• Words on the Move

  • Why English Won't - and Can't - Sit Still (Like, Literally)
  • By: John McWhorter
  • Narrated by: John McWhorter
  • Length: 7 hrs and 2 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (1,398 ratings)

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Words on the Move  By  cover art

Words on the Move

By: John McWhorter
Narrated by: John McWhorter
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $19.95

Buy for $19.95

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

A best-selling linguist takes us on a lively tour of how the English language is evolving before our eyes - and why we should embrace this transformation and not fight it.

Language is always changing - but we tend not to like it. We understand that new words must be created for new things, but the way English is spoken today rubs many of us the wrong way. Whether it's the use of literally to mean "figuratively" rather than "by the letter" or the way young people use LOL and like, or business jargon like what's the ask? - it often seems as if the language is deteriorating before our eyes.

But the truth is different and a lot less scary, as John McWhorter shows in this delightful and eye-opening exploration of how English has always been in motion and continues to evolve today. Drawing examples from everyday life and employing a generous helping of humor, he shows that these shifts are a natural process common to all languages and that we should embrace and appreciate these changes, not condemn them.

Words on the Move opens our eyes to the surprising backstories to the words and expressions we use every day. Did you know that silly once meant "blessed"? Or that ought was the original past tense of owe? Or that the suffix -ly in adverbs is actually a remnant of the word like? And have you ever wondered why some people from New Orleans sound as if they come from Brooklyn?

McWhorter encourages us to marvel at the dynamism and resilience of the English language, and his book offers a lively journey through which we discover that words are ever on the move, and our lives are all the richer for it.

©2016 John H. McWhorter (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about Words on the Move

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    958
  • 4 Stars
    293
  • 3 Stars
    105
  • 2 Stars
    23
  • 1 Stars
    19
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    975
  • 4 Stars
    196
  • 3 Stars
    74
  • 2 Stars
    9
  • 1 Stars
    7
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    848
  • 4 Stars
    272
  • 3 Stars
    97
  • 2 Stars
    20
  • 1 Stars
    16

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Review By a Fan

I follow Prof. McWhorter--listen to his books, watch his Ted Talks; if he were to give a lecture in my town, I'd buy a ticket. He has several themes he returns to over and over again: that languages evolve, that English is not spoken correctly vs. incorrectly, but in dialects, the effect of texting on the language and so on. He hits them again in Words on the Move.

Some people might eventually find this slightly repetitive, but not me. I like his jokes, his anecdotes and--occasionally--his total goofy nerdiness. (His comprehensive knowledge of vintage sit coms, for example.) So I'm giving this five stars because I enjoy all of the above. If you don't, you'll still like the book, but you may not feel motivated to award five stars. I totally get that. You do you, I do me...

Recommend.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

62 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Literally A Great Listen

John McWhorter has a knack for explaining linguistic concepts engagingly. This time, he's focusing on how language changes over time--words changing meaning and pronunciation.

In a relatively short book, the reader/listener learns quite a bit. I also learned to relax a bit about the "right" way to say things. It still jars me to hear someone say, "I literally died!," but I don't get so irritated (or even aggravated).

The subject matter lends itself perfectly to the audio-book format, and McWhorter's narration is clear and enjoyable. I read some of the book, but it was so good to listen to that I didn't skip ahead after reading--I listened to the same parts that I had just read.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

54 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Funny and insightful. Some material reused.

Entertaining and informative material and great reading as expected, but there's a fair amount of overlap in material with McWhorter's previous books and Lexicon Valley podcast, and it's a bit shallower than his previous books. Wouldn't get it in hard-cover, but the audio format is worth it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

43 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Listening is better

The author/narrator pronounces the subtleties of language so well and so interestingly that I cannot imagine the printed page could capture the experience. His delivery is delightful, his content is marvelous.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

36 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Best to listen to, not read, this book

For those who are familiar with - and enjoy - McWhorter's lectures on Great Courses, you will want to listen to all his quirky tangents, fun affected accents, and crucial pronunciations. Trying to get all of this from the written page wouldn't work in my opinion. And the limits of written language is, like, one of his points. Found the content very interesting, but I am not a linguist and am not in position to judge the validity, novelty, etc. Certainly a fun listen though.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

27 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

For Word Lovers

The author provides great examples of the depth of meaning that words can have. For example, "well, frankly no" has a different meaning than "frankly no" and "he didn't even bring a gift" is different from "he didn't bring a gift." A non-native English speaker may not understand why one word gives the sentence a different meaning. In fact, an English speaker might find it hard to explain what that one word means in those sentences. Word usage is changing as we speak. LOL used to mean laughing out loud - a text so funny that you're letting the recipient know you're literally laughing. Now, LOL = chuckle = haha = amusing, but rarely does it actually mean laughing. These things make you think, "Hum, I've not thought about that before. Interesting."

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

19 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Accessible Textbook

If you're a student of the English language, and I mean a serious student, you'll likely find this fascinating. John McWhorter offers a dazzling level of erudition leavened with wit. If you're not a serious student of the English language, and listening to this confirmed that I'm not, then it's much too academic despite his stabs at humor. Here's a summary: words and grammar move and change and this can't be stopped nor do we want it to stop. If he says this once he says it 500 times. I was grinding through the book in spite of its density until the chapter on how vowels have moved in the mouth. Oooo. Just oooo. Too much. Too thick for me. For the rest of you: have at it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

19 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

McWhorter Explores Language

I really enjoy listening to John McWhorter's books and lectures. This book was well narrated and contained many fascinating facts about language, which I appreciate. John McWhorter's narrations are pleasant to listen to and consistently bring the subject covered to life.

The only negative comment that I can make is that I found the chapters lacking in clear organization. I felt they were not crisply themed and were a little rambling to follow. I did not enjoy that aspect of this book. However, that said, Words on the Move contained a good deal of engaging and helpful information. Speaking in defense of the slightly rambling organization, I might say that for some that style might evoke a conversational and informal feeling.

This book did not disappoint, overall. Even with the above noted limitations or really quibbles I enjoyed the book so much that I finished it at a much faster rate than normal. Recommended if you like reading about linguistics and how language changes over time.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

16 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Like I'm a language dork

I so like John McWhoter's take on language and how it changes. It always beautiful or fascinating and never wrong.

It might not be practical but I sure enjoyed it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fascinating aspects of language

As with his lectures, John McWhorter's narration makes the book come alive. The author is to say the least an incredibly engaging communicator.

The book explains language, as being fluid and temporal. Words and pronunciations are continuously going through transformations too gradually for us to take real notice.

For those who believe that there is a proper way to speak. The answer is only as far as it helps to communicate better. But words are morphed and recreated continuously. The new ways of speaking and texting, seen by many as deforming the language, have actually quite a bit of depth, where words become the communicator of feelings.

This is not a new phenomena. What we call proper English would probably be looked at as deformed by Shakespeare's English in the very same way we are uncomfortable with the changing uses of words.

Excellent book. Highly recommended to anyone fascinated with language and how words change with time.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

14 people found this helpful