Think you can spell, do you (Mother Tongue - Bill Bryson)

Member Name: sersha

Product:	Mother Tongue - Bill Bryson
Date:	09/06/02 (147 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: full of interesting titbits

Disadvantages: not as funny as his other books

Here's a quick little test to begin with: which words out of the following are misspelled?

Supercede, conceed, procede, idiosyncracy, concensus, accomodate, impressario, rhythym, opthalmologist, diptheria, anamoly, afficianado, caesarian, grafitti

Answers at end.

I've read all Bill Bryson's books to date and I've been saving Mother Tongue for last, as it's a little bit different from his other books. You'll find it in the language and linguistics section of amazon, although it isn't hard to find it among his other works in most bookstores.

First of all, if you like Bill Bryson because he's funny first, and because of what he writes about second, then this probably is not the book for you. Normally I can't repress snorts of laughter at his writing, but although very funny in places, this book is far more academic than his other work, and I would say you need to more than a passing interest in the English language to get utterly absorbed in this.

How did the English language come to be, and what are the influences that shape the way we speak and spell today? Bryson discusses written and spoken English in comparison with other languages. He argues that English has ridiculous grammar rules (why shouldn't we split infinitives? Just because it's not possible to do it in Latin?) and basically wipes the floor with the old bat that taught you English grammar as a kid. He also raises some very good points. Why can you be overwhelmed or underwhelmed, but not simply whelmed? Who on earth was responsible for the spelling of colonel?

The book contains a vast amount of information, which he strings together effortlessly, like idle chit-chat, managing to encompass: the language of the world, how language began, where words come from, how we speak, why there are so many dialects in England alone, what "good" English is and why it is thought of as "good". There a
re also chapters on English as a world language, swearing, wordplay and the future of English.

If you like to impress your friends with new-found knowledge (like me) its fantastic. I've bored about 10 people this week by telling them how the days of the week all got their names, that St Patrick was Welsh, that the French can't differentiate between "house" and "home" and a hundred other interesting (to me) facts I picked up when reading this book. Now when I start a sentence with "Did you know that..." people start to walk away from me.

Did you know that...no, you'll just have to read the book I'm afraid.

Answer: all of them are wrong. Frightening, isn't it!

Mother Tongue is published by penguin in paperback and costs 7.99. ISBN 014014305X

Summary: