2nd book of bryson i've read, funny, insightful and observations

Witty and informative historical tour of the changes in American society as reflected in its language ( )

Usually I like Bryson quite a bit, but I struggled with this book. I wanted to know how and why American English ended up as it did, but I found this read too much like a text book than a pleasure book. I love linguistics and text books, I'm a word geek, but on holidat at the beach was not the time for this book so off it goes. I think I have a copy at home, otherwise I'll scare up another copy when I'm in a more cerebral frame of mind. For now, it's about the chick lit. ( )

Summary: Made in America is part linguistic and etymological study of American English, part people's history of the United States, part trivia compendium, and entirely fully of Bryson's dry wit and ex-pat sensibilities. Approximately the first half of the chapters go chronologically, taking a myth-busting look at American history from the first colonists through the industrial revolution, and documenting when (and occasionally how) various Americanisms entered the lexicon. The second half of the book is broken up by topic: eating, shopping, cars, planes, politics, movies, sports, etc., and investigates what each topic has contributed to our linguistic and cultural history.

Review: For trivia buffs, this book has got to be a goldmine. Among the many many things that I learned were that "ye", when it was used as a "the" (vs. as "you"), was simply a lexicographical shorthand and was still pronounced as "the"; Squanto (of the first Thanksgiving) had actually been to England and spoke English quite well; "E Pluribus Unum" was originally taken from a salad recipe; "panties" used to refer to men's underwear, and didn't refer to women's underwear until the early 1900s; and "pass the buck" has nothing to do with money, but refers instead to a buckhorn knife used to keep track of the dealer in poker. Pretty much every subject imaginable has at least one similar anecdote.

However, in my case, this book suffered a bit from a case of mistaken expectations. I don't know where I got the idea that it was focused primarily on linguistics and etymology; the back cover of my copy states "a fast, exhilarating ride along the Route 66 of American language and popular culture," but somehow my brain never processed that last clause. I was expecting a lot more linguistics and not quite so much history - not that the history was uninteresting, but the language aspect often seemed incidental to the historical trivia. Similarly, instead of more detailed etymologies, Bryson frequently gives us lists of words and terms that emerged during a particular period, without much (if any) details or background.

Finally, this book was not quite as funny as I was expecting. The only other Bryson I've read is A Walk in the Woods, which is choke-on-your-pancakes funny, and Made in America, while still dryly witty, is more scholarly, and only made me laugh out loud a few times. 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: An interesting and exceptionally painless way to be exposed to a wide scope of American history, but it's history through the lens of language, not a linguistic study in its own rights. Not a bad read by any means, but not something that left me raving, either. ( )

I absolutely LOVE this book and have read and reread it many times. I was a Linguistics and English major in college but beyond that, I have had friends borrow the book and LOVE it despite the fact they had never previously been interested in this type of subject matter before. Bryson uses humor and story telling to make this book such an enjoyable read ( )