-
Words on the Move
- Why English Won't - and Can't - Sit Still (Like, Literally)
- Narrado por: John McWhorter
- Duración: 7 h y 2 m
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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.
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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.
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Historia
E. H. Gombrich's world history, an international best seller now available in English for the first time, is a text dominated not by dates and facts but by the sweep of experience across the centuries, a guide to humanity's achievements, and an acute witness to its frailties.
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an enlightening book; very well read
- De A.B.Oxford en 06-03-06
De: E. H. Gombrich
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The Glamour of Grammar
- De: Roy Peter Clark
- Narrado por: Roy Peter Clark
- Duración: 8 h y 55 m
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Historia
Early in the history of English, glamour and grammar were the same word, linked to enchantment and magical spells. Now grammar brings to mind language bullies and bored-out-of-their-skulls students. Roy Peter Clark, one of America’s most influential writing teachers, wants to change that by putting the glamour back into grammar.
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Wasteful
- De ABID en 12-05-13
De: Roy Peter Clark
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Words and Rules
- The Ingredients of Language
- De: Steven Pinker
- Narrado por: Arthur Morey
- Duración: 13 h y 59 m
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First published in 2000, Words and Rules remains one of Pinker's most provocative and accessible books, illuminating the fascinating relationship between the brain, the mind, and how language makes us humans.
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Amazing how much irregular verbs can teach.
- De Tristan en 04-10-16
De: Steven Pinker
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Poetry in Person
- Twenty-five Years of Conversation with America's Poets
- De: Lucille Clifton, Alexander Neubauer - editor, Eamon Grennan, y otros
- Narrado por: Alexander Neubauer
- Duración: 5 h y 55 m
- Versión completa
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This first audio edition of Poetry in Person: 25 Years of Conversation with America’s Poets (Knopf, 2010), invites listeners into an intimate classroom with eight acclaimed poets. Full of compelling, in-depth conversation about manuscripts and drafts by the poets themselves, plus readings of the finished poems, these historic recordings offer one of the most detailed portraits ever produced of how poems are actually made.
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Fascinating
- De d en 08-28-16
De: Lucille Clifton, y otros
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You Say Potato: A Book About Accents
- De: Ben Crystal, David Crystal
- Narrado por: David Crystal, Ben Crystal, Jane Savage, y otros
- Duración: 7 h y 5 m
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Some people say 'sconn' while others say 'schown'. He says 'bath' while she says 'bahth'. You say 'potayto'. I say 'potahto'. And - wait a second, no one says 'potahto'. No one's ever said 'potahto'. Have they? From reconstructing Shakespeare's accent to the rise and fall of received pronunciation, actor Ben Crystal and his linguist father, David, travel the world in search of the stories of spoken English.
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Wish there were more native recordings.
- De Matt Dobler en 07-01-16
De: Ben Crystal, y otros
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Born to Kvetch
- Yiddish Language and Culture in All of Its Moods
- De: Michael Wex
- Narrado por: Michael Wex
- Duración: 10 h y 22 m
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As the main spoken language of the Jews for more than a thousand years, Yiddish has had plenty to lament, plenty to conceal. Its phrases and expressions paint a comprehensive picture of the mind-set that enabled the Jews of Europe to survive persecution: they never stopped kvetching about God, gentiles, children, and everything else.
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Fascinating, but...
- De Christopher B. en 04-05-16
De: Michael Wex
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The Elements of Eloquence
- Secrets of the Perfect Turn of Phrase
- De: Mark Forsyth
- Narrado por: Don Hagen
- Duración: 5 h y 29 m
- Versión completa
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In his inimitably entertaining and wonderfully witty style, he takes apart famous phrases and shows how you too can write like Shakespeare or quip like Oscar Wilde. Whether you’re aiming to achieve literary immortality or just hoping to deliver the perfect one-liner, The Elements of Eloquence proves that you don’t need to have anything important to say - you simply need to say it well.
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Who knew rhetoric could be so much fun?
