The Story of English

by Robert McCrum, Robert MacNeil, William Cran

The Story of English is the extraordinary tale of the origins and development of the English language. Two thousand years ago English was confined to a handful of savage tribes on the shores of north-west Europe; today, in one form or another, it is spoken by a billion people around the world. More widely scattered, written and spoken than any other language in history, English has become a global phenomenon. Exploring its amazing success, The Story of English is an essential companion for student and general reader alike.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Language, Linguistics, Reference, Literature, Writing

468 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Robert McCrum is an associate editor of the Observer. He was born and educated in Cambridge. For nearly 20 years he was editor-in-chief of the publishers Faber & Faber. He is the co-author of The Story of English (1986), and has written six novels. He was the literary editor of the Observer from 1996 to 2008, and has been a regular contributor to the Guardian since 1990

Reviews

[Manybooks · Rating 2 out of 5]

Robert McCrum, Robert MacNeil and William Cran's 1986 and updated in 2001 The Story of English (but I have only thus far read the 1986 edition and I have also not watched the PBS documentary which The Story of English was originally meant to accompany) is intended for a popular reading audience (for non linguists). And this of course (and fortunately so) means that The Story of English is therefore penned by McCrum, MacNeil and Cran in very nicely accessible textual style, scrupulously avoiding pretty much all linguistic jargon and also the IPA, the International Phonetic Alphabet. And in particular the latter is (in my opinion) very much something to appreciate and to laud regarding The Story of English since phonetic spellings of the words of a given language (of probably most if not all given languages) can often be quite different from standard spelling rules etc., and the authors of The Story of English completely and totally avoiding IPA notation thus not only makes their presented narrative much easier to read but also avoids the types of reading difficulties that often plague university level books on language history and linguistics (and indeed, even books on language history meant for non specialists sometimes if not even far too often seem to fall into this trap, so it is really a very good and positive thing for The Story of English not to do any IPA notations even once with and in its presented text and to only use standard Roman based letters and spellings).

But the above having been said, and while I have definitely rather enjoyed reading The Story of English (and yes, even though most of the language history information shown and analysed by Robert McCrum, Robert MacNeil and William Cran is not new to and for me), I do feel the need to point out that some of the linguistic theories presented in The Story of English are pretty woefully out of date (and this is in particular the case in the chapters on American English and questions of creolisation). And in fact, while McCrum et al tracing of the history of English in the British Isles is mostly factually correct in The Story of English (and how Anglo Saxon as a Western Germanic language is closely related to but obviously not the same as other Western Germanic tongues, like German, Dutch, Friesian, Luxembourgish), once The Story of English moves from the British Isles into North America, Australia and beyond, the authors frequently do seem keen on presenting the linguistic equivalent of urban myths as well as far too many patently false etymologies (that indeed are fun to tell and read about, but are basically linguistic falsehoods that should definitely not be promoted and written about as truths, and yes, even in books meant as basic language history introductions, even in books not specifically based on linguistics and geared towards trained or budding linguists).

And finally, but really importantly, and indeed the main reason why I have decided to not rate The Story of English with the three stars I was originally considering, but instead with only two stars, well, The Story of English is also annoyingly, frustratingly and to and for me quite infuriatingly so an uncomfortable and textually problematic exercise in linguistic jingoism, with Robert McCrum, Robert MacNeil and William Cran throughout their text repeatedly emphasizing and harping on the point that the English language is supposedly somehow the greatest, the most poetic, the most useful (basically the best and the most superlative language on earth). And while I do appreciate that it is in fact never actually stated and assumed in The Story of English that the English language is intrinsically and linguistically superior to other languages, like is for example the case in the truly cringeworthy The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way (Bill Bryson) and in The Adventure of English: The Biography of a Language (Melvin Bragg), sorry, but the authors constantly textually mouthing off in The Story of English regarding how much more poetic, how much more successful etc. English is than basically ALL ofter languages, this leaves a very bitter aftertaste in my mouth (and that in particular with regard to potential younger readers, I would probably not recommend The Story of English without major caveats and not ever without discussing and equally condemning the language superiority complex that McCrum, MacNeil and Cran certainly and pretty obviously textually and not at all with any kind of linguistic accuracy and truth feature and present with and in much of The Story of English).

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a graduate student, I took a class called The Development of Modern English. I believe my professor used this book as her inspiration even if it wasn't the text book for the course because the course followed this same order and covered most of the same information with additions reflecting the 25 or so years between the book's publication and the year I took the class. I understand why my professor used this book, if she did, because it's extremely thorough, well-written, and engaging.

