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Mother Tongue: The English Language
 
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Mother Tongue: The English Language (Paperback)

by Bill Bryson (Author)
3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (51 customer reviews)
RRP: £8.99
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Product details

  • Paperback: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin; New Ed edition (29 Jul 1999)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 014014305X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0140143058
  • Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.9 x 2.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (51 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 1,092 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #4 in  Books > History > Social & Economic History
    #5 in  Books > Reference > Transport > Aviation
    #12 in  Books > History > Cultural History

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review
Who would have thought that a book about the English language 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 rhapsodise about "the colourless 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.

Product Description
How did English, 'treated for centuries as the inadequate and second-rate tongue of peasants' become the undisputed global language? How did words like shampoo, sofa and rowdy (and others drawn from over fifty languages) find their way into our dictionary? In this revealing and often hilarious book, Bill Bryson examines the mother tongue and explores the countless varieties of English and the perils of marketing brands with names like Pschitt and Super Piss. With entertaining sections on the oddities of swearing and spelling, spoonerisms and Scrabble, and a consideration of what we mean by 'good English', Mother Tongue is one of the most stimulating books yet written on this endlessly engrossing subject.

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Mother Tongue: The English Language
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Customer Reviews

51 Reviews
5 star:
 (16)
4 star:
 (14)
3 star:
 (12)
2 star:
 (5)
1 star:
 (4)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.6 out of 5 stars (51 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Truth or Not?, 29 Mar 2008
By Deman (Turku) - See all my reviews
I found, for the most part of reading, this book to be very entertaining and informative. I read a few other Bryson books in the past, about travelling etc... but as an English teacher, well TEFL teacher, I thought this would be a great book to use quotes from for anecdotes during my lessons.

The problem occurred near the start of chapter 14 (out of 16).

Quote:
"Some cultures don't swear at all..... The Finns, lacking the sort of words you need to describe your feeling when you stub your toe getting up to answer a wrong number at 2.00 a.m., rather oddly adopted the word ravintolassa. It means 'in the restaurant'."

This is utter, for lack of a better word, hevosenpaska (literal translation "Horse S**t"). I have NEVER in my 10 years living in Finland heard anyone shout out RAVINTOLASSA, unless of course there were too many people in the restaurant and the guy was shouting into his mobile saying where he is. The Finns have quite a few swear words in their vocabulary that can be heard way too often.

So this led me to thinking, "if this is so way off track when it comes to Finland, what about the rest of the book when he writes about cultures I'm not familiar with?"

This has taken the shine off what I thought was an excellent piece of writing and that's why I'm giving it 2/5.

Sorry
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46 of 52 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Bryson makes me proud to be an Anglophone, 3 Aug 2001
By William P. Doyle, III (Hingham, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
While browsing in the linguistics section at a London bookshop, I came across this book. I had never heard of Bryson before, but the description on the back sounded so interesting, I bought it. Having just finished the book, I can only wonder how I managed to miss this guy's stuff all my life. This book is a fascinating journey through the history of English, the varieties of English in the world, spelling, pronunciation, and more. Bryson's style is fresh, funny, irreverent, and absorbing. I feel like I have found someone who loves nuance in language as much as I do, and is spot on when it comes to examining exactly the subtleties that get me fired up. Highly recommended to Anglophones interested in learning more about the language we call our own.
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24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars A fun read, but sometimes lacking in factual accuracy, 27 Oct 2003
By Mark Dixon "mark1975" (Sweden) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Having read several of Bill's books and enjoying them, I was looking forward to Mother Tongue. It didn't dissapoint - Bill was able to tell the tale of English in an enjoyable and easy to read manner.

But, half way through Mother Tongue, I started to remember what it was that made me stop reading his earlier books. Bill either does not take the trouble to verify all of the "facts" that he presents in his books, or he is too eager to let humour and enjoyment be spoiled by something as trifling as factual accuracy (e.g. all of most of his references to Swedish). Some, by no means all, things that Bill has to say are simply not true, or are deliberately taken out of context. So please, keep this in mind when reading Mother Tongue!

On the whole, and enjoyable read, and it did get me interested to go on and read other books on language. Though I did find the chapter on American versus English English rather annoying and unecessarily patriotic.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars An absolute must
This book is a must to everyone involved in English language, either his/her mother tongue or not. I should add it to the curriculum of every English language school. Read more
Published 27 days ago by Joseph E. Feredoes

2.0 out of 5 stars ?
i bought this for my 80 year old mum who likes this author, she now tells me she was very dissapointed with it, in fact she tells me often that it nowhere as good as he,s other... Read more
Published 2 months ago by J. W. Shepperd

5.0 out of 5 stars Lively introduction to the course of English (language) history
Like most of Bryson's early books, this is the story of a journey, but in this case the journey of a language from its beginnings to current place via various obscure outposts... Read more
Published 2 months ago by John Holland

5.0 out of 5 stars Best summary of history of English language you will find
Very well written, easy to read, packed with facts, funny and comprehensive. What more can you ask of a history of the most widely spoken language on the planet? Read more
Published 5 months ago by A business reader

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but not for everyone
I liked this book. It is written with Bryson's usual witty and engaging style. It is a book that is absolutely of the high standard any reader of Bryson's previous books will have... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Leeloo

3.0 out of 5 stars Nice but not reliable
I agree with those who say that it is a pleasant book. It should learn us something and it does, but I can't accept the enormous mistakes the author wrote. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Guillaume de Lavigne

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, but not Brysons best
This book is slightly disspointing, given the very high standards that we are used to from BB. Still, it is a probably a worthwhile read. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Dr. D. Fraser

1.0 out of 5 stars Full of errors and dangerously misinformative
I go along with many reviewers that Bryson makes a lot of errors because he's not a journalist, or a linguist. I'm only curious in one thing, though, from my point of view. Read more
Published 24 months ago by A. Tartari

4.0 out of 5 stars A Global Perspective
A history of the English language delivered with the humourous, anecdotal approach that can be expected from Bill Bryson, even though it must be said the book can be fairly heavy... Read more
Published on 10 Feb 2007 by JFD

2.0 out of 5 stars Tough going
Usually I really enjoy Bryson's books, be it hillwalking through the Appalachian mountains or roughing it through Oz. Read more
Published on 6 Sep 2006 by Kilkenny_Cat

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