- De Philo en 10-30-14
De: Mark Forsyth
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How to Write Short
- Word Craft for Fast Times
- De: Roy Peter Clark
- Narrado por: Roy Peter Clark
- Duración: 5 h y 20 m
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In How to Write Short , Roy Peter Clark turns his attention to the art of painting a thousand pictures with just a few words. Short forms of writing have always existed - from ship logs and telegrams to prayers and haikus. But in this ever-changing Internet age, short-form writing has become an essential skill. Clark covers how to write effective and powerful titles, headlines, essays, sales pitches, Tweets, letters, and even self-descriptions for online dating services.
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Ironically long
- De Amazon Customer en 03-14-16
De: Roy Peter Clark
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Babel No More
- The Search for the World's Most Extraordinary Language Learners
- De: Michael Erard
- Narrado por: Robert Blumenfeld
- Duración: 9 h y 3 m
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We all learn at least one language as children. But what does it take to learn six languages...or seventy? In Babel No More, Michael Erard, "a monolingual with benefits," sets out on a quest to meet language superlearners and make sense of their mental powers. On the way he uncovers the secrets of historical figures like Italian cardinal Giuseppe Mezzofanti, who was said to speak seventy-two languages; Emil Krebs, a pugnacious German diplomat, who spoke sixty-eight languages; and Lomb Kat, a Hungarian who taught herself Russian by reading Russian romance novels.
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Heavy on anecdote, light on science
- De S. Yates en 07-15-16
De: Michael Erard
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How to Speak and Write Correctly
- De: Joseph Devlin
- Narrado por: Shawn Grisden
- Duración: 4 h y 27 m
- Versión completa
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This book has no pretension about it whatever -- it is neither a Manual of Rhetoric, expatiating on the dogmas of style, nor a Grammar full of arbitrary rules and exceptions. It is merely an effort to help ordinary, everyday people to express themselves in ordinary, everyday language, in a proper manner.
De: Joseph Devlin
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The Curmudgeon's Guide to Getting Ahead
- Dos and Don'ts of Right Behavior, Tough Thinking, Clear Writing, and Living a Good Life
- De: Charles Murray
- Narrado por: Charles Murray
- Duración: 3 h y 9 m
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Historia
Best-selling social historian Charles Murray has written a delightfully fussy - and entertaining - book on the hidden rules of the road in the workplace - and in life - from the standpoint of an admonishing, but encouraging, workplace grouch and taskmaster. Why the curmudgeon? The fact is that most older, more senior people in the workplace are closet curmudgeons. In today's politically correct world, they may hide their displeasure over your misuse of grammar or your overly familiar use of their first name without an express invitation. But don't be fooled by their pleasant demeanor....
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Good Book: From one curmudgeon to another
- De DaWoolf en 05-22-14
De: Charles Murray
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The Pun Also Rises
- How the Humble Pun Revolutionized Language, Changed History, and Made Wordplay More Than Some Antics
- De: John Pollack
- Narrado por: Pete Larkin
- Duración: 4 h y 57 m
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The Pun Also Rises is an authoritative yet playful exploration of a practice that is common, in one form or another, to virtually every language on earth. At once entertaining and educational, this engaging book answers fundamental questions: Just what is a pun, and why do people make them? How did punning impact the development of human language, and how did that drive creativity and progress? And why, after centuries of decline, does the pun still matter?
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Punderful Little Book
- De B. Lane en 01-10-13
De: John Pollack
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How Fiction Works
- De: James Wood
- Narrado por: James Adams
- Duración: 5 h y 47 m
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Ranging widely from Homer to David Foster Wallace, from What Maisie Knew to Make Way for Ducklings, Wood takes the reader through the basic elements of the art, step by step. He sums up two decades of insight with wit and concision, resulting in nothing less than a philosophy of the novel, which has won critical acclaim nationwide, from the San Francisco Chronicle to the New York Times Book Review.
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Educational!
- De Don en 05-04-09
De: James Wood
Las personas que vieron esto también vieron...
