Have you ever wondered about the origins of Americanisms such as "lunch" and "cafeteria"? Or maybe you're interested in words that originated from the movies or sports. Bill Bryson gives you a whirlwind tour of all this and more in his "informal history of the English language in the United States."

Beginning with the Pilgrims and making his way through both chronologically and thematically to recent times, Bryson has a way of highlighting the humorous aspects of history and linguistic quirkiness of our language. Some of interesting tidbits (note: a word that was originally "titbits" and changed in order to be less offensive) I learned included:

--Englishmen bemoaning Americanisms entering the language is nothing new
--the Pilgrims had three or four different names and types of mush
--during the American Revolution, people were not unconcerned with spelling, but merely had more variants to choose from (and even argue about!)

I'll have about as much fun recommending this book as I did reading it! ( )

I enjoy Bryson's mind. It wanders similarly to mine. He discusses many things which are peculiar to America. Interesting. ( )

Funny, interesting and informative. One fact that sticks with me is that every town in America had its own time until the railroad decided clock time needed to be standardized. What that has to do with American English I don't remember, but that's how Bryson's writing is--there are lots of fascinating side stories. ( )

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 ( )

I love language and all its peculiarities and variations. Scholarly works like David Crystal's Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language are great reference books. So is this, in a very different way. Not only is it a good "people's history" of some aspects of US history, it is one of those books you reach for when your 'favourite' language pedant starts waxing on about how terrible it is that noone speaks's proper any more, or "the kids of today..." As an Australian, and therefore being trilingual (British, American and Australian English) I love to be able to stop some fool in their tracks with the information that some 'vulgar Americanisms' are actually much older forms of English that were transported and survived, at the same time as English mutated in its homeland. The Grammar Pedants won't have it that English is a living language, that usage, spelling and grammar 'rules' change ... this book shows how it does and also demonstrates how some of the most common words we use to deal with life in our age were once US-invented neologisms or even slang. All this (and more) delivered in Bryson's wry and ironic (read witty) tone. ( )

A quick read. Full of the origins of various American idioms and expressions. Laugh out loud in places, a bit heavy on trivia in others. Overall not a bad introduction to the etymology of Americanisms, past and present.

http://gewurzreader.blogspot.com/2008...

This is the story of the American version of the English language. Very entertaining and full of fantastic facts and trivia. ( )

Great book about how American English has evolved to what it is today. Also, good insight into major social events in the history of this country. ( )

As an English language teacher, this is precisely the fuel my mind sometimes needs to keep me interested in all the nuances of language. "Made in America" is like a biography of a language - American English - and investigates how many of its expressions and words came to be.

For instance, I had no idea that the original British English word was 'aluminum,' and that the extra i to make it more Latinised was only introduced when the word hopped across the pond. Fascinating! ( )

Entertaining book. I like the digressions he takes as much as the actual histrory of the language in America. There are times when he seems to make a point of unraveling some of Americans' myths about themselves, but I suppose that's to be expected from an expat. ( )

Just finished this for the second time, it's amazing how much you forget in a few years. I'll be telling the story of the Jerusalem artichoke at every given opportunity! Bryson is one of my favourite writers and I will keep going back to his books for ever! ( )

Amazingly good history of the nuances of American English that make it the odd-ball language that it is. ( )

Fascinating and funny. You will learn at least 100 new trivia items, and you will want to share them (it makes for very slow reading). ( )

bill gets his kicks on route 66 if he was female and organised his books wouldn't be so funny but bless him he's male disorganised and american of course things go wrong ( )

Another excellent book by Bryson. This book is not as humorous as 'A Walk in the Woods' or some of his other works, but it is *packed* with information. I would argue that this book gives credibility to Bryson as a pseudo-scholar. But the fact that he can keep some humor in there and make the sometimes-dry topic of language accessible to everyone is a testament to his writing skills. ( )

Perhaps my favorite book on language