Malcolm Gladwell

When you say you have... This sounds like a fantastic obsession, by the way. How does that, like... Is this something you do sort of for fun? In other words, do you have places you go to find these historical... Or are you just watching a movie from the 30s and you stop it and you go back five minutes and you play up a... Both of those things.

When did you, at what point in your career, life, whatever, did you realize that this was something of particular interest to you?

When did you, at what point in your career, life, whatever, did you realize that this was something of particular interest to you?

John, you've got to do better than that. You can't say, for some reason, it interests me. You've got to tell me. You've got to tell us more than that.

John, you've got to do better than that. You can't say, for some reason, it interests me. You've got to tell me. You've got to tell us more than that.

Wait, my wife, who's black, she uses that, that's where it comes from. What? She sticks head in the craziest places.

Wait, my wife, who's black, she uses that, that's where it comes from. What? She sticks head in the craziest places.

Yeah. Today she said, I had went. Now understand, this is a highly educated, went to Princeton corporate lawyer. She just takes head and just kind of like... shovels it in randomly into her sentences.

Yeah. Today she said, I had went. Now understand, this is a highly educated, went to Princeton corporate lawyer. She just takes head and just kind of like... shovels it in randomly into her sentences.

So her father... Wait, I want to... Her father grew up in both Harlem and Jacksonville, Florida. Mm-hmm. And he would be growing up in the 50s.

So her father... Wait, I want to... Her father grew up in both Harlem and Jacksonville, Florida. Mm-hmm. And he would be growing up in the 50s.

Now, you said something earlier that you didn't speak black English growing up. Why not? That's deep, Malcolm, actually.

Now, you said something earlier that you didn't speak black English growing up. Why not? That's deep, Malcolm, actually.

I remember the first time I saw that kind of, the switching, as a kid in Jamaica, seeing my uncle, you know, a brown-skinned Jamaican, who talked to us in the Queen's English, and he was getting gas, had a gas pump. That must have been amazing. I'm maybe nine. He gets out of the car, and he starts talking to the guy pumping the gas. And there's some, it wasn't just that he switched into patois.

I remember the first time I saw that kind of, the switching, as a kid in Jamaica, seeing my uncle, you know, a brown-skinned Jamaican, who talked to us in the Queen's English, and he was getting gas, had a gas pump. That must have been amazing. I'm maybe nine. He gets out of the car, and he starts talking to the guy pumping the gas. And there's some, it wasn't just that he switched into patois.

It was that he also, his manner completely changed.

It was that he also, his manner completely changed.

They were doing that Jamaican thing where they're shouting at each other even though they're not angry. Yes. Which I had never seen before. I thought this was the coolest thing I'd ever seen in my entire life. That he could go from literally, Malcolm blah, blah, blah, and then boom.

They were doing that Jamaican thing where they're shouting at each other even though they're not angry. Yes. Which I had never seen before. I thought this was the coolest thing I'd ever seen in my entire life. That he could go from literally, Malcolm blah, blah, blah, and then boom.

That must have been amazing. That's right. Then I began to hear my mother when she would get angry. She would lapse, not into full-on Patois, but You could hear the Jamaican coming out of voice.