The Mother Tongue
English and How It Got That Way
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4.0 • 23 Ratings
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- £7.99
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- £7.99
Publisher Description
With dazzling wit and astonishing insight, Bill Bryson—the acclaimed author of The Lost Continent—brilliantly explores the remarkable history, eccentricities, resilience and sheer fun of the English language. From the first descent of the larynx into the throat (why you can talk but your dog can't), to the fine lost art of swearing, Bryson tells the fascinating, often uproarious story of an inadequate, second-rate tongue of peasants that developed into one of the world's largest growth industries.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bryson's blend of linguistic anecdotes and Anglo-Saxon cultural history proves entertaining but superficial. ``While his historical review is thorough. . . he mostly reiterates conventional views about English's structural superiority,'' said PW. ``He retells old tales with fresh verve . . . but becomes sloppy when matters of rhetoric and grammar arise.''
Customer Reviews
Fascinating journey into the history of our language
Great read, classic Bryson. Just the right amount of history, interesting fact and humour.
It does show it's age here and there where Bryson mentions "modern-day" facts and statics which all date from the 80s, but since most of the content relates to historical facts, this doesn't really matter much.