wherefore

Due to the presence of "where", many people mistake this Shakespearean word to mean "where", but it actually means "why".

"...there's the catalog... with a cartoon of Shakespeare's Juliet standing on her balcony, gazing off into the distance, and asking 'Wherefore art thou, teaching aids?' Lower on the page, Romeo stares up at Juliet and says 'Inside! Eighteen new publications plus many other fine materials.'... any teaching aid that advertises itself by questioning its own existance is falling down in the marketing department." -Richard Lederer.

Juliet: (on the balcony, looking off into the distance) "O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?"

Romeo: (standing right under her, thinking to himself) "Wherefore dost I quander my hour with yonder wayward, motley-minded flax-wench?"

80👍 13👎

Wherefore art thou

Spoken by Juliet in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Wherefore means “why", in this line Juliet alludes to the feuding families of the play - lamenting Romeo's name.

Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?