Penny: What the hell was that?

Amy: Bernadette dared me to tell a dirty story. The Miller’s Tale by Chaucer is the dirtiest story I know. It would have been hidden in sock drawers if people in the 14th century had worn socks.

The Miller's Tale is written in Middle English, which is why you've mistaken it for gibberish.

---

The passage she's quoting is a summary of the events of the tale. The carpenter's wife has been slept with (despite the carpenter's jealous watchful eye), Absolon kissed Alisoun's anus and Nicholas was scalded with a poker after farting in Absolon's face.

Thus swyved was this carpenteris wyf,
Thus screwed was this carpenter's wife,
For al his kepyng and his jalousye,
In spite of all his guarding and his jealousy,
And Absolon hath kist hir nether ye,
And Absolon has kissed her lower eye,
And Nicholas is scalded in the towte.
And Nicholas is scalded in the rump.
This tale is doon, and God save al the rowte!
This tale is done, and God save all this company!

_{^{Harvard Press}}