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The Secret Life of Words: English Words and Their Origins
18 hrs and 22 mins
From new words such as "bling" and "email" to the role of text messaging and other electronic communications, English is changing all around us. Discover the secrets behind the words in our everyday lexicon with this delightful, informative survey of English, from its Germanic origins to the rise of globalization and cyber-communications.
Professor Curzan approaches words like an archaeologist, digging below the surface to uncover the story of words, from the humble "she" to such SAT words as "conflagration" and "pedimanous."
In these 36 fascinating lectures, you'll
discover the history of the dictionary and how words make it into a reference book like the Oxford English Dictionary; survey the borrowed words that make up the English lexicon; find out how words are born and how they die; expand your vocabulary by studying Greek and Latin "word webs"; and revel in new terms, such as "musquirt," "adorkable," and "struggle bus."English is an omnivorous language and has borrowed heavily from the many languages it has come into contact with, from Celtic and Old Norse in the Middle Ages to the dozens of world languages in the truly global 20th and 21st centuries. You'll be surprised to learn that the impulse to conserve "pure English" is nothing new. In fact, if English purists during the Renaissance had their way, we would now be using Old English compounds such as "flesh-strings" for "muscles" and "bone-lock" for "joint."
You may not come away using terms like "whatevs" or "multislacking" in casual conversation, but you'll love studying the linguistic system that gives us such irreverent - and fun - slang, from "boy toy" to "cankles."
36 pages, Audible Audio
First published January 1, 2012
26 people are currently reading
600 people want to read
About the author
Anne Curzan
22 books80 followersAnne Curzan is the Geneva Smitherman Collegiate Professor of English Language and Literature, Linguistics, and Education and an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor at the University of Michigan, where she also currently serves as the dean of the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 72 reviews
October 30, 2015
Ultimately, despite the obvious erudition of the author, the lecturer of this book, despite her bouncy, entertaining delivery and my interest in the subject, the book fails. The author failed me.
There were two disappointing chapters. One was on how words to do with women are weaker than those to do with men. Contrast 'governor' with 'governess', 'master' and 'mistress'and on how words for women are used as insults for men. The most commonly used are, of course, son of a bitch, twat, pussy, motherfucker and cunt. Curzan refuses to say any of these words.
The second chapter was on those words, taboo words. She refused to say any of them. This is an academic lecture on words and she says 'F-word'! She said she blushed when she said 'cock' although of course it has two meanings. I thought maybe she's really old, brought up in another time when those words in academic society were rarely used, but no, she's 46 and hears them everyday. I felt really let down. A word is only a word and this book is supposed to be discussing their etymology. So where did 'cunt' come from? How did it change it's meaning (if it did), when was it first used as an insult, what word did it replace? Why couldn't she just have discussed that instead of pussyfooting (which comes from the way a cat treads lightly and is not related to vagina, even if it sounds like it) around with F-words and P-words.
So I felt let down.
Other problems with the book was that I hadn't realised that this was about American English words and quite a few of the idioms were unfamiliar to me. Curzan says that a great deal of words from baseball and other sports have made it into everyday language. I got some of them not others.
Other than that, the book was very interesting. It wasn't just old words that derive from Norse or Norman, but also new words that trace themselves to rock music or a tv programme. The discussions of parts of speech and filler words that have no meaning but are necessary social constructs to oil the wheels of conversation such as 'uh', 'mmm hmmm', 'ok' and 'so' etc. was something I'd never thought of.
So a great series of lectures. Recommended, but with reservations.
Written as I was reading the book.
There were two disappointing chapters. One was on how words to do with women are weaker than those to do with men. Contrast 'governor' with 'governess', 'master' and 'mistress'and on how words for women are used as insults for men. The most commonly used are, of course, son of a bitch, twat, pussy, motherfucker and cunt. Curzan refuses to say any of these words.