As the title claims, this is a story, not a history. The book details the progression of English and moves forward steadily, ending with a question mark since language is ever-evolving. I found each of the chapters fascinating, but my favorites were on the earliest periods of English and the ways that other cultures and peoples use and influence English (like the chapter on Black English). I find it ironic, which is the case for any book of this type, that the chapters most out of date are those about contemporary times. The book was published in 1986, so everything up until the book's genesis is still relevant. However, there are so many references to statistics and to changes in the cultures around the world, population counts, estimates, etc. that are clearly no longer valid. I would love to see an edition that discusses social media language and all the new words it's engendered. Yet, I was surprised by how much is still relevant and accurate, thirty-one years later.

My dad and I read this book together. We both enjoyed it, and it led to good discussions. I love that language has power, and I'm a proud native English speaker. I feel weird saying that, in a way, because my mom is Puerto Rican, and while she doesn't speak Spanish (her dad didn't want his children learning Spanish since they were all born in the States--he wanted them to speak English and English only), Spanish is a part of my heritage, and I grew up hearing my grandmother speak it. I took Spanish in school, and I feel connected to it in a way. People always assume I speak Spanish when they see me, and when they hear that I speak broken Spanish and speak it like a gringa, they are surprised. I feel like claiming English as my language is strange and almost wrong. Add to that the fact that I'm American, so my English is American English. I don't even come from the place where English originated. But I feel like my story is the story of English. It's a language that so many people claim as theirs, most of whom have no connection to England whatsoever. As McCrum quotes in the section on the "New Englishes," "English is not my mother's tongue, but it is my mother tongue." I enjoyed the story of my language, and I enjoyed McCrum's detailing of that story. I know some Spanish, I know basic Italian, and I'm teaching myself French. I recognize the value and beauty in other languages, but I love my own.

Because the way in which languages work has always fascinated me, a scientific/linguistic approach draws me in. I feel like McCrum was the same way--he wanted to meet people who spoke varieties of English, to highlight and emphasize the language's versatility, to recognize the validity behind the various versions of English spoken all over the world, to discuss the oddity of people speaking the language of a conquering nation and making it their own, and to correlate English's ancient history with its current movement.

I highly recommend this book. Whether you're a native English speaker, or English is your second (or third or fourth) language, if you're interested in studying a language's history and place in history, this book will definitely interest and appeal to you.

[Barb H · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a thorough, informative and entertaining view of how the English language developed. It is still very current in its info. It is amazing to realize how very differently people speak this language, even in the USA.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

For anyone who speaks English, or has tried to master its unruly spelling and grammar this book is a must. It explains WHY the English language is a linguistic hodgepodge as we know it today, and why we still use those crazy silent "gh"s as in laugh, taught, etc., and other assorted spellings and pronunciations that frustrate even native speakers. If you're interested in word origins & idioms, you'll learn about the many authors writing in English who "invented " thousands of new words over the past 500 years .... words and expressions we use every day. There is even a chapter on American English which clears up the mystery: ”Why don't we sound British?" Why does English in Boston sound so different in Dallas or New Orleans? Yet, with hundreds facts, you don't have to be a history or linguistics scholar to make this a good read.

I was especially caught up with the fact that the U.S. southern accent was derived from Africa! The people in the south who had slaves picked up their African accent which became our own "southern" accent and that accent can still be heard in parts of Africa today.

The English language has been on a remarkable journey, and that's the subject of this remarkable book. It's not a book one can breeze through. To get the most out of it requires careful reading. Read this book. You'll learn things about the English language you never knew.

[Trish · Rating 4 out of 5]

The chapters cover the same topics as Robert Claiborne's Our Marvelous Native Tongue (1983) tracing the origins of English from the Indo-European roots to the presenT. However, there is a lot of different material covered in each. I believe McCrum's book is more readable.
Both books were written before the end of the USSR and the dramatic rise of China, and the spread of the internet.
I like what McCrum called English in his final chapter: "a link language" for it has linked up many diverse people throughout the world. On FaceBook, I regularly communicate with people from Bangladesh, Ghana, among other places in English. Whether we like it or not, it is today's lingua-franca. Airline pilots need a common language as do those in technology and sciences. It is the language of commerce. Almost all international shipping documents are written in English regardless of their origin or destination. Whether or not the spoken language is the same, the written language is a means of finance, trade, and technology. I can bear witness to the fact that the spoken word is also becoming more unified.

[Jun Song]

See review from my blog: http://liketoread.wordpress.com/2012/...

The Story of English is a classic case of “don’t judge a book by its cover”. English and history are two of my least favorite subjects and so naturally I should be repelled by a book containing the history of the English language. But, I gave it the benefit of the doubt and to my surprise I’m enjoying it.

I haven’t finished this book yet, but I’m writing this review cause I think it requires a progressive review. There is just too much information to fill this in a single review.

Chapter 1: An English-Speaking World

The book begins with how the English language became globalized during the recent past. Not starting the book with mundane ancient-anthropological history lesson on the language helped with making me want to read on.

This chapter colorfully illustrates how proper English became globalized with the influences of social classes, world wars, development of radios and motion pictures, popular cultures, and economical globalization.

Interesting facts from Ch 1:

- “Today, English is used by at least 750 million people, and barely half of those speak it as a mother tongue.” pg 9

- “Of all the world’s languages (which now number some 2,700), it is arguably the richest in vocabulary. The compendious Oxford English Dictionary lists about 500,000 words… neighboring German has vocabulary of about 185,000 words and the French 100,000…” pg 10

-”A Dutch poet is read by a few thousands. Translated into English, he can be read by hundreds of thousands.” pg. 11

- “Non-standard English was now seriously stigmatized as the mark of the under-educated.” pg. 14

- “An accent has two vital functions: first, it gives us a clue about the speaker’s life and career; second, an accent will give a good indication of the speaker’s community values, and what he or she identifies with.” pg. 20

-”Throuhout the 1950s , American television and movies combined to bring American English and the American way of life- as interpreted by – to a world audience.” pg. 25

-”American broadcasting, of course, had long been the most potent medium of the English language.” pg. 27

-”It is the non-linguistic forces – cultural, social, economical and political – that have made English the first work language in human history and instilled its driving force. ” pg. 41

Chapter 2: The Mother Tongue

The second chapter is where the book begins to chronicle the development of the English from the very beginning. The development of the language includes the origination of the Indo-European language with the influence of the Celtic, Anglo-Saxons, Latin and Greek (through Christianity), Danes, and the French speaking Normans.

Despite how this may sound boring, the authors do a pretty good job in keeping the stories entertaining.

Interesting facts from Ch. 2

- “… the language was brought to Britain by Germanic tribes, the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, influenced by Latin and Greek when St. Augustine and his followers converted England to Christianity, subtly enriched by the Danes, and finally transformed by the French-speaking Normans.” pg. 46

- “… about 1/3 of the human race come from this Indo-European ‘common source’. These include the European descendants of Latin, French, and Spanish, a great Slavic language, Russian, the Celtic language, Irish and Scots Gaelic, and the offshoots of German – Dutch and English.” pg. 47

- “… the first invaders of the British Isles – the Angles, Saxons and Jute… The English language arrived in Britain on the point of a sword.” pg. 55

-”…100 most common words in English are all of Anglo-Saxon origin.” pg. 58

[J.D. Steens · Rating 3 out of 5]

A main storyline for this book is how English went from “an obscure sub-branch of the Germanic family of language and not even native to the British Isles” to becoming a world language. A central figure in this regard is the 1775 dictionary of Dr. (Samuel) Johnson. Though he created “the cornerstone of Standard English,” with his dictionary, Johnson also “scorned the idea of permanence in language.” “May the lexicographer be derided,” he writes, “who being able to produce no example of a nation that has preserved their words and phrases from mutability, shall imagine that his dictionary can embalm his language, and secure it from corruption and decay….”

Migration, the growth and spread of England’s empire, and the subsequent emergence of the USA’s economic and military dominance were central factors in spreading English around the world. But in the American case, there were active attempts to separate American English from English-English. Here, Noah Webster’s dictionary played a key role. Webster, the authors say, became a “zealous” champion “of the cause of American language, its spelling, its grammar and its pronunciation.”

The dominance of English begs the question of whose version of English would be dominant. What is regarded as “standard English” depends largely on which group holds the predominant power. All other groups speak in dialect and reflect an inferior standing. This was especially the case in Victorian England where ‘the Queen’s English” would be “a spoken standard to which the ‘lesser breeds’ could aspire.” “At Oxford,” the authors add, it became virtually a condition of social acceptance among undergraduates that one should ‘speak the Queen’s English with a specific accent and intonation.’”

The pictures and illustrations in this book were excellent.

