When Does English Stop Making Sense? (Time Travel Through Language) | Smartest Year Ever (May 16, 2025)

Ever wondered how far back you could time travel and still speak English? 🕰️ From Shakespeare and the King James Bible to Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and the epic Beowulf, English has been through some wild transformations over the centuries.

In this episode, Gordy breaks down when English stops being recognizable. Discover how Modern English (1500–Present) evolved from Middle English (1100–1500) and Old English (450–1100), a version so unrecognizable it sounds like a Viking war cry.

Why did English change so much? Blame the invasions—Vikings, Normans, and Saxons all left their mark. And if you traveled back to the year 1100, you’d be as lost as a TikTok user in a Shakespearean play.

Follow for more mind-bending facts every day. Stay curious, stay clever.

Sources:

• Crystal, D. (2003). The Stories of English. Penguin Books.
  

• Baugh, A. C., & Cable, T. (2002). A History of the English Language (5th ed.). Routledge.
  

• Harvard University. (n.d.). Beowulf in Old English. Retrieved from https://hwst.edc.org/beowulf
  

• British Library. (n.d.). English Timeline. Retrieved from https://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/index.html
  

• Open University. (2011). A History of English: Early Middle English. Retrieved from https://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-english-language
  

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Music thanks to Zapsplat.