Description

‘The first and perhaps only book on the relative merits of American and British English that is dominated by facts and analysis rather than nationalistic prejudice. For all its scholarship, this is also a funny and rollicking read.’

The Economist, Books of the Year

Only an American would call autumn fall or refer to a perfectly good pavement as a sidewalk… Not so, says Lynne Murphy. The English invented sidewalk in the seventeenth century and in 1693 John Dryden wrote the line, ‘Or how last fall he raised the weekly bills.’

Perhaps we don’t know our own language quite as well as we thought.

Murphy, an American linguist in Britain, dissects the myths surrounding British and American English in a laugh-out-loud exploration of how language works and where it's going.

The Prodigal Tongue: The Love–Hate Relationship Between British and American English

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Paperback / softback by Lynne Murphy

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Short Description:

‘The first and perhaps only book on the relative merits of American and British English that is dominated by facts... Read more

    Publisher: Oneworld Publications
    Publication Date: 07/03/2019
    ISBN13: 9781786074973, 978-1786074973
    ISBN10: 1786074974

    Number of Pages: 368

    Non Fiction , Dictionaries, Reference & Language

    Description

    ‘The first and perhaps only book on the relative merits of American and British English that is dominated by facts and analysis rather than nationalistic prejudice. For all its scholarship, this is also a funny and rollicking read.’

    The Economist, Books of the Year

    Only an American would call autumn fall or refer to a perfectly good pavement as a sidewalk… Not so, says Lynne Murphy. The English invented sidewalk in the seventeenth century and in 1693 John Dryden wrote the line, ‘Or how last fall he raised the weekly bills.’

    Perhaps we don’t know our own language quite as well as we thought.

    Murphy, an American linguist in Britain, dissects the myths surrounding British and American English in a laugh-out-loud exploration of how language works and where it's going.

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