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The Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson
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The Mother Tongue

by Bill Bryson

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3,16353714 (3.89)81
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Showing 1-5 of 53 (next | show all)
learnt some things while laughing
purplesue | Jun 28, 2009 |  
A fun romp through the history of the English language, from the invasion of the Saxons and the Normans in England to the "infection" of English by Americanisms. Intriguing, engaging history and, as might be expected from Bill Bryson, humorous. The tone is conversational, and accessible -- you don't have to be a linguist or Old English scholar to read this book. If you enjoy language, words, history, or Bill Bryson's writing style, I highly recommend this book. ( )
bell7 | Jun 21, 2009 |  
I love Bryson's writing and his enthusiasm for English is wonderful, as is his non-fussy exploration of where our language came from. Occasionally gets a little repetitious because of the subject, but otherwise great. ( )
brianclegg | May 8, 2009 |  
Bryson shows a different side of his talent to some extent with this offering. A brilliant and humorous travel writer, in Mother Tongue Bryson shows his love of language in an even more apparent way than usual.

Mother Tongue is filled with really interesting information. Sometimes it does stray into a little too dry an area, but overall a worthwhile read for Anglophiles - I'm not even sure if I have that right... *sigh* ( )
Sean191 | May 6, 2009 |  
This book is excellent "non-fiction" in the sense that it's easy to read and not too academic. Whether the book is fiction or not is slightly questionable, and the issue is even more difficult because I have only just read it - 19 years after publication. A lot has happened even in the field of linguistics in that time!

I won't go into detail regarding the mistakes I spotted, other than to say that one of them specifically sounded like he had been in the pub after a pint or seven, and believed a completely random story (regarding Finns swearing by saying "in the restaurant") . Later he comments on how some earlier authors on the subject have been quite gullible.

I would give this book more than three stars, but I won't because I can see the danger of someone taking Bryson's word for the truth. While I can't decide whether the inaccurasy for the sake of humour is intentional, I suggest a better name for the book: Mother tongue-in-cheek. ( )
haidiw | May 6, 2009 |  
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People/Characters
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Important events
Awards and honors
Epigraph
Dedication
To Cynthia
First words
More than 300 million people in the world speak English and the rest, it sometimes seems, try to.
Quotations
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
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Book description

Amazon.com (ISBN 0380715430, Paperback)

Who would have thought that a book about English would be so entertaining? Certainly not this grammar-allergic reviewer, but The Mother Tongue pulls it off admirably. Bill Bryson--a zealot--is the right man for the job. Who else could rhapsodize about "the colorless murmur of the schwa" with a straight face? It is his unflagging enthusiasm, seeping from between every sentence, that carries the book.

Bryson displays an encyclopedic knowledge of his topic, and this inevitably encourages a light tone; the more you know about a subject, the more absurd it becomes. No jokes are necessary, the facts do well enough by themselves, and Bryson supplies tens per page. As well as tossing off gems of fractured English (from a Japanese eraser: "This product will self-destruct in Mother Earth."), Bryson frequently takes time to compare the idiosyncratic tongue with other languages. Not only does this give a laugh (one word: Welsh), and always shed considerable light, it also makes the reader feel fortunate to speak English.

(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:57:56 -0400)

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