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The Mother Tongue | 
 enlarge | Author: Bill Bryson
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy Used: $2.03
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Avg. Customer Rating:  120 reviews
Sales Rank: 6384
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 272
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.3 x 0.8
ISBN: 0380715430
Dewey Decimal Number: 420.9
EAN: 9780380715435
ASIN: 0380715430
Publication Date: September 1, 1991
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Who would have thought that a book about English 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 rhapsodize about "the colorless 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
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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 115 more reviews...
 Amazing! May 3, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book is a notch above Bryson's other books. And that is saying A LOT! It is compelling, very witty, and overall memorable. It certainly piqued by interested in the English language and linguistics in general. Do yourself a favour, and get this book. You will not be disappointed with this well-researched tome that Bryson produced here.
 "The Mother Tongue" -- Factual Mistakes and Forced Jokes March 2, 2008
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
Mr. Bryson's "The Mother Tongue" is an easy read, but unfortunately it contains many factual mistakes and, as one other reviewer put it so well, "sloppy scholarship". I am a native speaker of German and I wish he would have gotten some help from a German linguist for his comparisons of English with German.
My problem with the book started with the "Acknowledgments" where Mr Bryson writes "certain passages in this book originally appeared in somewhat altered form in TWA Ambassador and in the Canadian textbook Language in Action, and I wish to thank both organizations for permission to reproduce those excerpts here." My understanding of the word "to alter" in its form "altered" is that it refers to something that has been changed from its original form. Bryson's sentence hence implies that the chapters in question had been written initially for the book "The Mother Tongue" and were only later changed to be published in the TWA magazine. I think this is hardly likely and, in fact, the altered versions of the original articles are in the book, not the other way around. If somebody uses language incorrectly already in the acknowledgments section, my trust in the author's expertise about language is seriously impacted.
I read about one third of this book, but I did not finish it, because I am afraid it may hurt my understanding of the English language more than it will help. There are several mistakes obvious to me, so I am afraid other "facts" might by incorrect as well. I simply cannot trust Bryson.
A tribute to the English language February 19, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book brings to the forefront the richness of the English language. English is my cherished second language and I feel heavily indebted to it. English has allowed me to travel to some countries where I would have remained almost incommunicado with my native Spanish. Also, English has allowed me access to certain books that deal with topics that are not available in Spanish written books (to my knowledge).
To read this book was a pleasurable experience to me. The book is entertaining, instructive, full of useful information, and, inspiring. This book is a must reading for anybody that loves the English language. Five shining stars for it.
Chuckle-worthy and interesting as well... January 31, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book manages to make the history of the English Language amusing and interesting. It is a thorough examination of words, how we use them and how they evolved - including swear words, cuss words, slang and everyday things like... why DID the yanks take the second 'i' out of aluminium?
candy for English nerds December 16, 2007
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
The fascinating, humorous, and engaging tale of how the English language grew from the peasant amalgamation of French and German (an easy, simple, and straightforward language without gendered articles) to a multimillion-dollar language spoken the world-over. Chockfull of intriguing trivia (why we can choke also is why we can talk) and important explanations (why our language has more flexibility, more words, and more intricacy than most others, but also why its spelling and grammar is so illogically insane). A great read for any English-nerd. I couldn't put this book down, and I keep recommending it to everyone I know. Grade: A+
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