|
|
Product Description
Language is always changing, but the way English is spoken today rubs many of us the wrong way. Whether it’s the use of literally to mean “figuratively,” or the way young people use LOL or business jargon like What’s the ask?―it often seems as if the language is deteriorating before our eyes.
But the truth is different and a lot less scary. Drawing examples from everyday life and employing a generous helping of humor, John McWhorter shows that these shifts are common to all languages, and that we should embrace these changes, not condemn them.
He opens our eyes to the surprising backstories to words and expressions we use every day. Did you know that silly once meant “blessed”? Or that ought was the original past tense of owe? Or that the suffix -ly in adverbs is actually a remnant of the word like?
In Words on the Move, McWhorter encourages us to marvel at the dynamism and resilience of the English language, and his book offers a delightful journey where we see that words are ever on the move and our lives are all the richer for it.
Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought
- The Language Hoax
- Talking Back, Talking Black: Truths About America's Lingua Franca
- Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English
- The Power of Babel: A Natural History of Language
- What Language Is: And What It Isn't and What It Could Be
- The Unfolding of Language: An Evolutionary Tour of Mankind's Greatest Invention
- Word on the Street: Debunking the Myth of "Pure" Standard English
- Talking Back, Talking Black: Truths About America's Lingua Franca
- Losing the Race: Self-Sabotage in Black America
- The Creole Debate
*If this is not the "Words on the Move: Why English Won't - and Can't - Sit Still (Like, Literally)" product you were looking for, you can check the other results by clicking this link
.
Details were last updated on Nov 16, 2024 19:18 +08.