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The Language Hoax
- Why the World Looks the Same in Any Language
- De: John H. McWhorter
- Narrado por: John McWhorter
- Duración: 5 h y 23 m
- Versión completa
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Historia
This short, opinionated audiobook addresses the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, which argues that the language we speak shapes the way we perceive the world. Linguist John McWhorter argues that while this idea is mesmerizing, it is plainly wrong. It is language that reflects culture and worldview, not the other way around.
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I really love listening to language--and McWhorter
- De Rachel en 03-24-16
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Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue
- The Untold History of English
- De: John McWhorter
- Narrado por: John McWhorter
- Duración: 5 h y 22 m
- Versión completa
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General
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Historia
A survey of the quirks and quandaries of the English language, focusing on our strange and wonderful grammar. Why do we say "I am reading a catalog" instead of "I read a catalog"? Why do we say "do" at all? Is the way we speak a reflection of our cultural values? Delving into these provocative topics and more, Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue distills hundreds of years of fascinating lore into one lively history.
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Great for casual linguists
- De Bertie en 01-11-10
De: John McWhorter
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Nine Nasty Words
- English in the Gutter: Then, Now, and Forever
- De: John McWhorter
- Narrado por: John McWhorter
- Duración: 6 h y 52 m
- Versión completa
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Historia
Profanity has always been a deliciously vibrant part of our lexicon, an integral part of being human. In fact, our ability to curse comes from a different part of the brain than other parts of speech - the urgency with which we say "f--k!" is instead related to the instinct that tells us to flee from danger. Language evolves with time, and so does what we consider profane or unspeakable. Nine Nasty Words is a rollicking examination of profanity, explored from every angle: historical, sociological, political, linguistic.
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Wonderful book!
- De BrittPet en 06-25-21
De: John McWhorter
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The Story of Human Language
- De: John McWhorter, The Great Courses
- Narrado por: John McWhorter
- Duración: 18 h y 15 m
- Grabación Original
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General
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Historia
Language defines us as a species, placing humans head and shoulders above even the most proficient animal communicators. But it also beguiles us with its endless mysteries, allowing us to ponder why different languages emerged, why there isn't simply a single language, how languages change over time and whether that's good or bad, and how languages die out and become extinct.
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You'll Never Look at Languages the Same Way Again
- De SAMA en 03-11-14
De: John McWhorter, y otros
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Language Families of the World
- De: John McWhorter, The Great Courses
- Narrado por: John McWhorter
- Duración: 15 h y 54 m
- Grabación Original
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General
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Historia
Professor John McWhorter of Columbia University takes you back through time and around the world, following the linguistic trails left by generations of humans that lead back to the beginnings of language. Utilizing historical theories and cutting-edge research, these 34 astonishing lectures will introduce you to the major language families of the world and their many offspring, including a variety of languages that are no longer spoken but provide vital links between past and present.
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Entertaining
- De Mark en 02-10-19
De: John McWhorter, y otros
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Woke Racism
- How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America
- De: John McWhorter
- Narrado por: John McWhorter
- Duración: 5 h y 17 m
- Versión completa
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General
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Historia
Acclaimed linguist and award-winning writer John McWhorter argues that an illiberal neoracism, disguised as antiracism, is hurting Black communities and weakening the American social fabric.
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Thank You
- De Withacy en 10-26-21
De: John McWhorter
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The Language Hoax
- Why the World Looks the Same in Any Language
- De: John H. McWhorter
- Narrado por: John McWhorter
- Duración: 5 h y 23 m
- Versión completa
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General
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Narración:
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Historia
This short, opinionated audiobook addresses the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, which argues that the language we speak shapes the way we perceive the world. Linguist John McWhorter argues that while this idea is mesmerizing, it is plainly wrong. It is language that reflects culture and worldview, not the other way around.
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I really love listening to language--and McWhorter
- De Rachel en 03-24-16
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Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue
- The Untold History of English
- De: John McWhorter
- Narrado por: John McWhorter
- Duración: 5 h y 22 m
- Versión completa
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General
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Narración:
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Historia
A survey of the quirks and quandaries of the English language, focusing on our strange and wonderful grammar. Why do we say "I am reading a catalog" instead of "I read a catalog"? Why do we say "do" at all? Is the way we speak a reflection of our cultural values? Delving into these provocative topics and more, Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue distills hundreds of years of fascinating lore into one lively history.
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Great for casual linguists
- De Bertie en 01-11-10
De: John McWhorter
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Nine Nasty Words
- English in the Gutter: Then, Now, and Forever
- De: John McWhorter
- Narrado por: John McWhorter
- Duración: 6 h y 52 m
- Versión completa
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General
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Narración:
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Historia
Profanity has always been a deliciously vibrant part of our lexicon, an integral part of being human. In fact, our ability to curse comes from a different part of the brain than other parts of speech - the urgency with which we say "f--k!" is instead related to the instinct that tells us to flee from danger. Language evolves with time, and so does what we consider profane or unspeakable. Nine Nasty Words is a rollicking examination of profanity, explored from every angle: historical, sociological, political, linguistic.
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Wonderful book!
- De BrittPet en 06-25-21
De: John McWhorter
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The Story of Human Language
- De: John McWhorter, The Great Courses
- Narrado por: John McWhorter
- Duración: 18 h y 15 m
- Grabación Original
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General
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Narración:
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Historia
Language defines us as a species, placing humans head and shoulders above even the most proficient animal communicators. But it also beguiles us with its endless mysteries, allowing us to ponder why different languages emerged, why there isn't simply a single language, how languages change over time and whether that's good or bad, and how languages die out and become extinct.
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You'll Never Look at Languages the Same Way Again
- De SAMA en 03-11-14
De: John McWhorter, y otros
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Language Families of the World
- De: John McWhorter, The Great Courses
- Narrado por: John McWhorter
- Duración: 15 h y 54 m
- Grabación Original
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General
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Narración:
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Historia
Professor John McWhorter of Columbia University takes you back through time and around the world, following the linguistic trails left by generations of humans that lead back to the beginnings of language. Utilizing historical theories and cutting-edge research, these 34 astonishing lectures will introduce you to the major language families of the world and their many offspring, including a variety of languages that are no longer spoken but provide vital links between past and present.
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Entertaining
- De Mark en 02-10-19
De: John McWhorter, y otros
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Woke Racism
- How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America
- De: John McWhorter
- Narrado por: John McWhorter
- Duración: 5 h y 17 m
- Versión completa
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General
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Narración:
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Historia
Acclaimed linguist and award-winning writer John McWhorter argues that an illiberal neoracism, disguised as antiracism, is hurting Black communities and weakening the American social fabric.
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Thank You
- De Withacy en 10-26-21
De: John McWhorter
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Ancient Writing and the History of the Alphabet
- De: John McWhorter, The Great Courses
- Narrado por: John McWhorter
- Duración: 6 h y 18 m
- Grabación Original
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Historia
Embark on a journey to the very beginning of writing as a tool of language and see how the many threads of history and linguistics came together to create the alphabet that forms the foundation of English writing. Your guide is Professor John McWhorter of Columbia University and in the 16 lectures of Ancient Writing and the History of the Alphabet, he will help you navigate the complex linguistic and cultural history behind one of our most crucial tools of communication.
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Fantastic narration & interesting content
- De Shelby en 06-06-23
De: John McWhorter, y otros
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The Horologicon
- A Day's Jaunt Through the Lost Words of the English Language
- De: Mark Forsyth
- Narrado por: Don Hagen
- Duración: 6 h y 27 m
- Versión completa
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Historia
The Horologicon (or book of hours) contains the most extraordinary words in the English language, arranged according to what hour of the day you might need them. From Mark Forsyth, the author of the number-one international best seller The Etymologicon comes an audiobook of weird words for familiar situations. From ante-jentacular to snudge by way of quafftide and wamblecropt, at last you can say, with utter accuracy, exactly what you mean.
