The Mother Tongue, Bill Bryson
The Mother Tongue, Bill Bryson
24 Rating(s)
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The Mother Tongue
English and How It Got That Way

Author: Bill Bryson

Narrator: Stephen McLaughlin

Unabridged: 10 hr 45 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: HarperAudio

Published: 12/15/2015

Synopsis

With dazzling wit and astonishing insight, Bill Bryson—the acclaimed author of The Lost Continent—brilliantly 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.

About Bill Bryson

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.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Ceci

The one thing that bothered me the most about this book was a huge error it had on swearwords, in reference to my mother tongue Finnish: (p. 210, Ch. Swearing, in my Penguin paperback:) “Some cultures don’t swear at all. (…) The Finns, lacking the sort of words you need to describe your feelings whe......more

Goodreads review by Nandakishore

Ever since I learned to read, English has been my favourite language - I took to it like a duck takes to water (at least, I guess they take to it willingly, and that baby ducks are not paddled until their feathers fly by Mamma Duck to make them). This was the cause of the eternal chagrin of my mothe......more

Goodreads review by Julie (jjmachshev)

What a hilarious, fascinating, and educational look at our wacky, wonderful, and WAY complicated language. If English is your mother tongue, this book will amaze and amuse you with interesting tidbits about just how our language evolved into the wonder it is. If you had to learn English as a second......more

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