You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
The first two thirds or so of this book was fantastic--spell-binding--"bore your family around the dinner table" interesting--and made me wish I had a hard copy for reference and, well, keeping. In the last third, Bragg seemed to lose his narrative thrust through history and doubled back (it seemed) to look at Australia and India--both fascinating areas of development, but somehow the power of the book had waned a bit. It could easily have been due to the odd lack of measurement in an audio: I never know how many more pages or chapters are left, so my sense of pacing gets lost. The narrator was spectacularly good, so it wasn't his fault. Still, I'd recommend this for anyone who's interested in how English got "that way": it has helped me realized that "that way" never has, and never will, remain/ed static.
Highly recommended!
Highly recommended!
informative
medium-paced
informative
medium-paced
informative
medium-paced
A very good book about the development of English although it does lose its vigour in the final chapter by mainly focussing on nouns added to the language.
However, it is good starting point for everyone who likes to know more about English linguistics and philology.
However, it is good starting point for everyone who likes to know more about English linguistics and philology.
what a fun book... also shoutout to the accompanying videos
Let's say 3.5 stars. Yes, the continuous treatment of English as an anthropomorphic entity with a will of its own does kind of wear thin. But there's lots of interesting anecdotes about where words come from (I particularly liked the murky and contested origins of the word 'okay'), pretty decent treatment of English's imperial legacy, and plenty of gentle mocking of those who would point to one way of speaking as "correct". Overall if etymology excites you then check it out, but otherwise it likely won't be of interest.
informative
medium-paced
This is a chronological journey through the origins and significant changes of the English language, beginning as far back as any record is possible and observing the challenges met along the way. Almost lost for several centuries, as French and Latin became the official dialect for politics and religion, it was eventually reclaimed by the monarchy, and, through the loss of many lives, the church itself.
Continually reshaped and fed by its interactions with other cultures, Bragg writes abut English as if it is a living being that will not be tamed. Even though it is one of the most complex languages in the world - mainly due to the incalculable amount of influences, regional varieties and changes it has endured - it has come to be arguably the most influential and now most widely used.
I really enjoyed this whirlwind ride through history, realising how many familiar chapters were turning points for our language as well as our story, and going beyond the shores of Britain to see how the language has spread and grown in its richness through its use in other countries too.
Continually reshaped and fed by its interactions with other cultures, Bragg writes abut English as if it is a living being that will not be tamed. Even though it is one of the most complex languages in the world - mainly due to the incalculable amount of influences, regional varieties and changes it has endured - it has come to be arguably the most influential and now most widely used.
I really enjoyed this whirlwind ride through history, realising how many familiar chapters were turning points for our language as well as our story, and going beyond the shores of Britain to see how the language has spread and grown in its richness through its use in other countries too.
DNF. Just not working for me. I'm not sure if it's the writing like language has a will (which I feel like could work in a pratchettesque style but just isn't here) or the patchiness of the history, but I'm having trouble paying enough attention to follow. Or else something seems off so I'll detour to research it. I know Bryson's mother tongue has plenty of comments about inaccuracy, so I can't vouch if it's a more accurate book, but I certainly found it a more engaging look at a similar subject.
The Adven-Bloody-Ture of the Eng-Bloody-Ish Lang-Bloody-Uage
Review of the Audible Studios audiobook edition (2005) of the hardcover original (2004)
Very entertaining and loaded with terrific general knowledge trivia. I listened to the audiobook and the performance by Robert Powell alone was worth the price of admission.
Trivia eg. We all mostly know that [a:Mark Twain|1244|Mark Twain|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1322103868p2/1244.jpg] is the pen name of Samuel Clemens, but did you know he took it from the expression to measure 2 fathoms of water depth from a riverboat?
A discovery for me was the Jamaican patois poetry of [a:Louise Bennett-Coverley|39226|Louise Bennett-Coverley|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1435601071p2/39226.jpg] aka Miss Lou esp. her "Bans O' Killing", in defense of patois as a legitimate dialect that stands with others such as Scots & Irish brogue, Yorkshire & Cockney dialects, etc:
BANS O’ KILLING” , 1944
So yuh a de man, me hear bout!
Ah yuh dem sey dah-teck
Whole heap o’ English oat sey dat
Yuh gwine kill dialect!
Meck me get it straight Mass Charlie
For me noh quite undastan,
Yuh gwine kill all English dialect
Or jus Jamaica one?
Ef yuh dah-equal up wid English
Language, den wha meck
Yuh gwine go feel inferior, wen
It come to dialect?
..
Ef yuh kean sing “Linstead Market”
An “Wata come a me y’eye”,
Yuh wi haffi tap sing “Auld lang syne”
An “Comin thru de rye”.
Dah language weh yuh proad o’,
Weh yuh honour and respeck,
Po’ Mass Charlie! Yuh noh know sey
Dat it spring from dialect!
Dat dem start fe try tun language,
From de fourteen century,
Five hundred years gawn an dem got
More dialect dan we!
Yuh wi haffe kill de Lancashire
De Yorkshire, de Cockney
De broad Scotch an de Irish brogue
Before yuh start to kill me!
Yuh wi haffe get de Oxford book
O’ English verse, an tear
Out Chaucer, Burns, Lady Grizelle
An plenty o’ Shakespeare!
Wen yuh done kill “wit” an “humour”
Wen yuh kill “Variety”
Yuh wi haffe fine a way fe kill
Originality!
An mine how yuh dah-read dem English
Book deh pon yuh shelf
For ef yuh drop a “h” yuh mighta
Haffe kill yuhself.
The example of tmesis (to insert a word inside another word) and the use of "bloody" in the poem "The Integrated Adjective" by [a:John O'Grady|136921|John O'Grady|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-82093808bca726cb3249a493fbd3bd0f.png] was another standout :D
THE INTEGRATED ADJECTIVE
I was down on Riverina, knockin’ round the towns a bit,
An’ occasionally restin’, with a schooner in me mitt;
An’ on one o’ these occasions, when the bar was pretty full
an’ the local blokes were arguin’ assorted kinds o’ bull,
I heard a conversation, most peculiar in its way,
Because only in Australia would you hear a joker say,
“Where yer bloody been, yer drongo? ‘Aven’t seen yer fer a week;
“An’ yer mate was lookin’ for yer when ‘e come in from the Creek;
“‘E was lookin’ up at Ryan’s, an’ around at bloody Joe’s,
“An’ even at the Royal where ‘e bloody never goes.”
An’ the other bloke said “Seen ‘im. Owed ‘im ‘alf a bloody quid,
“Forgot ter give ut back to ‘im; but now I bloody did.
“Coulda used the thing me-bloody-self; been orf the bloody booze,
“Up at Tumba-bloody-rumba shootin’ kanga-bloody-roos.”
The book includes the apocryphal story that when the convict settlers to Australia asked the aboriginals what was the name of the odd animal with the pouch and heard "kangaroo," it actually meant "I don't understand what you're saying."
Review of the Audible Studios audiobook edition (2005) of the hardcover original (2004)
Very entertaining and loaded with terrific general knowledge trivia. I listened to the audiobook and the performance by Robert Powell alone was worth the price of admission.
Trivia eg. We all mostly know that [a:Mark Twain|1244|Mark Twain|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1322103868p2/1244.jpg] is the pen name of Samuel Clemens, but did you know he took it from the expression to measure 2 fathoms of water depth from a riverboat?
A discovery for me was the Jamaican patois poetry of [a:Louise Bennett-Coverley|39226|Louise Bennett-Coverley|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1435601071p2/39226.jpg] aka Miss Lou esp. her "Bans O' Killing", in defense of patois as a legitimate dialect that stands with others such as Scots & Irish brogue, Yorkshire & Cockney dialects, etc:
BANS O’ KILLING” , 1944
So yuh a de man, me hear bout!
Ah yuh dem sey dah-teck
Whole heap o’ English oat sey dat
Yuh gwine kill dialect!
Meck me get it straight Mass Charlie
For me noh quite undastan,
Yuh gwine kill all English dialect
Or jus Jamaica one?
Ef yuh dah-equal up wid English
Language, den wha meck
Yuh gwine go feel inferior, wen
It come to dialect?
..
Ef yuh kean sing “Linstead Market”
An “Wata come a me y’eye”,
Yuh wi haffi tap sing “Auld lang syne”
An “Comin thru de rye”.
Dah language weh yuh proad o’,
Weh yuh honour and respeck,
Po’ Mass Charlie! Yuh noh know sey
Dat it spring from dialect!
Dat dem start fe try tun language,
From de fourteen century,
Five hundred years gawn an dem got
More dialect dan we!
Yuh wi haffe kill de Lancashire
De Yorkshire, de Cockney
De broad Scotch an de Irish brogue
Before yuh start to kill me!
Yuh wi haffe get de Oxford book
O’ English verse, an tear
Out Chaucer, Burns, Lady Grizelle
An plenty o’ Shakespeare!
Wen yuh done kill “wit” an “humour”
Wen yuh kill “Variety”
Yuh wi haffe fine a way fe kill
Originality!
An mine how yuh dah-read dem English
Book deh pon yuh shelf
For ef yuh drop a “h” yuh mighta
Haffe kill yuhself.
The example of tmesis (to insert a word inside another word) and the use of "bloody" in the poem "The Integrated Adjective" by [a:John O'Grady|136921|John O'Grady|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-82093808bca726cb3249a493fbd3bd0f.png] was another standout :D
THE INTEGRATED ADJECTIVE
I was down on Riverina, knockin’ round the towns a bit,
An’ occasionally restin’, with a schooner in me mitt;
An’ on one o’ these occasions, when the bar was pretty full
an’ the local blokes were arguin’ assorted kinds o’ bull,
I heard a conversation, most peculiar in its way,
Because only in Australia would you hear a joker say,
“Where yer bloody been, yer drongo? ‘Aven’t seen yer fer a week;
“An’ yer mate was lookin’ for yer when ‘e come in from the Creek;
“‘E was lookin’ up at Ryan’s, an’ around at bloody Joe’s,
“An’ even at the Royal where ‘e bloody never goes.”
An’ the other bloke said “Seen ‘im. Owed ‘im ‘alf a bloody quid,
“Forgot ter give ut back to ‘im; but now I bloody did.
“Coulda used the thing me-bloody-self; been orf the bloody booze,
“Up at Tumba-bloody-rumba shootin’ kanga-bloody-roos.”
The book includes the apocryphal story that when the convict settlers to Australia asked the aboriginals what was the name of the odd animal with the pouch and heard "kangaroo," it actually meant "I don't understand what you're saying."