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So nerdy!
- De Carrie en 04-02-17
De: Mark Forsyth
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Talking Back, Talking Black
- Truths About America's Lingua Franca
- De: John McWhorter
- Narrado por: John McWhorter
- Duración: 4 h y 19 m
- Versión completa
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Historia
Linguists have been studying Black English as a speech variety for years, arguing to the public that it is different from Standard English, not a degradation of it. Yet false assumptions and controversies still swirl around what it means to speak and sound "Black." In his first book devoted solely to the form, structure, and development of Black English, John McWhorter clearly explains its fundamentals and rich history while carefully examining the cultural, educational, and political issues that have undermined recognition of this transformative, empowering dialect.
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Very interesting look at Language Dialects in USA
- De Ambariffic en 05-16-19
De: John McWhorter
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Woke Racism
- How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America
- De: John McWhorter
- Narrado por: John McWhorter
- Duración: 5 h y 17 m
- Versión completa
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Historia
Best-selling author and acclaimed linguist John McWhorter argues that an illiberal neoracism, disguised as antiracism, is hurting Black communities and weakening the social fabric. In Woke Racism, McWhorter reveals the workings of this new religion, from the original sin of 'white privilege' and the weaponisation of cancel culture to ban heretics, to the evangelical fervour of the 'woke mob'.
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I’m not as “woke” as I thought.
- De gustavus en 12-14-23
De: John McWhorter
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On Language
- Chomsky's Classic Works 'Language and Responsibility' and 'Reflections on Language'
- De: Noam Chomsky, Mitsou Ronat
- Narrado por: Fajer Al-Kaisi
- Duración: 14 h y 58 m
- Versión completa
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Historia
Described by the New York Times as "arguably the most important intellectual alive," Noam Chomsky is known throughout the world for his highly influential writings on language and politics. Featuring two of Chomsky's most popular and enduring books in one omnibus volume, On Language contains some of the noted linguist and political critic's most informal and accessible work to date, making it an ideal introduction to his thought.
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Difficult in audio format
- De Commuting Learner en 09-19-16
De: Noam Chomsky, y otros
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Writing Creative Nonfiction
- De: Tilar J J. Mazzeo, The Great Courses
- Narrado por: Tilar J J. Mazzeo
- Duración: 12 h y 16 m
- Grabación Original
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Historia
Bringing together the imaginative strategies of fiction storytelling and new ways of narrating true, real-life events, creative nonfiction is the fastest-growing part of the creative writing world. It's a cutting-edge genre that's reshaping how we write (and read) everything from biographies and memoirs to blogs and public speaking scripts to personal essays and magazine articles.
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Not what I expected but useful
- De Nancy en 04-14-14
De: Tilar J J. Mazzeo, y otros
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The Etymologicon
- A Circular Stroll Through the Hidden Connections of the English Language
- De: Mark Forsyth
- Narrado por: Don Hagen
- Duración: 7 h y 1 m
- Versión completa
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Historia
The Etymologicon is a completely unauthorized guide to the strange underpinnings of the English language. It explains: How you get from “gruntled” to “disgruntled”; why you are absolutely right to believe that your meager salary barely covers “money for salt”; how the biggest chain of coffee shops in the world (hint: Seattle) connects to whaling in Nantucket; and what precisely the Rolling Stones have to do with gardening.
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Maddening! Does not work as an audiobook!
- De James en 01-05-16
De: Mark Forsyth
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The Man Who Tasted Words
- A Neurologist Explores the Strange and Startling World of Our Senses
- De: Dr. Guy Leschziner
- Narrado por: Dr. Guy Leschziner
- Duración: 9 h y 28 m
- Versión completa
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Historia
Vision, hearing, taste, smell, and touch are what we rely on to perceive the reality of our world. Our five senses are the conduits that bring us the scent of a freshly brewed cup of coffee or the notes of a favorite song suddenly playing on the radio. But are they really that reliable? The Man Who Tasted Words shows that what we perceive to be absolute truths of the world around us is actually a complex internal reconstruction by our minds and nervous systems.
