James Geary, "Wit's End"
February 10, 2019
3,110
49
1
1.61%
Search the Record
IndexedEvery word spoken in this episode is indexed. Type any phrase to jump straight to the moment it was said.
Type any word or phrase that may have been spoken. Click a result to seek the player to that exact moment.
Try a name, a topic, or a quoted line
Politics and Prose Episodes Around February 10, 2019
See what was published immediately before and after this episode.
46:09Now PlayingJames Geary, "Wit's End"
YouTube Description
as posted by the channelJames Geary discusses his book, "Wit's End", at Politics and Prose on 1/5/19.
A tour de force, Geary’s nimble disquisition on wit uses a different style to present each distinct facet of linguistic ingenuity. Verbal repartee is a dramatic monologue, the neuroscience of wit is couched as a scientific paper, and other brands of cleverness come through in very British heroic couplets or street-wise jive. The deputy curator at Harvard’s Nieman Foundation for Journalism, Geary draws on the deep experience with sharply honed language he imbibed when compiling his popular Geary’s Guide to the World’s Great Aphorists, The World in a Phrase, and his study of metaphor, I Is An Other, to demonstrate that wit is a quick, instinctive intelligence that allows us to come up with exactly the right remark (or gesture or facial expression) at just the right moment.
James Geary is the author of Geary’s Guide to the World’s Great Aphorists and the New York Times bestseller The World in a Phrase.
Founded by Carla Cohen and Barbara Meade in 1984, Politics and Prose Bookstore is Washington, D.C.'s premier independent bookstore and cultural hub, a gathering place for people interested in reading and discussing books. Politics and Prose offers superior service, unusual book choices, and a haven for book lovers in the store and online. Visit them on the web at
Produced by Tom Warren
Links & Promotions
Guests & Subjects Covered
Sentinel Indexing in Progress
Metadata and chapters are available. Claim extraction for this episode is pending.
All video content is delivered via YouTube embedded players in accordance with the YouTube Terms of Service. Sentinel provides research tools that promote discovery and accountability across political media.