[Nadienne Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Albeit somewhat dated, this was a marvelous telling of the history of the English language and it's multitudinous variations. There's a bit of ethnocentrism at the beginning in which the author recounts the virtue of English in that, in his opinion, it is the most varied, most expressive, and most descriptive of all known languages - which I can't agree with. But, after you get past that, it is wonderful to learn about American English, Australian English, Jamaican English, to name but a few. It is also highly interesting that, thanks to it's exploited colonial history, English may be the voice of Pan-African unity. I also somewhat enjoy that American English is considered by some in the United Kingdom as vulgar and crass; the worst of all languages.

As a person who is ethnically British and nationally American, English is my heritage and to learn the variety of ways in which it has evolved and adapted to various cultures around the world (even those that it was sadly imposed upon) is quite remarkable. There is always a push to somehow standardize the language world-wide, which I think is a horrific mistake. We should learn to love and embrace cultures who turn something into their own. I think this is a legacy of the Imperial past, which is unfortunately looked upon with nostalgia by some. Those who speak their more unique versions of English often feel lesser because of it around the "proper" speakers, and that is quite a shame. I embrace all the varieties of English and would love to be able to witness how they flourish, grow, and change over the coming centuries...if only I were immortal.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent historical exploration of the development and spread of the English language (or perhaps, as the authors suggest, languages). Not surprisingly, as the book is thirty years old, the later sections could use an update. I would especially like to read more about English in South Africa after the end of apartheid, and also to hear the authors' thoughts about the impact on English of globalization and the Internet. But even without the last three decades of the story of English, this book is well worth reading for anyone who loves language and history.

[Todd Stockslager · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review title: The global language

Cover subtitle: A companion to the PBS television series.

The English language is a fascinating subject for me, and for many. It is the tool we use to live, work, and play, and unlike the TV technology that threatened to atrophy language skills (remember the idioms "the idiot box:", the "boob tube", or the "one-eyed babysitter"?), today's portable device-driven social media is intensely verbal. While we might argue whether text/twitter syntax and spelling is innovative or destructive, in either case we are exercising the language intensely (and debating about it), which I would argue must be a good thing.

"The Story of English" (from 1986) predates this technical explosion, and only hints at the other coming tidal wave of change for the language: the billions of Chinese citizens who are moving into the mainstream of global business via the global language of English. So despite being out of date for those major sea changes, "The Story" is fun reading, as it focuses on the input streams that shaped English, and then the geographic movement of the language from the borderlands of Angle-Saxon England across the island, the kingdom, and across the oceans to America and the Empire. As befits a television documentary companion, the book is well-illustrated with pictures and maps, so that it is fun and informative reading for interesting laymen (with extensive chapter bibliographies for further study).

The book concludes with a concern that with its growth as of 1986, and with explosive growth in the future, English may be unable to remain a single language, disintegrating instead into multiple threads of related but distinct languages. This is where the experience of the last 25 years has been instructive, and I think the authors' worries have not been realized. I work for a global technology company and am part of a global team with resources throughout the US, the UK, Europe, India, and China. I chair a 30 minute daily working call with team members from Beijing, the US, and Lucerne Switzerland, and have been on calls this week with resources from England, Ireland, and India. All conversations were in English, and there was little time spent in repeating because of misunderstood accents or unknown vocabulary. (during meetings in Beijing this year which were conducted in Chinese, I was able to follow the topics of the conversation, if not the outcomes, because so much of the technical content was in English)

After working with global resources for the last five-plus years, I believe that because so much of the language of technology is English, around a relatively small and circumscribed vocabulary, that cross-cultural English works very well. Partly this success is because of the accommodation of native English speakers to differences in syntax, spelling, and usage. Is it corrupting the language? I don't think it can be called "corrupting" if everyone (including native speakers and speakers of English as a second--or third--language) can understand it. So while linguists may worry, me as a layman not so much. Enjoy the history, and enjoy using the tool of language crafted for us by the centuries of giants whose shoulders we stand upon today.

[Kris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally finished trudging through this monstrosity, cover to cover. It's an excellent textbook, chock full of history, politics, and specific examples. I was so excited to find a book that brought history and linguistics together!

I especially loved the fact that specific words are used within the broader storyline. The author will be talking about how one people group moved and their vocab changed, and will throw in pronunciations of specific words and their meanings as proof of that. Just a sampling among many cases, but it makes the history really come alive in modern speech.

See also The Story of English in 100 Words and The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language.