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Multi-level and Informative
- De Question Everything en 03-24-22
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Center Church
- Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City
- De: Timothy Keller
- Narrado por: Tom Parks
- Duración: 22 h y 44 m
- Versión completa
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Many pastors struggle to translate their theological beliefs into fruitful ministry in the places they are called to reach. It’s not enough to simply know what to believe (theology), or on the other hand, how to do ministry (methodology) - they need something in between. They need help thinking about ministry in a culture that no longer believes Christianity is a force for good, let alone the source of ultimate revealed truth in the person of Christ.
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Wisdom for Urban Churches - Deep, Wide & Practical
- De Tom en 11-03-12
De: Timothy Keller
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Great Utopian and Dystopian Works of Literature
- De: Pamela Bedore, The Great Courses
- Narrado por: Pamela Bedore
- Duración: 12 h y 27 m
- Grabación Original
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Can literature change our real world society? At its foundation, utopian and dystopian fiction asks a few seemingly simple questions aimed at doing just that. Who are we as a society? Who do we want to be? Who are we afraid we might become? When these questions are framed in the speculative versions of Heaven and Hell on earth, you won't find easy answers, but you will find tremendously insightful and often entertaining perspectives.
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A very enjoyable and educational audiobook
- De NH en 04-06-17
De: Pamela Bedore, y otros
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Grammar for a Full Life: How the Ways We Shape a Sentence Can Limit or Enlarge Us
- De: Lawrence Weinstein
- Narrado por: Lawrence Weinstein
- Duración: 5 h y 7 m
- Versión completa
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Historia
Grammar is about much more than rules: It’s about choices, too - since a thought can always be expressed correctly in multiple ways. Why settle for a normal audiobook on grammar when you could learn new things about it and become your own best self at the same time? Grammar is about much more than rules: It’s about choices, too - since a thought can always be expressed correctly in multiple ways. Weinstein shows that certain tweaks to a person’s grammar can bring consequential changes in his or her fulfillment and well-being.
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Loved his take on life
- De Debrajoygwen en 12-01-21
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Holy Sh*t
- A Brief History of Swearing
- De: Melissa Mohr
- Narrado por: Napoleon Ryan
- Duración: 10 h y 45 m
- Versión completa
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Almost everyone swears, or worries about not swearing, from the two year-old who has just discovered the power of potty mouth to the grandma who wonders why every other word she hears is obscene. Whether they express anger or exhilaration, are meant to insult or to commend, swear words perform a crucial role in language. But swearing is also a uniquely well-suited lens through which to look at history, offering a fascinating record of what people care about on the deepest levels of a culture - what's divine, what's terrifying, and what's taboo.
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WHERE IS THE REFERENCE MATERIAL PDF????
- De justin en 07-08-14
De: Melissa Mohr
Lo que los oyentes dicen sobre Words on the Move
Calificaciones medias de los clientesReseñas - Selecciona las pestañas a continuación para cambiar el origen de las reseñas.
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Historia
- Dubi
- 09-20-17
I'm Literally Giving In on Literally
This is how powerful John McWhorter's book is: he instantly convinced me to abandon my longtime vociferous distaste for using literally to mean the opposite of literally. I won't give his argument away, as it is the centerpiece of the first of his five chapters on how and why English changes over time. Read it (listen to it) for yourself, you will not be disappointed.
McWhorter makes a brief and much less spirited case for tolerating irregardless which fails to alter my opinion that that is just a stupid mistake that would be better off relegated to the realm of the obsolete, though sadly it lives on. But in general, he makes a strong case against prescriptive dictates (i.e. the usage police).
Other books dwell on historical events that have caused discreet shifts in English -- Viking and Norman invasions, church Latin, et.al. McWhorter deals with that in other books. Here, he focuses on natural evolutionary trends in language -- how meanings change when they take on subjective properties, how they narrow or broaden through usage, how words morph into grammar, etc. The whole idea being that change is ongoing and inevitable.