The second chapter was on those words, taboo words. She refused to say any of them. This is an academic lecture on words and she says 'F-word'! She said she blushed when she said 'cock' although of course it has two meanings. I thought maybe she's really old, brought up in another time when those words in academic society were rarely used, but no, she's 46 and hears them everyday. I felt really let down. A word is only a word and this book is supposed to be discussing their etymology. So where did 'cunt' come from? How did it change it's meaning (if it did), when was it first used as an insult, what word did it replace? Why couldn't she just have discussed that instead of pussyfooting (which comes from the way a cat treads lightly and is not related to vagina, even if it sounds like it) around with F-words and P-words.
So I felt let down.
Other problems with the book was that I hadn't realised that this was about American English words and quite a few of the idioms were unfamiliar to me. Curzan says that a great deal of words from baseball and other sports have made it into everyday language. I got some of them not others.
Other than that, the book was very interesting. It wasn't just old words that derive from Norse or Norman, but also new words that trace themselves to rock music or a tv programme. The discussions of parts of speech and filler words that have no meaning but are necessary social constructs to oil the wheels of conversation such as 'uh', 'mmm hmmm', 'ok' and 'so' etc. was something I'd never thought of.
So a great series of lectures. Recommended, but with reservations.
Written as I was reading the book.
January 24, 2020
I've wondered how a course about the origins of English words can be 36 chapters long. Finishing this, I realised it could easily be another 36 chapters longer. For now, I consider this Great Course as informative and insightful. I knew English words had a lot of origins from Latin and Greek.. but had no idea French borrowings are also so prevalent. And it's all thanks to William the Conqueror.
I also enjoyed the pieces around slang words and rise of internet lexicons. Prof Anne Curzan recognises that language is always evolving and it is the creativity and playfulness of language which makes it such a fascinating study.
Recommended for those who have an interest in etymology, history and evolution of English.
I also enjoyed the pieces around slang words and rise of internet lexicons. Prof Anne Curzan recognises that language is always evolving and it is the creativity and playfulness of language which makes it such a fascinating study.
Recommended for those who have an interest in etymology, history and evolution of English.
August 24, 2017
The course was rather funtastic. One would not be tiered of the author, as they are rather interesting. The material, as well, can be provokitive but it mostly confirmed what I suspected, and took it another level. Also it showed me how amazing the English language is.
The course does not cover the fundamentals of liguistics, it is what it claimes: story behind english words.
The course does not cover the fundamentals of liguistics, it is what it claimes: story behind english words.
August 5, 2023
Excellent. Engaging and full of good judgment. Not as good as McWhorter, but I’m not sure that’s possible. ;)
November 10, 2015
I love words. My friends will not be surprised at my sharing this aspect of my character. I've read several histories of the language, books on linguistics and words. The Secret Life of Words is an excellent addition to my catalog of studies of our mother tongue. Curzan provides an in depth analysis of the etymology of thousands of words while providing valuable insight on current usage. After a historical perspective wherein Curzan establishes principals and concepts around the dynamics of language, she turns toward words grouped by various topics to make various points about not simply language, but the dynamics of language relative to culture, changing attitudes and usage.
I really liked this because while quite scholarly and authoritative, Curzan relates everything to current usage and draws examples to which it was easy to relate. I found myself thinking: ya, that's how I say that, so? And, of course, Curzan would go on to explain, amuse and delight.
If you like words and pick up books about words and language, this series of lectures is for you! It is well structured, interesting and useful. If you could/couldn't care less (a topic she covers), you may want to look elsewhere. This is exactly what it purports to be - a study of the origin and usage of words as well as an exploration of the principals that govern the scholarly study of words.
I really liked this because while quite scholarly and authoritative, Curzan relates everything to current usage and draws examples to which it was easy to relate. I found myself thinking: ya, that's how I say that, so? And, of course, Curzan would go on to explain, amuse and delight.
If you like words and pick up books about words and language, this series of lectures is for you! It is well structured, interesting and useful. If you could/couldn't care less (a topic she covers), you may want to look elsewhere. This is exactly what it purports to be - a study of the origin and usage of words as well as an exploration of the principals that govern the scholarly study of words.
