The Mother Tongue (1990)

Bryson explores the history and quirks of the English Language. ( )

If it were not for a note I made in this book that I bought it in 2004 and read it in 2004, I would not have known that I read this book. It looks okay, but it sure made no impression on me. ( )

I picked this up thinking that Bryson had, in my experience, always been entertaining, witty and informative and that this was a topic of much interest to me, so how could I go wrong?

Well, a sample of two is not enough to go on, apparently because this turned out disappointing, for two primary reasons:

1. It was first published in 1990 and it has not aged well. Some statistics are well out of date, Bryson using a figure of 56 million for the population of Britain, with 60 million more accurate at the time I write, for example. The political position has moved on, too.

2. Errors and inconsistencies. Some statements are just plain wrong. At one point Bryson says that the Irish Prime Minister's title sounds like "tea-sack" when rendered into phonetic English spelling. This is just incoorect; it is more like "tea-shock" even "tea-shop" if one was not listening attentively. Bryson says that the six Celtic languages arose from one predecessor called Celtic. Every other source I've read uses the term Brythonic for this extinct predecessor. It's possible that philologists have changed their terminology and don't use the term "Brythonic" any more (just as they don't call themselves philologists anymore) but even if that is so, later Bryson suggests that Welsh is a Gaelic language, which no authority is going to agree with.

As far as inconsistencies go, two stick with me: First Bryson tacitly identifies himself with Britain in the early part of the book, then later on as American...perhaps not surprising considering his Pond hoping tendencies. The second is worse; in the chapter on American accents and dialects he starts by agreeing that the USA shows less regional variation than britain and ends suggesting that there is, in fact, one dialect per person....

The effect of these two problems is to, one way or another, call into question the validity of just about everything expressed as a statement of fact, unless one already knows of an independent authority who agrees. This is most unfortunate, as the topic is fascinating and the writing is witty, though sometimes angry; English is also emotive!
( )

Classic Bryson: even academic subjects are a blast to read when his love of language and history are well seasoned with his humor and scepticism.
Must read for any English speaker. ( )

I'm glad I read this book...even though it's dated. I enjoyed the chapter on word play, I learned some new words (which I'll soon forget) and had a few chuckles. However, I wouldn't recommend this book because the author makes some minor errors and even some fundamental ones, and then draws conclusions from these errors. Sorry, but I believe grammar matters because it enhances comprehension. Imply and infer cannot mean the same thing...ever . Null and void don't mean the same thing. Neither do beck and call. Or law and order. Or.... And we french speakers can distinguish between house and home.

I've read later works by Bill Bryson, which are better (I think) or are they as riddled with errors that I didn't notice? ( )