Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English by John McWhorter If you’ve ever wondered why English doesn’t act like other Germanic languages, this book is for you. It’s more than just “here’s all the stuff we stole from the Norman French” but goes into why we say “do you have the time” instead …
Tag: linguistics
Jul 25
Book Review: Babel
Babel by R.F. Kuang This book has magic in it, but it’s not a fantasy book so much as a historical fiction about the intersection of identity and 19th century British Colonialism. Most of the book takes place at Oxford, and carries the to-me delightful conceit that magic relies on the existence of those ineffable …
Mar 18
Book Review: Cultish
Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell As expected, a book on linguistics and cults was exactly within the Venn intersect of my interests and fulfilled the promises of the promo. However, I didn’t expect that a book on linguistics and cults would make me laugh out loud in more than one part. The …
Oct 29
Book Review: The Secret Life of Pronouns
The Secret Life of Pronouns: What Our Words Say About Us by James W. Pennebaker If you have a nerd-gasm about statistics, linguistics, and social psychology, this is a must-read book. Bonus points: the author has done the research himself, so it’s not just rehashed from another book you’ve already read (though I’ve seen his …