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

I believe this was found amongst the books in the now-defunct Ennui Cafe on Sheridan and Lunt in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood. Since about half of the volumes there were my contributions I felt free to walk with it.

The Story of English came out in 1986 linked with a PBS/BBC 9-part series of the same title. I never saw the show, but my appreciation for the book didn't seem to depend on that. As someone who had never before read a book-length history of the language, I found the text to be clear, accessible and quite interesting, particularly as regards the modern dialects of English and their origins. Such prejudices as I'd held as regards supposedly inferior versions of the language have been moderated by reading this work.

[Roxanne Bedard-Saucier · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5*

I’m so confused... The structure of this book is nonexistent, there is absolutely no balance, and the language used is so informal (sometimes Mc.Crum even uses sarcasm that is downright rude).

I wanted to like this book. I didn’t.

[Darren · Rating 4 out of 5]

4*

[William Schram · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Story of English is titled about as literally as it comes. It is the story of the English language from its beginnings back in the middle ages to the current year of 1986(to the book). So it covers different areas and places that came into contact with the budding English language, and different events that shaped it. For instance, I learned that William the Conqueror was from Norman France, and wanted French to be the language of the educated and cultured. However, within a few generations English bumped back into play and was used again. That was pretty interesting.

The book is split into several chapters, with each chapter talking about a specific area or time period. They devote a great deal of space to American English, but they also talk about the Celts, the Scots, the Vikings, and all of them. You know, how they borrowed constantly to expand the vocabulary and all of that.

The last chapters talk about recent developments in English and how other nations might have more English Speakers than England and the United States. So it was covering India, China, other super powers of population... Since English is so widely spread, it is a wise idea to learn it rather than to not.

The Epilogue speaks of English as being an evolving thing, not set in stone, which is good. That means that the language is alive. Although there may be people that look down on new spellings for things and texting and whatnot, it will be there as a way to communicate.

It also touches on something that does bother me somewhat; namely, a great deal of people in other countries are at least bilingual. This is pretty easy to do, since all they have to do is learn English along with their mother tongue. For me though, I would have to choose one language out of hundreds. Well, maybe not hundreds, but several. Off the top of my head, I could try Spanish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Russian or Portuguese. There are just so many choices... I don't really feel like traveling to Spain or Mexico or France, but if I wanted to, I could do so comfortably if I had another language. Or I could speak to immigrants or something. It would be interesting to get another world view, but nope.

Ah well, I would read this book again, since it was pretty interesting and meant to be a companion book to some old BBC or PBS television show/programme.

[Serlina Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative read. Read this for the course was taking, and though I found it a bit boring it was indeed educative and helped.

[Brad McKenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Get ready for one of my patented lists of fun facts! But beware intrepid traveler, to call this list large would be doing it a disservice!

