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The Secret Life Of Words: How English Became English (2008)

by Henry Hitchings(Favorite Author)

3.64 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0374254109 (ISBN13: 9780374254100)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

review 1: I really, really wanted to like this book. I tried over and over again, diving in the book with fresh hope of being captured and taken away. Alas, it never happened and I decided to just stop reading the book a little less than half way through. While I found the history interesting, I think the author just could not connect with me. Perhaps there will come a day when I will once again pick up this book and finish it.
review 2: What I life best about this is that the focus is on vocabulary, not grammar and syntax like so many histories of english seem to be. That and the connection between the impact of history and language was very interesting. Right now it is computers and technology that change our vocabulary; four hundred years ago the spice trade did the s... moreame thing. I especially loved the description of the word wars in the past, that the argument over 'true' english and the grammar purists is an old one. less

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