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

A very interesting insight into English

I loved it. Not every minute of it, but 95 % of it was one hell of a great audiobook. The narrator was also great, this was my 2nd audiobook of her courses that I listened to. The only thing that mattered to me was that even though slang, idioms and taboo words are of course the most interesting part of the book and of English as such, she never pronounced the word "fuck", not even once. Instead, she called it and referred to it as the F-wordF-word. Don't get me wrong, I understand the reasons here - she's a professor of English - but it makes the book kind of incomplete, shall we say. Also, I could sense traces of anti-sexism, and other -isms there, but that was acceptable for me. Not entirely neutral, but who or what on Earth is perfectly neutral? I loved the narrator's enthusiasm and standpoints as far as changes go: a continuous and perfectly normal phenomenon in a language. All in all, a great audiobook that I'd recommend to anyone interested in English, and the more to ESL students like me.

Curzan rocks it!

Excellent contents and great performance. Fun to listen to; she makes the material very interesting.

Learning can be fun.

I did know that middle English might be fun. According to the author "AKS" might be AOK with Chaucer.

The Secret Life of Words: English Words

Liked hearing the origins, development and sometimes disappearance of words. Not everything is in agreement with my long ago Linguistics Professor, but that is minor trivia or a conversation point. Enjoyed the book very much.

So interesting and relevant

What made the experience of listening to The Secret Life of Words: English Words and Their Origins the most enjoyable?

Professor Curzan was easy to listen to and understand. She spoke fluently and confidently. I loved the word play and history. The consistent referencing meant it was easy to get further information.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Secret Life of Words: English Words and Their Origins?

Learning the different meanings and beginnings for words, such as fathom, nice and wife. The history of words just enthralled me. Also Prof Curzan's input to the word of the century - she.

What about Professor Anne Curzan’s performance did you like?

She was funny, easy to understand and expressive. She has a way of using her tone of voice to convey her thoughts. This is shown most prominently when discussing the N word.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I laughed out loud many times throughout this lecture series.

Great fun

All the strange stops and starts of the English Language explained succinctly, intelligently and with whimsy.

Informative and entertaining

Dr. Curzan did a wonderful job with this one. A must-listen for any linguistics buff!

Exceptional lecturer, fascinating topic

One of the best Great Courses I've listened to. Every lecture was engaging, but more than that, the course changed how I looked at language.

The instructor has a contagious curiosity about our language, so it's good of her to leave listeners with resources for further study at the end of the course.

Great Information

This was a great course for learning about English words. I learned a lot. I especially learned where many words came from. The narration was well done too.

Pretty interesting

I was hoping for more history of words and “fun facts” but what I got from this course was a lot more. Also, the irony of Anne Curzan being a world-class linguist and having a hard time saying swear words is delicious.