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May We Borrow Your Language?
- How English Steals Words from All Over the World
- Narrado por: Richard Littledale
- Duración: 8 h y 27 m
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May We Borrow Your Language?
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Resumen del Editor
The English language that is spoken by one billion people around the world is a linguistic mongrel, its vocabulary a diverse mix resulting from centuries of borrowing from other tongues.
From the Celtic languages of pre-Roman Britain to Norman French; from the Vikings' Old Scandinavian to Persian, Sanskrit, Algonquian, Cantonese and Hawaiian – amongst a host of others – we have enriched our modern language with such words as tulip, slogan, doolally, avocado, moccasin, ketchup and ukulele.
May We Borrow Your Language? explores the intriguing and unfamiliar stories behind scores of familiar words that the English language has filched from abroad; in so doing, it also sheds fascinating light on the wider history of the development of the English we speak today.
Full of etymological nuggets to intrigue and delight the reader, this is a gift book for word buffs to cherish – as cerebrally stimulating as it is more-ishly entertaining.
Philip Gooden writes books about language as well as historical crime novels. The former include Who's Whose? A No-Nonsense Guide to Easily-Confused Words, The Story of English, and (as co-author) Idiomantics and The Word at War.
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Narración:4.5 out of 5 stars 1,098
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Historia4 out of 5 stars 1,092
With dazzling wit and astonishing insight, Bill Bryson - the acclaimed author of The Lost Continent - brilliantly explores the remarkable history, eccentricities, resilience, and sheer fun of the English language. From the first descent of the larynx into the throat (why you can talk but your dog can't) to the fine lost art of swearing, Bryson tells the fascinating, often uproarious story of an inadequate, second-rate tongue of peasants that developed into one of the world's largest growth industries.
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3 out of 5 stars
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More satire than history
- De Barbara Kindle Customer en 12-18-15
De: Bill Bryson
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The Pun Also Rises
- How the Humble Pun Revolutionized Language, Changed History, and Made Wordplay More Than Some Antics
- De: John Pollack
- Narrado por: Pete Larkin
- Duración: 4 h y 57 m
- Versión completa
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General4 out of 5 stars 60
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Narración:4 out of 5 stars 55
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Historia4 out of 5 stars 53
The Pun Also Rises is an authoritative yet playful exploration of a practice that is common, in one form or another, to virtually every language on earth. At once entertaining and educational, this engaging book answers fundamental questions: Just what is a pun, and why do people make them? How did punning impact the development of human language, and how did that drive creativity and progress? And why, after centuries of decline, does the pun still matter?
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3 out of 5 stars
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Punderful Little Book
- De B. Lane en 01-10-13
De: John Pollack
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Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue
- The Untold History of English
- De: John McWhorter
- Narrado por: John McWhorter
- Duración: 5 h y 22 m
- Versión completa
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General4 out of 5 stars 3,996
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Narración:4.5 out of 5 stars 3,376
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Historia4 out of 5 stars 3,352
A survey of the quirks and quandaries of the English language, focusing on our strange and wonderful grammar. Why do we say "I am reading a catalog" instead of "I read a catalog"? Why do we say "do" at all? Is the way we speak a reflection of our cultural values? Delving into these provocative topics and more, Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue distills hundreds of years of fascinating lore into one lively history.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great for casual linguists
- De Bertie en 01-11-10
De: John McWhorter
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The Hunting of the Snark
- De: Lewis Carroll
- Narrado por: Boris Karloff
- Duración: 22 m
- Versión completa
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General4.5 out of 5 stars 39
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Narración:4.5 out of 5 stars 34
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Historia4.5 out of 5 stars 34
But what is a Snark? "Humpty Dumpty's theory, of two meanings packed into one word like a portmanteau, seems to me the right explanation for all." (Lewis Carroll)
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4 out of 5 stars
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Savory & Strange--but Missing a Fit!!!
- De Jefferson en 10-17-10
De: Lewis Carroll
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Knowing What We Know
- The Transmission of Knowledge: From Ancient Wisdom to Modern Magic
- De: Simon Winchester
- Narrado por: Simon Winchester
- Duración: 14 h y 19 m
- Versión completa
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General4.5 out of 5 stars 112
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Narración:4.5 out of 5 stars 85
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Historia4.5 out of 5 stars 85
From the creation of the first encyclopedia to Wikipedia, from ancient museums to modern kindergarten classes—this is Simon Winchester’s brilliant and all-encompassing look at how humans acquire, retain, and pass on information and data, and how technology continues to change our lives and our minds. Throughout this fascinating tour, Winchester forces us to ponder what rational humans are becoming. What good is all this knowledge if it leads to lack of thought? What is information without wisdom?
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3 out of 5 stars
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Colorful anecdotes but tiring after a while.
