From Booksmart Studios, this is Lexicon Valley, a podcast about language.
I'm John McWhorter, and you know, let's pretend that the world was better in, say, 1961.
Let's listen to the person who became president then, John Fitzgerald Kennedy,
doing his inaugural address, and let's listen to the most famous line from that address.
And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you.
Ask what you can do for your country.
What's always struck me about that wonderful line is that every word in it is a story.
It serves as a beautiful illustration of how there's so much more to speech.
There's so much more to text.
There's so much more to language than just what each word means.
There's a linguistic lesson in every word if you know how to look for it.
And that's true of my fellow Americans.
Ask not what you can do for your country.
Just those words.
Let's go word for word.
I've always marveled at this, and I'm going to share it with you.
Let's start from the beginning, my.
Why is my interesting?
Well, my in Old English was mean.
Mean, okay?