The Mother Tongue: English and How it Got That Way - Bill Bryson

If you're a literary or linguistics nerd like I am, then you'll probably appreciate The Mother Tongue as much as I did. I found if fascinating and hilarious at the same time. English as a language, written and spoken, comes from a variety of sources, some legitimate and others, less so. But it's all come together to make the complex rules and pronunciations we love and love to hate today.

It seems that scholars have been predicting a split in British and American English for decades and as yet, the two cultures miraculously can still understand one another. Seems like some predictions just never come true. 

The book was published in 1990 and it could use some updating. Why not a whole chapter on how texting has further influenced our Anglophone penchant for shortening words and phrases. Otherwise I loved learning where some of our more familiar idioms and phrases came from.

4/5 Stars.