January 21, 2018
I listened to all 36 lessons in 3 days while we had no internet or television. I loved this and wished that I could take her actual class. Any reader, any lover of language, any teacher, any English major... should read this book, or better yet, listen to the audio version. I learned a great deal and there is a very good chance that I will listen to this course again.
April 27, 2019
An excursion and migration for word birds that majors on the joy of language more than technical jargon. Curzan delves into etymologies, borrowings, dialects, and idioms.
The fun stuff included "Chutzpah to Pajamas - World Borrowings" in which she compiles an alphabet of languages and some terms they've lent to English. Arabic, Bengali, Chinese ... Xhosa, Yiddish, and Zulu.
Completely new to me was the fascinating subject of discourse markers: words that signal a conversational turn, e.g. Dude! Like, you know, um, well. I think of them as interjections, but Curzan asserts they do pragmatic and relational work instead of syntactic work.
I chuckled when Curzan mentioned a "dispreferred response." I call "ah..." or "oh?" my neutral responses in situations where my conversation partner says something absurd that I don't want to agree with.
Acronyms I've never before heard: a helpful internet acronym iydkidkwd (if you don't know, I don't know who does) and a military acronym fubar (effed up beyond all recognition).
Curzan holds close to feminist orthodoxy. While I am outside that camp, she asked a question that I've often wrestled with. What do you call a female in her late teens or early twenties? 'Girl' seems too adolescent; 'woman' isn't a term most females this age would embrace; 'gal' is dated and awkward. There doesn't seem to be a corresponding word to 'guy'.
Overall, a delight.
The fun stuff included "Chutzpah to Pajamas - World Borrowings" in which she compiles an alphabet of languages and some terms they've lent to English. Arabic, Bengali, Chinese ... Xhosa, Yiddish, and Zulu.
Completely new to me was the fascinating subject of discourse markers: words that signal a conversational turn, e.g. Dude! Like, you know, um, well. I think of them as interjections, but Curzan asserts they do pragmatic and relational work instead of syntactic work.
I chuckled when Curzan mentioned a "dispreferred response." I call "ah..." or "oh?" my neutral responses in situations where my conversation partner says something absurd that I don't want to agree with.
Acronyms I've never before heard: a helpful internet acronym iydkidkwd (if you don't know, I don't know who does) and a military acronym fubar (effed up beyond all recognition).
Curzan holds close to feminist orthodoxy. While I am outside that camp, she asked a question that I've often wrestled with. What do you call a female in her late teens or early twenties? 'Girl' seems too adolescent; 'woman' isn't a term most females this age would embrace; 'gal' is dated and awkward. There doesn't seem to be a corresponding word to 'guy'.
Overall, a delight.
April 26, 2020
Loved it. This is a very thorough (18 hours long), informative and fun look at the history and evolution of the English language: how a variety of words and phrases came into being and how they changed in terms of sound, spelling and meaning over time. One surprising and somewhat ironic tidbit I learned is the fact that the highly frowned upon mispronunciation of the word "aks" is actually closer to the original word for ask, which was axe. I also learned how many common, modern day words used to have completely different meanings (nice used to mean silly, and awful used to mean what it looks like it should mean: full of awe). I could go on and on about all the interesting tidbits in this book, from the meaning behind popular phrases, how words were borrowed from various languages, how some words caught on and how others seemed to die, why we all often seem to want to add a p to the word hamster (hamptser), how there is often a gender and even political bias in the terms we use, and so on. Highly recommend to all fellow word nerds. :)
September 22, 2015
Highly recommended for anyone who loves the English language or is interested in the history of words and communication. Also a pretty good nudge for prescriptionists who are worried about the downfall of 'proper' English.
September 1, 2015
I enjoyed it a lot, but perhaps because I'm such a word nerd, interested in linguistics and history. There are lots of revelations here...how our commonly used words and phrases began and evolved.
February 15, 2023
the early lectures were the most fascinating, with details about etymology and social influences on linguistic development.
November 8, 2023
Weird course in which a language geek pedantically tells us not to be pedantic.
It's main advantage is in its comprehensiveness, delving into many kinds of words, including words shared from other languages, idioms and expressions, slang, words from sports, war, and so on.
