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From New York City, this is Lexicon Valley, a podcast about language.

I'm John McWhorter. At Columbia University, I teach linguistics and some other things, which

includes germane to today, the history of the English language, which entails a certain

coverage of the works of Mr. Shakespeare.

As you might imagine, a person such as myself read Shakespeare with an eye toward cool things about

how the language was different then than it is now, and not just in terms of the names for things.

So if in Richard II, which I just had the honor of getting to see for free when the Royal Shakespeare Company brought their production here some months ago,

Lord Willoughby says at one point,

And daily new exactions are devised as blanks, benevolences, and I what not what. What's what? Why, that's an old word for to know.

And the infinitive form was wit. That wit verb for no is sprinkled all over English and we don't

think about it. Think about the expression to wit. That certainly doesn't refer to being funny.

It's to know. And then keeping your

wits about you is not about fostering a stable of comedians. Mother wit is not your mom's jokes.

So what is what we know as wit when it doesn't mean humor? Witt, deep in our consciousnesses,

when no one is looking, means not just champagne

humor a la Frazier or Broad City, but knowing, go figure. Anyway, today I'm honored to be guest

hosting Lexicon Valley for the summer, and the person I'm honored to talk to today doesn't need

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