A review by bookishwendy
The Adventure of English: The Biography of a Language by Melvyn Bragg

3.0

An interesting look at how the English language (likely) came about, how it evolved, how its variations split off and then came back around later to contribute to it. The book is rather Brit-centric in its observations and some of the analysis of American contributions to English struck me as rather quaint. However, it's interesting to think that the "American" accent developed from 17th century English, and some of our pronunciations and word peculiarities actually stem from older forms of English than today's "Queen's English." British English itself has changed a lot since the pilgrims vamoosed to Plymouth...which is probably why Australian (which developed a few hundred years later) sounds, to the American ear, much more "British". Also, fun fact: most "dirty" English words featuring bodily functions are rooted in old English. So yes, those fun 4-letter "Anglo Saxon" words are literally that. Though if Chaucer used them, why do they still scare us? (Thanks, Victorians.) They certainly have sticking power.