The conceptualization of the Anglo-Saxon invasion is not to date.
The Indo-European language is not well-explained.
Claims that the OED states that the origin of the expression "touch base" is in British English. But the OED is online now and I checked: it says it's from American Baseball. Now I'm wondering about the correctness of a lot of the other surprising "facts" she cited. (Actually, my instinct was that the meaning of "touch base" works better with the game Tag than Baseball, but I suppose the OED have spent time on this.)
Her speculations on why words have developed the way they have seem almost always wrong. For example, consider the tenses of drink: drink - drank - drunk. She states that some people are starting to say "have drank" rather than "have drunk" and gives as the reason that the "a" vowel is more similar to what is done with other verbs. Never mind that there is a counterexample of "swim - swam - swum", what about the elephant in the room? "I have drunk" or "You have drunk" can sound an awful lot like I, or you, am/are a drunk. So of course people are going to tend to avoid that.
I didn't care for the way she often tried to be funny, failing every time.
I prefer The History of the English Language by Seth Lerer or The Story of Human Language by John McWhorter for this type of course, even though more dated in the area of slang. But slang changes very quickly and even this course from the 2012 is often obsolete in this area.
It's main advantage is in its comprehensiveness, delving into many kinds of words, including words shared from other languages, idioms and expressions, slang, words from sports, war, and so on.
The conceptualization of the Anglo-Saxon invasion is not to date.
The Indo-European language is not well-explained.
Claims that the OED states that the origin of the expression "touch base" is in British English. But the OED is online now and I checked: it says it's from American Baseball. Now I'm wondering about the correctness of a lot of the other surprising "facts" she cited. (Actually, my instinct was that the meaning of "touch base" works better with the game Tag than Baseball, but I suppose the OED have spent time on this.)
Her speculations on why words have developed the way they have seem almost always wrong. For example, consider the tenses of drink: drink - drank - drunk. She states that some people are starting to say "have drank" rather than "have drunk" and gives as the reason that the "a" vowel is more similar to what is done with other verbs. Never mind that there is a counterexample of "swim - swam - swum", what about the elephant in the room? "I have drunk" or "You have drunk" can sound an awful lot like I, or you, am/are a drunk. So of course people are going to tend to avoid that.
I didn't care for the way she often tried to be funny, failing every time.
I prefer The History of the English Language by Seth Lerer or The Story of Human Language by John McWhorter for this type of course, even though more dated in the area of slang. But slang changes very quickly and even this course from the 2012 is often obsolete in this area.
February 15, 2021
This is a long GC at 36 lectures (a bit over 18 hours listening time), and it took me a while to finish it because I used it as incentive (read: bribe) for afternoon walks. Usually, I prefer to watch the GC videos, but I found this one actually worked better for me as audio for some reason.
The focus of this GC is how words enter, evolve, and change in the English Language. Along the way, Curzan explains some of the mysteries of why English spelling is such a mess, and how we ended up with some words that are decidedly non-phonetic. The "s" in "island" always bugged me, as did the mystery of why we'd pronounce "colonel" like "kernal." And trying to explain all the different pronunciations of "ough" and the "ei/ie" rule to ESL students is enough to make one wonder how anyone learns to spell anything in English.
Along with the usual information about borrowings from Greek, Latin, French, and German, Curzan does an A to Z tour of world languages, showing how English has borrowed from all over the globe. Other lecture topics include language in politics, war, the internet, sexism/gendering, slang, and regional differences (both within the US and within the larger English speaking world.) I loved that she managed to do an entire lectures on profanity without using any profanity. That approach took the attention off the individual words and focused on the how and why of cultures deciding certain words are profane and how that changes over time. Another favorite lecture in this series was about common things or experiences for which English speakers don't have a word and "sniglets" (made up words.)
The focus of this GC is how words enter, evolve, and change in the English Language. Along the way, Curzan explains some of the mysteries of why English spelling is such a mess, and how we ended up with some words that are decidedly non-phonetic. The "s" in "island" always bugged me, as did the mystery of why we'd pronounce "colonel" like "kernal." And trying to explain all the different pronunciations of "ough" and the "ei/ie" rule to ESL students is enough to make one wonder how anyone learns to spell anything in English.
