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All Site ContentTaming of the ShrewAct 2Scene 1
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“Whose tongue? Yours, if you talk of tales.”
Wordplay
Act 2,
Scene 1
Lines 212-216

An explanation of Katherina’s pun on “tales” in Act 2, Scene 2 of myShakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew.

Petruchio

Who knows not where a wasp does wear his sting —
In his tail.    

Katherina

In his tongue.    

Petruchio

Whose tongue?

Katherina

Yours, if you talk of tales, and so farewell.    

According to Katherina,

  1. Since Petruchio has just mentioned a tail, he has a tail on (in) his tongue.
  2. He also has a “tale” on his tongue in the sense that his talk of marrying her is but a fairy tale.