The mother tongue, Bill Bryson

The mother tongue, Bill Bryson

Bryson explores the English language in America and England with a few glances to other nations.  It is obvious Bryson loves the language, but as a tour guide he loves having fun with what he is showing us – giving us, for example, a look at our food – Vermicelli means little worms, hot dog, spotted dick, faggots and gravy…

But the essays are not just confined to the funny; he also checks the pathway that our language has followed to become what we talk today.  He explores the Basque language that many feel is the most ancient of current languages and one that seems to have no connection to other language groups, the isolated Ainu of Hokkaido whose language seems related to European roots, and the shared roots that connect many languages through the basic framework of similar words.

Why so many languages? Bryson notes – “Not only did various speech communities devise different languages, but also different cultural predispositions to go with them.  And of course all languages change over time, except for Icelandic that is still consistent with the sagas written over a thousand years ago.

For those who defend the purity of English they need to see where our words come from – puny = Anglo-Norman puis ne’ and curmudgeon = French Coeur me’rchant  and breeze = Spanish brisa – as examples.  Bryson takes us much deeper with fun.

In conversation Bryson says “…they don’t talk like this, theytalklikethis…” and we separate the puffs and syllables and words in to meaning. 

“Language is more fashion than science, and matters of usage, spelling, and pronunciations tend to wander around like hemlines.”  And then we have the evolution of ok, o.k., okay – for a word that has a variety of claims for root meaning, but none substantiated it serves as verb, interjection, casual assent, enthusiasm, filler, and adjective – OK?

His wandering goes to word games, names and even swearing where he has a lot of fun.  For example when people say “Get Fucked” as a curse, Bryson says they “…might as well say Have a Nice Day...’ since the act is bound to have more pleasure than whatever is going on when it is uttered.

The book is a wonderfully incomplete treatise that is more fun that scholar and because of that has more to teach than most.  Written in 1990 means the book has missed the age of social media, but many might be surprised to know that the majority of words were already in use and, maybe more surprising to many – today, is that fact they could get along find without LOL.