Along with the usual information about borrowings from Greek, Latin, French, and German, Curzan does an A to Z tour of world languages, showing how English has borrowed from all over the globe. Other lecture topics include language in politics, war, the internet, sexism/gendering, slang, and regional differences (both within the US and within the larger English speaking world.) I loved that she managed to do an entire lectures on profanity without using any profanity. That approach took the attention off the individual words and focused on the how and why of cultures deciding certain words are profane and how that changes over time. Another favorite lecture in this series was about common things or experiences for which English speakers don't have a word and "sniglets" (made up words.)
November 11, 2018
An excellent series of lectures -- interesting, thoughtful, presented in a low-key and accessible way. An underlying theme is that language is an instrument of emotional and intuitive engagement. This takes the course beyond an old-fashioned analysis of language as a mapping of connotations, with a '"right" and an "incorrect" way of expressing things.
July 3, 2024
The presenter does a great job walking us through the origins of words and the English language. She is funny, prepared, and knowledgeable. I have listened to it twice and I enjoyed it the second time as much as the first
January 20, 2025
I listened to this Great Courses class. It’s fascinating to hear word origins as well as to hear how the English language is changing. Recommended.
November 30, 2020
By far, one of the most fascinating things I’ve ever listened to.
April 9, 2015
This was actually a series of 36 lectures by Anne Curzan that I and my husband watched on DVD. I read the lecture notes to reinforce the lectures. Anne Curzan presented the very interesting information in an engaging and witty manner.
March 9, 2019
This grand tour of the history of words in the English language is both enjoyable and highly informative. Professor Curzan combines her vast knowledge of English with a story-telling style that holds the listener's attention. The 18 CDs come in three boxes, with a 269-page guide book, which includes a 12-page bibliography.
The following link takes you to the publisher's Web page for the course, where hovering over a lecture title gives you a synopsis of that lecture.
https://www.thegreatcourses.com/cours...
A listing of the wonderfully playful lecture titles is perhaps the best way to convey the vast scope and impressive organization of the course.
01 Winning Words, Banished Words
02 The Life of a Word, from Birth to Death
03 The Human Hands Behind Dictionaries
04 Treasure Houses, Theft, and Traps
05 Yarn and Clues--New Word Meanings
06 Smog, Mob, Bling--New Words
07 "Often" versus "Offen"--Pronunciation
08 Fighting over Zippers
09 Opening the Early English Word-Hoard
10 Safe and Sound--The French Invasion
11 Magnifical Dexterity--Latin and Learning
12 Chutzpah to Pajamas--World Borrowings
13 The Pop/Soda/Coke Divide
14 Maths, Wombats, and Les Bluejeans
15 Foot and Pedestrian--Word Cousins
16 Desultory Somersaults--Latin Roots
17 Analogous Prologues--Greek Roots
18 The Tough Stuff of English Spelling
19 The b in Debt--Meddling in Spelling
20 Of Mice, Men, and Y'All
21 I'm Good ... Or Am I Well?
22 How Snuck Sneaked In
23 Um, Well, Like, You Know
24 Wicked Cool--The Irreverence of Slang
25 Boy Toys and Bad Eggs--Slangy Wordplay
26 Spinster, Bachelor, Guy, Due
27 Firefighters and Freshpersons
28 A Slam Dunk--The Language of Sports
29 Fooling Around--The Language of Love
30 Gung Ho--The Language of War
31 Filibustering--The Language of Politics
32 LOL--The Language of the Internet
33 #$@%!--Forbidden Words
34 Couldn't (or Could) Care Less
35 Musquirt and Other Lexical Gaps
36 Playing Fast and Loose with Words
Perhaps the most important insight one gains from this course is that language is a living system that expands, shrinks, and changes as words are born and die and as old words assume new roles. New words are born all the time through various processes, including the introduction of names for new scientific/technological notions, borrowing, slang usage, combining, contraction, and so on.
