I enjoyed Bryson’s travelogue Lost Continent, so while at the library I picked up his book on the evolution of the English language, Mother Tongue. This book is utter crap. I found factual errors, urban myths, and folk etymologies on nearly every page. Some of the “wisdom” he imparts to layman readers who sadly might not know he’s full of crap:
Russian has no words for “engagement ring”, “efficiency”, or “to have fun.” This one sent my Russian-speaking fiancee into lengthly laughter. <sigh>, if only could explain to her family what that thing is on her finger. :rolleyes:
Finnish has no profanity whatsoever. Its only term of exasperation is bizarrely the phrase “in the restaurant!”
Hardly one chapter into the book he pulls out the old great Eskimo vocabulary hoax and passes it off as gospel truth.
And before the book’s end, he swears a British government official in 1989 said “If English is good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for me.” Of course, that story has been attributed to hundreds of people over the last hundred years, from the governor of Texas to an anonymous missionary in Africa.
He repeatedly cites Mario Pei as a great linguist, though Pei is essentially the Bill Bryson of the 50’s whose works have been condemned by many linguists as craptacular pieces of myth and oversimplification.
He asserts that Germans are naturally cruel because their language has the word “schadenfreude”.
A look at the biography page will show that Bryson has no formal training in linguistics (he doesn’t even have a university degree). He’s just a journalist who apparently loathes fact-checking.
Anyone else read this man’s language works. I hear he has another book about English called “Made in America”. Is that one just as bad?
I liked Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods and was looking forward to reading the one that you are referring to. Thank goodness you saved me a bit of money.
I first heard “If it’s good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for me” about forty years ago. I feel certain that it is much older than that. Such carelessness is inexcusable.
Yeah, that’s what I meant. If there’re that many whopping errors in the book, maybe the “joke” is that it’s a very bad book on linguistics. Is Bryson known for being funny?
Which Story of English? McCrum, Cran, McNeil? Or some other book?
I second A History of the English Language. Fortuitously, it was the textbook of one of my college English courses, and I’ve referred back to and re-read this book countless times in the years since.
I like the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language, which is a large book but extremely well written and broken down into many chapters so that it doesn’t get overwhelming. There’s a trade paperback version that’s not even expensive.
The Story of English which was made into a TV programme. Don’t remember who wrote it, just remember laughing hysterically as I tried to read it before finally giving up and chucking the thing.
Woohoo! I had Professor Cable for my History of the English Language class. You’ll find this text a lot dryer than any Bill Bryson books though. There’s also “The English Language: A Historical Introduction” by Charles Barber. Funnily enough, I just picked up the Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Language at a used bookstore a couple weeks ago. I keep it in the bathroom.
You would be surprised at how many linguists recommend the Bill Bryson book. At UT it was a required textbook for one of the “please please change your major to Linguistics” intro classes.
The man’s a journalist. And not just a podunk small-town newspaper contributor, but a man who has worked at large newspapers like the Financial Times. It reflects poorly on his capabilities in his day job if he publishes book which are totally lacking fact-checking.