- De reader en 05-03-23
De: Simon Winchester
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F*ck You, I'm Irish
- Why We Irish Are Awesome
- De: Rasher Tierney
- Narrado por: Gary Furlong
- Duración: 2 h y 45 m
- Versión completa
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General4.5 out of 5 stars 37
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Narración:5 out of 5 stars 32
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Historia4.5 out of 5 stars 32
From battling oppression and famine in Ireland to overcoming poverty and discrimination in America, we Irish gained our fightin' moniker by standing up for our rights and earning the respect we deserve. Now, the amazing feats, astounding people and incredible facts in this fascinating book of Irish trivia will make you proudly say, “F*ck you, I'm Irish”.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Good Short Listen
- De YtowntoCleveland en 03-23-24
De: Rasher Tierney
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The Glamour of Grammar
- De: Roy Peter Clark
- Narrado por: Roy Peter Clark
- Duración: 8 h y 55 m
- Versión completa
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General4 out of 5 stars 56
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Narración:4.5 out of 5 stars 39
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Historia4 out of 5 stars 37
Early in the history of English, glamour and grammar were the same word, linked to enchantment and magical spells. Now grammar brings to mind language bullies and bored-out-of-their-skulls students. Roy Peter Clark, one of America’s most influential writing teachers, wants to change that by putting the glamour back into grammar.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Wasteful
- De ABID en 12-05-13
De: Roy Peter Clark
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The Prodigal Tongue
- The Love-Hate Relationship Between American and British English
- De: Lynne Murphy
- Narrado por: Pam Ward
- Duración: 11 h y 38 m
- Versión completa
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General4.5 out of 5 stars 54
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Narración:4.5 out of 5 stars 47
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Historia4.5 out of 5 stars 45
"If Shakespeare were alive today, he'd sound like an American." "English accents are the sexiest." "Americans have ruined the English language." "Technology means everyone will have to speak the same English." Such claims about the English language are often repeated but rarely examined. Professor Lynne Murphy is on the linguistic front line. In The Prodigal Tongue she explores the fiction and reality of the special relationship between British and American English.
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2 out of 5 stars
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TOO MUCH BITTERNESS
- De Tina en 08-27-20
De: Lynne Murphy
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Semicolon
- The Past, Present, and Future of a Misunderstood Mark
- De: Cecelia Watson
- Narrado por: Pam Ward
- Duración: 3 h y 47 m
- Versión completa
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General4.5 out of 5 stars 59
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Narración:4.5 out of 5 stars 50
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Historia4.5 out of 5 stars 48
A pause-resisting, existential romp through the life and times of the world’s most polarizing punctuation mark. Through her rollicking biography of the semicolon, Watson writes a guide to grammar that explains why we don’t need guides at all and refocuses our attention on the deepest, most primary value of language: true communication.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Silly me; I thought it was about semicolons
- De Jeffrey D en 08-15-19
De: Cecelia Watson
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The Writing of the Gods
- The Race to Decode the Rosetta Stone
- De: Edward Dolnick
- Narrado por: Fajer Al-Kaisi
- Duración: 8 h y 32 m
- Versión completa
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General4.5 out of 5 stars 169
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Narración:4.5 out of 5 stars 138
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Historia4.5 out of 5 stars 137
The Rosetta Stone is one of the most famous objects in the world, attracting millions of visitors to the British museum every year, and yet most people don’t really know what it is. Discovered in a pile of rubble in 1799, this slab of stone proved to be the key to unlocking a lost language that baffled scholars for centuries.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Hieroglyphs For The People
- De Spike en 01-15-22
De: Edward Dolnick
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Papyrus
- The Invention of Books in the Ancient World
- De: Irene Vallejo, Charlotte Whittle - translator
- Narrado por: Sophie Roberts
- Duración: 17 h y 30 m
- Versión completa
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General4.5 out of 5 stars 51
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Narración:4.5 out of 5 stars 40
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Historia4.5 out of 5 stars 40
Long before books were mass-produced, scrolls hand-copied on reeds pulled from the Nile were the treasures of the ancient world. Papyrus is the story of the book’s journey from oral tradition to scrolls to codices, and how that transition laid the very foundation of Western culture. Irene Vallejo evokes the great mosaic of literature in the ancient world, all the while illuminating how ancient ideas about education, censorship, authority, and identity still resonate today.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great read
- De Hunter Pechin en 12-15-22
De: Irene Vallejo, y otros
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Ask a Historian
- 50 Surprising Answers to Things You Always Wanted to Know
- De: Greg Jenner
- Narrado por: Dan Schreiber, Greg Jenner, Janina Ramirez, y otros
- Duración: 11 h y 4 m
- Versión completa
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General5 out of 5 stars 46
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Narración:5 out of 5 stars 44
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Historia4.5 out of 5 stars 44
Responding to fifty genuine questions from the public, Greg Jenner takes you on an entertaining tour through history from the Stone Age to the Swinging Sixties, revealing the best and most surprising stories, facts and historical characters from the past. From ancient joke books, African empires and the invention of meringues, to mummies, mirrors and menstrual pads—Ask A Historian is a deliciously amusing and informative smorgasbord of historical curiosities.