One should not look down on such new words, even slang ones, as somehow being illegitimate or in violation of "pure language." English, which is predominantly made up of words borrowed from other languages anyway, is what its speakers decide it to be; it cannot or should not be protected against change by academics. Dictionary-makers are sometimes viewed as language arbiters, whereas their role is simply to monitor and explain usage and to track how things change over time.
Here is a snippet of the history of "woman" as a word, which I used on social-media posts on the 2019 International Women's Day (March 8). The word "mann" used to mean "person" in old English. It was later used to form the new word "wifmann" (meaning "female person"). The word "wif," whose counterpart "wer" for "male" somehow disappeared, later also gave rise to "wife."
I highly recommend this course. I will go back and listen to it a second time, before the library loan period expires. Listening once isn't enough to capture the wealth of information dispensed by Curzan.
The following link takes you to the publisher's Web page for the course, where hovering over a lecture title gives you a synopsis of that lecture.
https://www.thegreatcourses.com/cours...
A listing of the wonderfully playful lecture titles is perhaps the best way to convey the vast scope and impressive organization of the course.
01 Winning Words, Banished Words
02 The Life of a Word, from Birth to Death
03 The Human Hands Behind Dictionaries
04 Treasure Houses, Theft, and Traps
05 Yarn and Clues--New Word Meanings
06 Smog, Mob, Bling--New Words
07 "Often" versus "Offen"--Pronunciation
08 Fighting over Zippers
09 Opening the Early English Word-Hoard
10 Safe and Sound--The French Invasion
11 Magnifical Dexterity--Latin and Learning
12 Chutzpah to Pajamas--World Borrowings
13 The Pop/Soda/Coke Divide
14 Maths, Wombats, and Les Bluejeans
15 Foot and Pedestrian--Word Cousins
16 Desultory Somersaults--Latin Roots
17 Analogous Prologues--Greek Roots
18 The Tough Stuff of English Spelling
19 The b in Debt--Meddling in Spelling
20 Of Mice, Men, and Y'All
21 I'm Good ... Or Am I Well?
22 How Snuck Sneaked In
23 Um, Well, Like, You Know
24 Wicked Cool--The Irreverence of Slang
25 Boy Toys and Bad Eggs--Slangy Wordplay
26 Spinster, Bachelor, Guy, Due
27 Firefighters and Freshpersons
28 A Slam Dunk--The Language of Sports
29 Fooling Around--The Language of Love
30 Gung Ho--The Language of War
31 Filibustering--The Language of Politics
32 LOL--The Language of the Internet
33 #$@%!--Forbidden Words
34 Couldn't (or Could) Care Less
35 Musquirt and Other Lexical Gaps
36 Playing Fast and Loose with Words
Perhaps the most important insight one gains from this course is that language is a living system that expands, shrinks, and changes as words are born and die and as old words assume new roles. New words are born all the time through various processes, including the introduction of names for new scientific/technological notions, borrowing, slang usage, combining, contraction, and so on.
One should not look down on such new words, even slang ones, as somehow being illegitimate or in violation of "pure language." English, which is predominantly made up of words borrowed from other languages anyway, is what its speakers decide it to be; it cannot or should not be protected against change by academics. Dictionary-makers are sometimes viewed as language arbiters, whereas their role is simply to monitor and explain usage and to track how things change over time.
Here is a snippet of the history of "woman" as a word, which I used on social-media posts on the 2019 International Women's Day (March 8). The word "mann" used to mean "person" in old English. It was later used to form the new word "wifmann" (meaning "female person"). The word "wif," whose counterpart "wer" for "male" somehow disappeared, later also gave rise to "wife."
I highly recommend this course. I will go back and listen to it a second time, before the library loan period expires. Listening once isn't enough to capture the wealth of information dispensed by Curzan.
October 16, 2017
A most interesting, scholarly but congenial presentation about the life and history of the English language and its words. It is hard to pinpoint the exact time when English became a language and it is impossible to state how it fares in the future.