“Coca-colonization” = The encroaching of English on Japanese after WWII due to the globalized trade. (24)
“There are no fewer than thirteen spellings for ‘sh’; shoe, sugar, issue, mansion, mission, nation, suspicion, ocean, conscious, chaperon, schist, fuchsia, and pshaw.” (43)
“After the Norman Invasion, English was neglected and ill considered by the Latin-writing and French speaking authorities; so it was unregulated and unimposed on; from the earliest of times it was naturally the language of protest and dissent, the language of the many rather than the few.” (44) -- This is one of the reasons English is so flexible.
“Grimm’s law established the important connection between a ‘p’ in Latin (picis) and an ‘f’ in English (fish).” (47)
The words the since-vanished people of the Indo-Eurpean tribes tell us they lived as semi-nomads. (47)
The “cester” suffix (think Worcester) comes from the Roman word “castra” meaning “camp”. (52)
Avon, as in Avon-upon-Strattford, is the Celtic word for “river”. (56)
“Harold was the last English King for nearly three hundred years.” (73) -- After he lost the Battle of Hastings, the Kings of England didn’t speak English.
William Caxton and his fellow printers forced the hand of people when it comes to spelling and sometimes even words. (87) -- This is part of the reason English spelling is such a clusterfuck.
English thrived in Elizabethan England thanks to the Renaissance, the Reformation, and England’s growing maritime power. (91)
“Inkhorn terms” are derogatory phrases for words introduced into English from other languages. (93)
Words like “Bellow” and “geck” are Warwickshire words and Shakespeare, not Bacon, hails from there. So that’s one way to bust the myth of Bacon having written The Bard’s plays. (100)
King James VI of Scotland became King James I of England and in doing so United the Kingdoms and was the first to call it “Great Britain”. (111)
26 United State names are derived from Native American words. (He didn’t say which). (123)
American English borrowed more words from Spanish than from any other language. (126)
“Poppycock” comes from the Dutch word “pappekak” meaning “soft dung” (127)
A Table Alphabetical” by Robert Cawdrag in 1604, was the first “dictionary” in the English Language. (136)
The rise of dictionaries coincided with the rise of the middle class. (137)
The Word Whiskey comes from the Gaelic phrase “water of life” (147)
The poor hillbilly fool stereotype of Appalachians was a result of rich Southerners punishing them financially for supporting the North during the Civil War. (167)
Sean = John in Gaelic (177)
Banshee, literally Fairy Woman, comes from the celtic words bean, woman, and si, fairy. (177)
There is no Irish word for “yes” or “no”. (179)
Brogue comes from brog, which means shoe. So it basically means “to speak with a ‘shoe on his tongue’.” (184)
England outlawed slavery in 1807
Paddy wagon comes from the derogatory Irish name Paddy and came to be slang for a police wagon because there were so many Irish cops in Boston. (203)
The word pidgin comes from how the Chinese would pronounce the word “business”. (212)
By definition, there are no native speakers of a form of pidgin. Creole is when pidgin speaking parents have a kid and teach it to them. The kid’s language then becomes a creole (212)
Creole comes from the Portuguese “Crioulo”, which was a slave born in the Master’s house; a house slave. (212)
Cotton Mather was the first to record Black Pidgin - “People take Juice of Small-pox; and cutty-skin; and Putt in a drop; then by and by a little sicky-sicky.” (213)
Most Africans today will know at least three languages. (217)
The Uncle Reamus stories, like Tar Baby, while part of black oral tradition, were first written down by Joel Chandler Harris, a white man. Though that, too, shouldn’t be a big surprise, who would publish a black person’s book at that time? (229)
In 1979, The Ann Arbor School District ruled that Black English should be taken into account when planning curriculum
Thomas Jefferson coined “belittle” (253)
Ben Franklin changed theatre to theater and plough to plow. (254)
In the US in the 1780s there was a push to speak something other than the language of the peeps they just revolted against. French and Greek had its supporters (254)
The name Canada may come from the French pronunciation of the Iroquis word for village “kanata” (263)
“Go West was originally an Elizabethan expression meaning ‘To die’ or like the sun ‘to disappear into an unknown abyss.’” (268)
Mississippi comes from the Chipewa Mici sibi, Big river. (269)
“No Way” is a direct translation from the German ‘keineswegs’ (287)
“The English slang word for a chamber pot “Jerry”; was applied to The Germans because their coal-scuttle helmets looked like chamber pots.” (288)
Cockney comes from cocken-ay which is a cock’s egg; an inferior or worthless thing. (294)
Cockney rhyming slang is overdone and much invented by scriptwritters. But it is used and is very convoluted. It could be a book unto itself! (306)
Romany word “pal” means “brother” and “dukes” is “hands” the latter is where the phrase “put up your dukes comes from”. (306)
Because there are many Aboriginal languages in Australia a captain made the mistake of using one tribe’s word with another. As a result that tribe thought the word was an English one. That’s why that tribe called the sheep and cattle brought from England, “kangaroos”. (308)
That Capt got the word from Cook. But when Cook went back to the original tribe, they had no idea what the word was. It appears it’s a result of a misheard word that stuck.
“The constitution of 1950 recognizes 14 Indian languages” Number 1 is Hindi, English was supposed to be a transitional language to move the country away from the English colonizing rule. (364)
There are 750 languages in Papua New Guinea. (372)
“...The English Language will always be used by conservatives as a stick with which to beat the opposition.” (380-381)
“[Language Change] is simply the way one generation announces its superiority to and perhaps even disdain for, the previous one.” (382)

[Rick Hodges · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are in love with words-and of course you are-then you need to read this intriguing book. If you can, watch the PBS series that accompanied it, especially so you can hear the spoken word part of the story, but it's optional. The Story of English unfolds in two parts. First, how English developed in England, and then how that language spread and changed and morphed and was enriched throughout the world. I love the parts that trace certain sections of England and their accents and odd words directly to different parts of America that are still apparent today. And I enjoyed the history lessons embedded in the language. For instance, the Norman conquest brought French speakers who ate the expensive meat of animals whose names in French give us words for their meat today, such as mutton; while the English commoners who tended to the animals but could not afford to eat them used the English names for them-sheep. Mutton, sheep. It was such a cool little fact that I slipped it into my own novel.

