The Secret Life of Words: English Words and Their Origins

By: Anne Curzan, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Anne Curzan

Length: 18 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

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."

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2012 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2012 The Great Courses

Outstanding! Can't recommend this strongly enough!

Fascinating explanation of how English words got to mean what they do now. Professor Curzon's voice and performance are pitch-perfect.
Teaser: why is WENT the past tense of GO? Because to go or to "wend* were synonyms in the distant past, and its past participle is *went*
The audiobook is a lot of fun and I listen to it over and over.
Brava Dr. Curzon~!

interesting

This was an extremely well thought out and in depth discussion on words. I really enjoyed it.

Mind blowing fun!

Ten out of five stars. Informative and endlessly interesting. Highly recommended for word nerds and people who love word nerds.

If you love word origins

If you love word origins and the ways that words have evolved, then this an ideal audiobook. Fair warning: it seems like they just attached a microphone to a college professor / subject matter expert, and have her teach class. But she ( Anne ) does a great job. I don’t think there are any references to pictures during the lecture, it is just her spoken word, so you won’t get lost “not being able to see a picture referenced during the lecture”. Lectures are 30 minutes long, are at the chapter breaks, and easy to digest. The end of each lecture has a preview for the next. “AUDIBLE 20 REVIEW SWEEPSTAKES ENTRY”

The things you will learn

Informative, funny, and illuminating! This is a really great series. One that makes you want to tell your friends the new things you have learned about our language!

Excellant

What did you love best about The Secret Life of Words: English Words and Their Origins?

Loved her enthusiasm. She's obviously very knowledgeable. This was one of the best Courses I've ever listened to.

What other book might you compare The Secret Life of Words: English Words and Their Origins to and why?

Eats, Shoots and Leaves

Fascinating!

Loved this book! I was hanging on every chapter. So interesting to see where all our words come from and where they're going.

Great Information Covered With a Bit of Bias

I find it hard to take seriously a professor who can study linguistics and also endorse political correctness, nor anyone who says we should bring Shakespeare's pedestal down a notch so the rest of us don't feel so uncreative. The degree of warm-fuzziness that colors the professor's perspective inhibits judgement. Still, the sources she quotes are sound, and many of her personal anecdotes are definitely worth consideration. A good listen if one disregards some of the lectures on more contemporary material. Those looking for true unbiased analysis should probably look elsewhere.

Excellent

This is a great book! I think I will listen this book again in a not to distant future.

Best instructor, great course

What make a course great is the instructor. I have around 50 of these great course audiobooks and Anne Curzan is the most interesting instructor. She has a story about a wedding where the couple separated her and her linguistics buddies so they wouldn’t annoy normal people. I want to hang out with the linguistics crowd!