The Secret Life of Words: English Words and Their Origins

De: Anne Curzan, The Great Courses

Narrado por: Anne Curzan

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!