[Tiffany · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh, it was okay. It started off strong -- I particularly liked some of the early history, and the description of how English is an offspring of German -- but then it got weaker. I felt in some places like McCrum was making generalizations, in other places like he was making conclusions that weren't warranted. He does offer some interesting examples of origins of well-known words and phrases, and others seemed either to not make sense, or he didn't explain them well enough for me to understand how they were an example of what he was talking about.

So it's a decent book, but not the winner it seemed like it was going to be.

[David R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating survey of English, with special focus on variants in such places as Australia, Ireland, Canada, Jamaica, and India. McCrum satisfactorily explains how English moved from a marginal tongue to a world-class language of commerce in barely five centuries. What is more, he provides evidence for the marvelous inventive and absorbtive qualities of English that give some hints of its future.

[Joann · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my all time favorites!

[Pierre · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating and thorough book. I also had the pleasure of watching the BBC series when it came out. The two together made a singularly enlightning experience.

[Kaethe · Rating 4 out of 5]

The old days when I apparently watched nothing except PBS.

personal copy donated 2025

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

One could call this awesome book... the grand and unarguable defense of quaint southern-isms.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was published in 1986, so some of it is quite dated. Still, I really enjoyed it. It is the companion book for a PBS series that was produced at the same time. I watched the series about 15 years ago and loved it, so I figured reading this book could be a bit of a refresher. I think the history of the English language is probably the most interesting part of this book, especially since I don't know much about British Isles history. English wasn't a language at all until about 1500 years ago (and even then it would be unrecognizable to modern day English speakers). The succession of different ethnic and linguistic groups, the Celts, then Anglo Saxons, then Vikings, then French Normans, all shaped the language (though Celtic languages were basically completely excluded through linguistic hegemony--not all that different from the attempts to eradicate indigenous languages in places that the British colonized). Depending on where you lived by 1400, "English" could sound very different. There were proposals at the time to standardize the language, but nothing came of it. Then people from the British Isles started to leave. Depending on where they went, they influenced the kind of English that would be spoken by the descendants of the settlers. For example, Puritans came from East Anglia, where people mostly didn't pronounce "r," just like the Eastern New England accent today. There is a lot of information about pidgin Englishes, which were developed for communication with non-native speakers and between non-native speakers who spoke different languages, throughout the world, including in the Caribbean, Asia, and Africa. (Incidentally, pidgins have rules and structure.) This links to African American English, which developed in the South, and has roots in pidgin, since people who were enslaved were often deliberately linguistically mixed with others who didn't speak their language. I was really interested to learn that a lot of white people also spoke African American English because of the proximity people of both races had because of the institution of slavery--especially white women who tended to have more contact with enslaved and free Black people by virtue of being at home. This form of English was (and is) disparaged because it was spoken by a marginalized group. There is some information about debates among African Americans in the 1970s regarding whether Black children should be taught in their own language (as African American English has rules and structure like all other languages) or "Standard" English in school. Some felt it's important to use AAE because it gives the language (and thereby the children's identity) legitimacy, whereas others worried their children would experience discrimination in the mainstream if they didn't learn SE, as well. There were (are?) parallel debates in the Caribbean, and probably other places, too. This connects with the issue of language and identity, and how language is often used to assert feelings of nationalism or to advocate for a particular group's needs or interests. Other topics that I found interesting were the role of the media (especially the BBC, and later general American media) and how it influenced the standardization, or at least homogenization, of some Englishes; English used by people in multilingual societies (particularly those in Africa) to unite for purposes of advocacy, independence, or other anti-colonial mobilization; and the universal influence that young people have on language and language evolution.

[Hanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easter - from Eostre, the pagan goddess of dawn

Scandinavian origin: get, hit, leg, low, root, skin, same, want, wrong. Words beginning with sk, like sky and skein, are Norse.

English spelling was in large decided by the printer Caxton.

Spanish - barbecue, chocolate, tomato

Dutch - cookie, waffle, landscape, sleigh, boss, snooping, Yankee

German - bummer, check, cookbook, ecology, fresh, rifle, no way, will do, let it be

Yiddish - kosher, schmuck

Romany - pal

California surfers - awesome, outstanding, for sure

The famous Southern you-all is a Scots-Irish translation of the plural yous.

In Gaelic there are no specific terms for "yes" and "no".

In the 16th century, Cockney was simply the language of all Londoners who were not part of the court

Mate - used in Britain and Australia is originally Cockney

Shakespeare would have sounded slightly Irish.