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5 out of 5 stars
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best bonus content ever!
- De Matthew K Wendelken en 03-24-22
De: Greg Jenner
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Confronting the Classics
- Traditions, Adventures and Innovations
- De: Mary Beard
- Narrado por: Lynne Jenson
- Duración: 12 h y 9 m
- Versión completa
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General4 out of 5 stars 89
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Narración:3.5 out of 5 stars 78
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Historia4 out of 5 stars 77
One of the world's leading historians provides a revolutionary tour of the Ancient World, dusting off the classics for the twenty-first century. Mary Beard, drawing on thirty years of teaching and writing about Greek and Roman history, provides a panoramic portrait of the classical world, a book in which we encounter not only Cleopatra and Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar and Hannibal, but also the common people - the millions of inhabitants of the Roman Empire, the slaves, soldiers, and women.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Annoying narrator
- De Chris E en 02-27-15
De: Mary Beard
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Jewish Comedy
- A Serious History
- De: Jeremy Dauber
- Narrado por: Jeremy Dauber
- Duración: 10 h y 49 m
- Versión completa
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General4 out of 5 stars 175
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Narración:4.5 out of 5 stars 151
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Historia4 out of 5 stars 151
In a major work of scholarship both erudite and very funny, Jeremy Dauber traces the origins of Jewish comedy and its development from Biblical times to the age of Twitter. Organizing his book thematically into what he calls the seven strands of Jewish comedy - including the satirical, the witty, and the vulgar - Dauber explores the ways Jewish comedy has dealt with persecution, assimilation, and diaspora through the ages. He explains the rise and fall of popular comic archetypes such as the Jewish mother, the JAP, and the schlemiel and schlimazel.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Not funny
- De supermantwo en 08-31-20
De: Jeremy Dauber
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You Say Potato: A Book About Accents
- De: Ben Crystal, David Crystal
- Narrado por: David Crystal, Ben Crystal, Jane Savage, y otros
- Duración: 7 h y 5 m
- Versión completa
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General4.5 out of 5 stars 76
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Narración:5 out of 5 stars 71
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Historia4.5 out of 5 stars 70
Some people say 'sconn' while others say 'schown'. He says 'bath' while she says 'bahth'. You say 'potayto'. I say 'potahto'. And - wait a second, no one says 'potahto'. No one's ever said 'potahto'. Have they? From reconstructing Shakespeare's accent to the rise and fall of received pronunciation, actor Ben Crystal and his linguist father, David, travel the world in search of the stories of spoken English.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Wish there were more native recordings.
- De Matt Dobler en 07-01-16
De: Ben Crystal, y otros
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Shakespeare Was a Woman and Other Heresies
- How Doubting the Bard Became the Biggest Taboo in Literature
- De: Elizabeth Winkler
- Narrado por: Eunice Wong
- Duración: 14 h y 28 m
- Versión completa
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General4.5 out of 5 stars 50
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Narración:4.5 out of 5 stars 41
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Historia4.5 out of 5 stars 41
The theory that Shakespeare may not have written the works that bear his name is the most horrible, unspeakable subject in the history of English literature. Scholars admit that the Bard’s biography is a “black hole,” yet to publicly question the identity of the god of English literature is unacceptable, even (some say) “immoral.” In Shakespeare Was a Woman and Other Heresies, journalist and literary critic Elizabeth Winkler sets out to probe the origins of this literary taboo.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent!
- De Virgil Tracy en 06-03-23
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Diderot and the Art of Thinking Freely
- De: Andrew S. Curran
- Narrado por: Paul Boehmer
- Duración: 13 h y 18 m
- Versión completa
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General4.5 out of 5 stars 45
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Narración:4.5 out of 5 stars 36
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Historia5 out of 5 stars 36
Denis Diderot is often associated with the decades-long battle to bring the world's first comprehensive Encyclopedie into existence. But his most daring writing took place in the shadows. Thrown into prison for his atheism in 1749, Diderot decided to reserve his best books for posterity - for us, in fact. In the astonishing cache of unpublished writings left behind after his death, Diderot challenged virtually all of his century's accepted truths, from the sanctity of monarchy, to the racial justification of the slave trade, to the norms of human sexuality.
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5 out of 5 stars
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lifelong coverage of his life.
- De Michael Daly en 03-22-21
De: Andrew S. Curran