Review: You Talkin' To Me?: The Unruly History of New York English

You Talkin' To Me?: The Unruly History of New York English by E.J. White
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is more a history of New York's people and names, which obviously goes hand-in-hand with New York English. I do wish, however, that it had been more of a progressive journey through how New Yorkers spoke throughout the centuries. 

Still, some very interesting tidbits. Especially the differences between how men and women talk. And how New Yorkers have stubbornly been clinging to their non-rhoticity, while it has gone away in so many other places. 

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Review: Words on the Move: Why English Won't—and Can't—Sit Still

Words on the Move: Why English Won't—and Can't—Sit Still by John McWhorter
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Another great entertaining book by John Mcwhorter, narrated by the author. 

As always, I enjoy listening to his books/lectures, especially when they have to do with the English language (sometimes I find his conclusions re: other languages a bit of a stretch). 

In essence, unless you speak in a way others don't understand you, there is no "incorrect" way of speaking. 

e.g.:

In defense of "Irregardless":

It might seem like it's a redundancy to say "Ir-regardless", but "overwhelm" is a redundancy too. 

Does the word "whelm" exist? Well, it did (you can find it in Moby Dick). And it meant overwhelm.  "Overwhelm" was the irregardless of its day. 

Rise up, sink down, enter into. These are also redundant, but people don't have a problem with them. 

Of course, how you speak says something about you. So one should know how to speak in a manner society perceives as "proper". Just as you tuck in your shirt for a job interview, you should 'tuck in'  your double negatives and 'irregardless's as well. 

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Review: Lingo: A Language Spotter's Guide to Europe

Lingo: A Language Spotter's Guide to Europe by Gaston Dorren
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A fun book! A bit sporadic, but it was to be expected, covering a smattering of languages and cultures. It will be full of little tidbits you probably didn't know (Avalanche is the only English word we got from the Romansh language; gönnen is the German word for finding joy in another's success. We had a word for this in Old English, but have apparently stopped doing so; etc.)

Don't expect a treatise or any in-depth study. But if you want some interesting Trivia for European-related languages, this is a great book. 

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Review: Suspect

Suspect by Michael Robotham
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



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Review: Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English

Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English by John McWhorter
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was worried this would be a rehash of McWhorter's other book, or of other books on the English language (I'm thinking mainly Melvin Bragg's "The Story of English"), but actually it had some very refreshing material.

I like his discussions on the useless "do" in English. ('Did you see that?' 'I don't like that' Etc.) and how it probably derives from the celtic.

I'm not sure i'm convinced of one of his examples of English uniqueness, stating how "I read" isn't really present tense because, when asked what they're doing, no one would reply "I read". I mean, that's true, but it doesn't seem unique to English, as he says it is. In Italian you would answer with the gerund (like with English) "sto leggendo", and in Chinese you would probably say something like ”我正在看書“ (so basically the gerund as well). Unless I understood it incorrectly.

Fascinating how "Going to" became a future tense. I also enjoyed his takedown of prescriptive grammarians and Sapir-Whorf adherents (although I imagine no linguists take that hypothesis seriously anymore, so it was probably directed to all the lay readers).

I'm also not sure I'm convinced about the semitic influence on Proto-Germanic, although it reminded me of one of the Sherlock Holmes stories (I can't remember which one) where he was trying to figure out whether Cornish had Chaldean roots.

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Review: Language Families of the World

Language Families of the World by John McWhorter
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I think I found my new go-to to recommend for people who are interested in learning about linguistics, or languages in general (although I still love Empires of the Word). I found this book fascinating, and McWhorter extremely entertaining.

Some of my notes:
The more adults have had to learn a language throughout its history, the more simple it tends to be. The longer a language is left to itself, the more complicated it will get.

"I went to the store" said Edward
This is an awkward sentence structure that is never spoken, only written. It never was a natural manner of speaking in English, but it's a holdover from English's germanic roots. Namely, how German likes to have the verb in the second place, as in:
"Ich gehe ins kino", and
"Morgen gehe ich ins kino"
We don't have that anymore, but we have some awkward ways of using sentences because of it.


If we didn't have written Latin, many language families would be much more of a problem. For example, "cheese" in Italian is Formaggio, in French is Fromage, in Spanish is Queso, and in Portuguese is queijo, while in Romanian it is branza. So what was the root word? Btw, in Romantsch it is Cascio, while in Sicilian it is caccio. We know that in Latin it was caseus formaticum thanks to writing, but without those writings it would be almost impossible to figure out. This is the case for most language families.

Apparently Estonian has triple consonants.

Also, I've been looking for a place to learn Cherokee online now, thanks to this book (although without much luck)

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