Product Description: Bill Bryson, who gave glorious voice to The Mother Tongue, now celebrates her magnificent offspring in the book that reveals once and for all how a dusty western hamlet with neither woods nor holly came to be known as Hollywood...and exactly why Mr.Yankee Doodle call his befeathered cap "Macaroni."
Amazon.com Review: Readers from Toad Suck, Arkansas, to Idiotsville, Oregon--and everywhere in between--will love Made in America, Bill Bryson's Informal History of the English Language in the United States. It is, in a word, fascinating. After reading this tour de force, it's clear that a nation's language speaks volumes about its true character: you are what you speak. Bryson traces America's history through the language of the time, then goes on to discuss words culled from everyday activities: immigration, eating, shopping, advertising, going to the movies, and others.
Made in America will supply you with interesting facts and cocktail chatter for a year or more. Did you know, for example, that Teddy Roosevelt's "speak softly and carry a big stick" credo has its roots in a West African proverb? Or that actor Walter Matthau's given name is Walter Mattaschanskayasky? Or that the supposedly frigid Puritans--who called themselves "Saints," by the way--had something called a pre-contract, which was a license for premarital sex? Made in America is an excellent discussion of American English, but what makes the book such a treasure is that it offers much, much more.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - Interesting Read on History of American English
well-researched (no surprise from Bill Bryson), intelligent, interesting and sometimes funny, this is a nice light read for anyone interested in linguistics, Americanisms, food history and several other ... Read More
Rating: - Read it!
I teach English at the college level and have just had this book approved to teach next semester. I happened to pick it up at Borders because I liked A Walk in the Woods so much, and wow! The chonological ... Read More
Rating: - A Correction
The book is an excellent read. However, it's Idiotville, Oregon, not Idiotsville. It's a ghost town in the hills near Tillamook.(pronounced-till-uh-muck) by Oregonians. Just thought I throw that in.
Rating: - A knowledgeable conversation about the language
Pardon me while I whine a bit, but the reviewers who complain that the book lacks scholarship and similar pedantic complaints have missed the point. Bill Bryson is a writer, a storyteller, and man of wide ... Read More
Rating: - I'm a stranger here myself, too.
I moved to the States when I was twenty. I was vastly ignorant about the country. I loved this book! Bryson is a spotty writer (not referring to his complexion, but his complete history of everything) but ... Read More
- Read it!