Simon Horobin

This is a better book than Gooden's, The Story of English. In almost half the number of pages, Horobin covers virtually the same ground in a more concise, interesting and detailed manner. I was particularly interested in the chapters regarding varieties of English spoken in the United States, Australia and New Zealand. I did not realize what an impact the original regional dialects of the first English colonists had on the varieties of English that came to be used in these countries.

Also, with interest, I read the chapter that talks about Singlish (Singaporean English) and its mix of English, Malay and Chinese words and grammatical constructs. I have a Singaporean friend on Facebook who I often see using Singlish in her posts.

It is a quick read, though you may not think so by the amount of time it took me to finish. A number of other life activities got in the way over the past month, but if you have an interest, I do recommend this book for a well-written overview of the English language.… (altro)

A fun-run through the history of some of the odder words and phrases in common everyday use in (British) English, arranged around the activities that might make up a typical day (meals, home, work, leisure, sport, going out, etc.). It doesn't go very deep, and it's basically just a loosely-linked list of keywords and explanations — there's no kind of argument or historical development going on, so it's a book you are obviously meant to dip in and out of as the fancy takes you.

The examples are all slanted towards England, with occasional brief mention of Scottish, Australian and US regional expressions, but a strong slant towards Oxford-related topics: there are frequent references to Lewis Carroll and Philip Pullman and the sports vocabulary includes detailed discussion of real tennis, racquets and croquet as well as the more mainstream rugby, cricket and (grudgingly?) soccer. But no rowing.

This seems to be aimed at people who are curious about the history of English, but have never actually studied it, and I'm sure someone like that would find it very entertaining. I can imagine that it might also be useful source of classroom material for schoolteachers, but if you have any kind of prior knowledge then it's likely that at least 80% of his examples will be stuff you already know, so definitely don't buy it as a gift for English graduates.

A strange book to turn into an audiobook, but it sort of works, and would be a good one for listeners with a very short attention span!… (altro)

Super fascinating and well-written. Horobin does a really great job of being unbiased for the majority of the text, stating all the facts from all sides of the issue. It's also surprisingly in-depth for such a little book. Not only is there a history of the English language with specific examples, there's also a bunch on modern issues with English such as texting and Spanglish and what even counts as a language anyway? PLUS, he concludes it all with a why does it matter section. I applaud not only the book itself, but the structure as well.

Great for nerds like me who love words and languages and obscure facts. Also great for anyone concerned with modern social issues, because language is a big part of every "race" and culture, and Horobin does a great job of addressing it.… (altro)