There is an array of other languages from which English borrows and Anglicizes. Spoken English, itself, changes within its own region as shortcuts for phrases or polysyllabic words become part of the English lexicon. What we recognize today as new Modern English will eventually be more of a Middle English which differs from Old English.
Anne Curzan narrates her own work in a structured course to a live audience. She maturely handles the curse words, emotive words, with candor and does not exclude them from the discussion like certain dictionaries do, Webster's, for example. She also includes sayings or phrases people use now as well as in the past. Phrases responsible for many English words have their own intriguing history which are all but forgotten, unless one studies the English language. This captures students' interest and continues to excite many who find this subject both challenging and fascinating.
Today's language is rich with new technology, electronics, medicine, and entertainment lingo. Avenues of communication are immediate and evolutionary with the advent of the Smartphone.
Change in English culture influences how one says something as much as what one says. Curzan uses the term, Homosexual, as an example for carrying negative connotations; whereas, Gay and Lesbian, are favorable terms for the same expression.
This course is comprehensive and loaded with information worthy of study. One must listen and review this excellent presentation to fully appreciate all it has to offer.
There is an array of other languages from which English borrows and Anglicizes. Spoken English, itself, changes within its own region as shortcuts for phrases or polysyllabic words become part of the English lexicon. What we recognize today as new Modern English will eventually be more of a Middle English which differs from Old English.
Anne Curzan narrates her own work in a structured course to a live audience. She maturely handles the curse words, emotive words, with candor and does not exclude them from the discussion like certain dictionaries do, Webster's, for example. She also includes sayings or phrases people use now as well as in the past. Phrases responsible for many English words have their own intriguing history which are all but forgotten, unless one studies the English language. This captures students' interest and continues to excite many who find this subject both challenging and fascinating.
Today's language is rich with new technology, electronics, medicine, and entertainment lingo. Avenues of communication are immediate and evolutionary with the advent of the Smartphone.
Change in English culture influences how one says something as much as what one says. Curzan uses the term, Homosexual, as an example for carrying negative connotations; whereas, Gay and Lesbian, are favorable terms for the same expression.
This course is comprehensive and loaded with information worthy of study. One must listen and review this excellent presentation to fully appreciate all it has to offer.
December 17, 2023
In 2012 The Teaching Company released University of Michigan Professor Anne Curzan's 36 lecture course “The Secret Life of English Words and Their Origins.” At the time the course was released, Anne taught linguists at the University of Michigan School of Education. She is an award winning author on topics related to the history of English, language corpus & social linguistics, pedagogy. and lexicography. Her lectures explain the Germanic roots of English, as well as Arabic, Greek, Yiddish, French, Spanish, and Latin influences on the English language. In addition, her lectures discuss how taboos, warfare, politics, bling, slang, advances in electronic technologies, and internet usage impact gender and racial-social English terminology over the past many years. Her presentations about metaphors, religious thought, sports parlance, and Shakespearean literature are very insightful and oftentimes surprising. I enjoyed very much reading the Teaching Company “Secret Life of English Words and Their Origins” course guidebooks and lecture transcripts. It was a wonderful learning experience. (P)
November 10, 2021
For me, this course was front-loaded with the most interesting lectures--English's journey to become its own language, borrowing from and reshaping other languages as different cultures came together. I think my favorite was the lecture in which Anne Curzan pulled a sentence from a book at random and broke down how many of the words in the sentence had origins in languages other than Old English. She does a great job at justifying why the dictionary should be viewed as descriptive rather than prescriptive--perhaps the overall thesis of the course--and when you learn about what a bastardized language English is, and how often it has adapted and changed over the course of centuries to suit contemporary speakers--often to the outrage of the older generation--it becomes difficult to shake your fist at the "kids today" who are "butchering" the language what with their Internet acronyms and newfangled slang.
September 9, 2022
Lots of word-nerdy fun. This is a Great Courses presentation; it's 36 lectures covering all kinds of English language related ideas. Some history, bits about borrowing from other languages, slang, regional and cultural variations, taboo words, invented words, ideas that ought to have a word in English but don't, and on and on. Anne Curzan is a lively and entertaining speaker, passionate about her subject. If it weren't due back at the library I'd be tempted to listen to it all over again.