Overall, except for an overlong and not altogether interesting chapter on how vowel sounds evolve, this book is just wonderful (in both the contemporary and Melville-era senses of that word). That McWhorter narrates it himself just makes it that much more interesting and powerful, since he knows exactly what he is saying and how he wants to say it.
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esto le resultó útil a 4 personas
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Historia
- Steve
- 07-29-17
Words change their meanings over time
What made the experience of listening to Words on the Move the most enjoyable?
Having the author narrate his own work and using many examples to explain his reasoning.
What did you like best about this story?
Etymology.
Have you listened to any of John McWhorter’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
No. This is my first.
If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?
Don't know. It doesn't seem to fit the film format.
Any additional comments?
The study of words and their origins are interesting enough, but this book shows how words change over time.
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- Christopher
- 11-15-18
An interesting way of seeing the language
This book opens ones eyes to the way in which languages in general, and English specifically, change over time. One need only pick up a copy of Shakespeare's plays or look at the King James Bible to see how much change there has been in just the last 400 years. I'm not sure I'm sold on his main point, but it is an interesting notion. #EyeOpening #AlternativePerspective #tagsgiving #sweepstakes
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- Zakir L. Henson
- 08-16-17
My Review is on the Move
I'm old enough to have witnessed several changes in our language or rather, how we use words. I've witnessed words like Eason lose their meaning through misuse. However, this text illustrates how words don't really lose meaning so much as morph to having other meanings.
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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona
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- KellysHero718
- 05-11-21
Words on the Wow
Words on the Move: Why English Won’t – and Can’t – Sit Still, such an informative, entertaining book, is making me reconsider myself as a writer and editor. I learned how to edit in the late 1980s, and those are the rules I still live by, AP style. I may reassess some things, but I will never entertain exclamation points for phrases that are not exclamations, nor the use of parentheses because they do nothing but get in the writer’s way and slow the reader down. And if you ever see me use an emoji, slam a shovel through the back of my head.
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- Ali Gaylord
- 12-05-20
Delightful!
Delightful and engaging book on the history of words and insight on ever changing language.
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- Gregory V. Bard
- 02-28-20
How the forces of linguistics have shaped English
This book was a delightful introduction (and more) to how the forces of linguistics have shaped the English language. I have never studied linguistics at all, yet I found the author clear, convincing, informative, intruiging, and even humorous. He focuses on the last century and a half of English, supported by examples that reach back to Shakespeare and even Chaucer, with some very rare examples in old English. As an educated person in my 40s, this book gives me perspective on how English is used differently by today's teenagers, including some extensive discussion of texting.
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- C.T. Giles
- 11-26-21
From a now-converted purist
As one who has lamented and moaned about language drift for years, McWhorter effectively won me over to the inevitability of this phenomenon. What’s more, he convinced me that it does not portend doom for our cultural literacy. His humor delights as he engages in wordplay, impersonations and brilliant wit. Not only does he educate but McWhorter charms so that the listener would like to have the opportunity to meet him and hang out in real life. This book is for anyone who likes words and their employ.
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- Daniel H.
- 06-14-17
Another great book by Dr. McWhorter.
This book is short, sweet, and to the point. I'd recommend it for any language pendants or anyone else who is interested the evolution of speech.
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- Readinguy
- 04-13-18
Fascinating account of how English evolves
Where does Words on the Move rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
One of the best of the non-fiction books I've listened to.
What was one of the most memorable moments of Words on the Move?
The particular value of listening to this book is that McWhorter pronounces all the varieties of words in their various dialects and ancient forms. Just reading on paper, it would be much harder to appreciate his points. He's an excellent presenter.
Have you listened to any of John McWhorter’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
This the first time I've hear him.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
Its non-fiction. Not really "moving". But fascinating
Any additional comments?
If you don't know why "good" and "food" don't seem to rhyme McWhorter is here to explain it to you--and if you think they *do* rhyme, he'll explain what that means for the future of English as well.
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