| The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way Contributor(s): Bryson, Bill (Author) |
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ISBN: 0380715430 ISBN-13: 9780380715435 Publisher: William Morrow & Company OUR PRICE: $16.19 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: October 2001 Annotation: The author of the acclaimed The Lost Continent now steers us through the quirks and byways of the English language. We learn why island, freight, and colonel are spelled in such unphonetic ways, why four has a u in it but forty doesn't, plus bizarre and enlightening facts about some of the patriarchs of this peculiar language. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Language Arts & Disciplines | Linguistics - Historical & Comparative - Humor | Form - Essays - History | Social History |
| Dewey: 420.9 |
| LCCN: 89077521 |
| Physical Information: 0.8" H x 5.2" W x 7.8" (0.55 lbs) 320 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: "Vastly informative and vastly entertaining...A scholarly and fascinating book." --Los Angeles Times With dazzling wit and astonishing insight, Bill Bryson explores the remarkable history, eccentricities, resilience and sheer fun of the English language. From the first descent of the larynx into the throat (why you can talk but your dog can't), to the fine lost art of swearing, Bryson tells the fascinating, often uproarious story of an inadequate, second-rate tongue of peasants that developed into one of the world's largest growth industries. |
Contributor Bio(s): Bryson, Bill: - Bill Bryson's bestselling books include One Summer, A Short History of Nearly Everything, At Home, A Walk in the Woods, Neither Here nor There, Made in America, and The Mother Tongue. He lives in England with his wife. |