The Hamlet Project

This is my favorite misunderstood Shakespeare word.
Because it has “where” in it and because
We think a woman on a balcony should be
Searching for her man, we think it is a fancy form of “where.”
If you tried to understand the two words in wherefore, you wouldn’t
Get to “why.” This same thing happened to me
While I was living in Italy. My Italian
Was improving, I was starting to be able to understand
Basic questions and could figure out how
To understand the bigger ones. Then someone
Asked me, “Come mai. . .”
Several people began questions with “Come mai” and while
I understood all the words that followed “come mai”
And “come” and “mai,” I was completely flummoxed
By “Come mai.” It translates literally as “How never.”
I was struggling with sentences like
“How never are you in Italy?”
“How never did you choose Florence?”
“How never are you looking so confused?”
Once I got back to Italian class,
I asked for some help with this construction
And discovered that “Come mai” was simply “why.”