Hakuna Matata, Shakespeare

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Shakespeare may have felt anxiety, but he was no worrier.

More from The Economist on how the word entered our lexicon, in a review of Worrying by Francis O’Gorman. O’Gorman, who traces the word’s rise through literary modernism’s focus on the inner world, believes “being a modern worrier is just… the moth-eaten sign of being human.”


You can find Charley Locke's journalism on WIRED, tweets @CHARLEY_LOCKE, and drawings on her parents' fridge. You can also sometimes spot Charley imperiously making book recommendations while managing the McSweeney's Pop-Up Shops. More from this author →