New Zealand English has more in common with the English of the Falkland Islands than of Australia.

There are now more speakers of English in India than in Britain.

When a "pidgin" (English, French or Portuguese) becomes the principal language of a speech community - it evolves into a creole.

Jazz talk - jive talk: "hip talk" or "hip", the language of hipsters. Hip - wise, sophisticated. White "hippies" (from "hip").
"Rap" - a rebuke/blame (England, 1733)

Benjamin Franklin - honor for honour, theater for theatre, plow for plough
Webster - color for colour, wagon for waggon, fiber for fibre, defense for defence

[Alyssa Dearborn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this book up at a thrift store because the premise of reading about the history of the English language sounded interesting. I am a scholar of literature and has always had a high opinion for my native tongue. This book changed my opinion. After reading The Story of English, I realized that not only should language be respected, it should also be taken less seriously. We've all heard the joke saying that English is just three different languages wearing a large trench coat, pretending to be one language. The reality is that English is several different languages hiding under little trench coats pretending to be different types of English all while hiding under a gigantic trench coat that is supposedly one language. I never realized that different dialects and accents were influenced by history, migration patterns, religions, economics, and many other factors. Other than being interesting and full of well-researched facts and conclusions about human communication,The Story of English is simply a good story. It is unifying. It reminds us that though we all look different and speak differently, we are ultimately all connected. Language is just one of those things that remind us of our own history and allow us to learn about others. There is no perfect, correct English because the story of the language has too much personality to be pretentious. I loved this book and I will reserve a very special place on my book shelf for it. I recommend it to every single person who speaks any of the many varieties of English.

[Susannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

The version I read was published in the 1980s and thus somewhat dated. It was a textbook for my advanced English grammar class in college and I have the vague memory that I was assigned portions of it but never read it all the way through. I was cleaning off my shelves recently and decided to read it before donating.

Because it accompanied a popular series on the English language, this isn't an academic approach but instead a light historical/geographical survey of the development of English and the way it's spoken "on the ground." It's a surprisingly quick read and I enjoyed learning more about Indian, Caribbean, and Asian varieties. I'm half a century old and only recently learned of the existence of Krio from a friend.

I'd love to compare to the revised version and see not only what's changed in terms of the"official" status of English in other countries, but if the shrug-your-shoulders "what're you going to do about the grassroots changing the language?" attitude has persisted. Academics have apparently warmed to the idea of language policing and revisionism, so much so that I couldn't help but smile at the authors' innocent discussion of Huckleberry Finn.

Come to think of it, it's high time to re-read Huck Finn!

[Bernie4444 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a companion to the PBS television series.

After watching the series, it is fun to see the information in print.
Just about everything you ever wanted to know about the English Language is in this book. There are newer and older references but none are so complete at the same time readable. This book covers the history, usage, almost usage, and possible future of the language.
One of my favorite antidotes was the one about how the Advisory Committee on Spoken English (ACSE) discussed the word "canine":
"Shaw brought up the word 'canine', and he wanted the recommendation to be 'cay-nine'... Also, somebody said 'Mr. Shaw, Mr. Chairman, I do not know why you bring this up, of course, it's 'ca-nine'. Shaw said, 'I always pronounce things the way they are pronounced by people who use the word professionally every day.' And he said, 'My dentist always says (cay-nine)'. And somebody said, 'Well, in that case, Mr. Chairman, you must have an American dentist.' And he said, 'Of course, why do you think at 76 I have all my teeth!'"
After reading about how English came about, the next book to read would be "Divided by a Common Language" by Christopher Davies, Jason Murphy

[Jeremy Lucas · Rating 5 out of 5]

It really is quite breathtaking, for a book about the English Language now dated by 25 years, to still feel as relevant as it does preeminent. From one end of this book to the other, I was able to travel the globe through multiple ends of history, grasping concepts and linking people in ways that I never had until now. As an ELA teacher, I'm tasked with the responsibility of guiding students toward a more confident fluency of reading, with a developmental exposure to the world, and stronger clarity of writing, with an eye toward better, broader communication with English speakers. But yes, to the point these authors try to make near the end, our collective emphasis on grammar, on penmanship, on etymology and dead or foreign languages have indeed gone by the wayside in recent years and decades, making it difficult to know whether strict adherence to ELA principles is a better form of instruction than a looser alternative that cuts our children some slack. In the end, what matters is that in a book about the English language, I opened my mind to a language that is not now, never has been, and never will be fixed.