I borrowed this from the library via Hoopla, which also offers the video version. The audio version has all 36 lectures in one borrowing, but the video is one chapter at a time and Hoopla has limits on the number of borrows per month. A few topics benefit from being able to see the screen and I borrowed those on video, but most of the course is just fine with audio only. If there's a pdf that goes with this course, I didn't figure out how to access it, but I didn't feel I needed one.
I borrowed this from the library via Hoopla, which also offers the video version. The audio version has all 36 lectures in one borrowing, but the video is one chapter at a time and Hoopla has limits on the number of borrows per month. A few topics benefit from being able to see the screen and I borrowed those on video, but most of the course is just fine with audio only. If there's a pdf that goes with this course, I didn't figure out how to access it, but I didn't feel I needed one.
December 27, 2024
Wow, this book was awesome. There is the history of words, pronunciation, dead words, usage, where English language is headed, how words change, and much more. I highly recommend listening to this book as the format is lecture style and Anne Curzan has a great voice. As an aside, this book brought to mind an acquaintance who could not stop word correcting others. I was victim of this propensity a few times. One time it was word that was thought to be offensive but upon looking it up in OED this person could see that word was not offensive. The other two times this person called attention to what they perceived as my mispronunciation of a word. Really, don't do it. In listening to this book I see that my pronunciation was fine as it is older version pronunciation. Anyway, if you are a speaker of English and you enjoy learning I highly suggest this book.
September 12, 2019
18 hours of English etymology, linguistic history, and current language usage! If that sounds like a treasure chest of awesome to you (as opposed to a cardboard box of boring), you need this. I am a fan of The Great Courses and Anne Curzan, and this audiobook was both entertaining and informative. Anne's love of language and passion for her work comes through well. She adds just the right amount of humor and humanity into her lectures to make the material relatable and perhaps even interesting to people not normally drawn to linguistics. You'd be surprised how many words and phrases you use every day are covered in this course!
May 29, 2019
If you like words and their origins, this is a fabulous book. This book is part of the Great Courses Lecture series, so it is a series of lectures, each with a specific topic. But this is not stuffy and it is very interesting and entertaining. I particularly liked the picture Anne Curzan paints of the academic world of dictionary publishing. She is one members of the lexicographer society that decides which words go into the official registry and she gets a vote on the "best new word" of the year. Who knew there was such a group or what they did?
December 3, 2022
I loved this course! More than anything, the admiration for someone with such a command of the English language, both in understanding prefix/suffix meanings (dang SAT words!), the evolution of words, the the honest and open appraisal that our language is always changing, being modified, being updated... and that there is no 'right way' to say something, because in the end, if the meaning is understood, then the word is a real word. The professor has a very engaging way of speaking and presenting this topic in a way that is interesting and fun... I simply loved this book.
March 1, 2024
This is a wonderful and very informative lecture set! I learned so much and enjoyed the professor's sense of humor. She explained linguistics from a low level, up to high levels, as it applies to English. She told the history of English from the start to the present. She did an excellent job of explaining forbidden and taboo words, and some of the "woke" concepts, in a way which was respectful to all.
Recommended for all interested in words, languages, linguistics, social communication, and intercultural concerns!
Recommended for all interested in words, languages, linguistics, social communication, and intercultural concerns!
February 3, 2019
This is a lecture series of 36 half hour lectures. It can be found in audio-book form but I chose to watch it. I think it was beneficial to see the words, etc. on the screen as well as various helpful photos. I would highly recommend this series to anyone who is fascinated by the English language. I got a little bored in places that were heavy on modern usage because I find that less interesting than the history of words and how they have evolved. Overall a great series.
June 3, 2020
Finally I get to listen to a book on linguistics by an author other than John McWhorter. I have loved all 5 linguistics books from Dr. McWhorter but it is very refreshing to get another professional's view of the field. Anne Curzan does a great job getting into the history of the english language and how language continues to evolve today. I must recommend this book to anyone who has an casual interest in linguistics.
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