I’ve been rereading Bill Bryson’s The Mother Tongue of late and I find it a bit irritating. I enjoyed reading it when I was a kid but now it jars quite a bit. For one thing, in nearly every instance where he uses the Irish language there’s a mistake, in spelling or pronunciation guide. Also, there are many other errors that I’ve noticed.
Anyway, what better, popular language books would you recommend? I’m looking for books on the history and evolution of languages, etymologies of words and the like.
I seem to remember Melvyn Bragg doing a fantastic BBC TV series on the history of the English language, and a quick google shows he’s written a couple of books on the subject: ‘The Adventure of English’ and ‘The Routes of English’ (which I think is the BBC book that accompanied the series)
Similarly, PBS did a great series with accompanying book called The Story of English. It’s a fun and accesible read that is an informative overview rather than a serious academic treatise.
It’s not at all dry, and gives wonderful insight into the relationships between words, going into their roots and explaining how the roots branched off. Really neat stuff.
"Truss dedicates the book “to the memory of the striking Bolshevik printers of St. Petersburg who, in 1905, demanded to be paid the same rate for punctuation marks as for letters, and thereby directly precipitated the first Russian Revolution.” (wiki)
ETA Just saw some of the negative feedback at the end of the article. I enjoyed it, but what do I know?
When I was in high school I came across H.L. Mencken’s The American Language, and was bowled over. Mencken was one of the greatest wits of the Twentieth Century, and this book is erudite without being dull (a difficult thing to accomplish). It’s an old book, but not outdated. I reread it a few years ago, and enjoyed it even more than I did when I was young.
I bought this for a dollar at a book drive, thinking I would love it. I want my dollar back. This book is not about language, it’s about being bitchy and neurotic.
The only editions available in print of The American Language are rather expensive, so perhaps the library isn’t willing to let people check out books that cost that much. Also, there have been a number of editions of the book. Perhaps the ones in your library are older editions (which are different in content from newer editions), which are unobtainable in that form except for very expensive used copies from rare book dealers.
I’m not sure if I’d recommend The American Language. It’s well written but rather long. I read it once, but that was a long time ago. I’m not sure about Eats, Shoots & Leaves either, although I haven’t read it yet. Its quality is highly disputed.
WordMan, you have confused two books. The Meaning of Everything is one book by Winchester, while The Professor and the Madman (a.k.a. The Surgeon of Crowthorne) is another book by him. The first book is about the OED, while the second book is about some people who worked on the OED.
:mad: