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The Secret Life of Words: English Words and Their Origins  By  cover art

The Secret Life of Words: English Words and Their Origins

By: Anne Curzan, The Great Courses
Narrated by: Anne Curzan
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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

What listeners say about The Secret Life of Words: English Words and Their Origins

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Spoiled by politically correct agenda

This excellent and delightful lecture series is bogged down and ultimately spoiled by an excessive focus on feminism, sexism, gender issues, and other "activist" topics. It's a shame because the author's political agenda overshadows her otherwise excellent and refreshing insights into the origins of English words. One is left with the impression that the author has done a "bait and switch" to her audience in order to preach. But anyone who has attended college in the past 30 years or worked in a corporation will already be thoroughly familiar with the reasons why, for example, "actress" is considered politically incorrect. Ultimately it's simply irritating because you never know when the lecture will again descend into being another tired sensitivity training.

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The Whole Nine Yards

Anne Curzan "leaves no stone unturned" in this great Great Courses course, covering the history of words and phrases of every "stripe" -- original English words, words "borrowed" from other languages, words made up "out of whole cloth", mispronounced words, misunderstood words, words whose origins are "lost in the ether", slang words, words from sports, military, the internet, romance, even words like "um" and "you know" that don't seem to have "bona fide" functions as words (and yet they do), even words that don't exist (common things for which there are no specific words).

I've "perused" a number of other books on this subject -- one was an amusing look at the often surprising "origin stories" of common words and phrases, one was about the interplay between the history of words and the impact of history on words, one was about how English became so flexible as to come to "rule the world". This course "covers every base" and then some. I cannot "fathom" any aspect of the English language that has not been "put under the microscope" here.

Except for the "whole nine yards", for which I still have never seen an explanation -- why do we say "the whole nine yards" when it takes ten yards to make a first down? All the other words and phrases in quotation marks in the prior paragraphs are explained in this course.

Professor Curzan is "descriptive" in her attitude toward language, which means she sees her function as a linguist as one of studying the language, rather than judging how people use it, which would be "prescriptive". That makes for great observations on her part, because she had no interest in whether a word or usage is right or wrong, her only interest in whether it is lasting or ephemeral in nature.

Personally, I would prefer more prescriptive opinions -- she goes to great lengths to excuse the mispronunciation of ask as "aks", as if those who make that mistake cite Chaucer in doing so, and no matter what she says, using "literally" to mean "figuratively" is only acceptable as sarcasm, and using "irregardless" is never excusable, regardless of the circumstances. Then too, you see her growing very prescriptive when it comes to the use of gender- or race-related language, so she is really only drawing her line at a different place than the prescriptivists she dismisses as short-sighted.

Nevertheless, this course is a lot of fun (Curzan is an excellent narrator) and it is highly elucidating (even for someone like me who has already read several books on this topic). If you love language, this is for you. Even if you don't necessarily believe that it is of interest, try it -- you'll never listen to someone use "like" and many other words and phrases the same again.

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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.

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36 people found this helpful

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Not What I Was Wanting

Professor Curzan's narration was good, but she couldn't seem to get away from saying as much about herself and her own work as the topic at hand.
I was hoping for a course in etymology, but I couldn't get past the introductory lectures for they were bogged down in an inordinate amount of irrelevant detail.
I get the sense that she makes a concerted attempt at sounding interesting and relevant to her students; I'm not interested in that. I wanted language science, not her social ideology of how words should and should not be used. She's a linguist, not a philosopher of language.

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A Home Run Turned Into a Double.

A case where less would have been more. GREAT stuff in the first 2/3, but it goes off the rails starting with lecture 27(?). The first 20+ lectures explain the cobbled mess of English words and spellings and engagingly discusses the multiple origins of related words (why a person on foot is a "pedestrian", etc.) At lecture 27, she lets her inner feminist take center stage and quickly becomes a bore and inconsistent. Prior to this, she explains that her job and dictionaries merely tell you how people commonly use words; NOT to tell us how a word SHOULD BE used.

At 27, however, she begins to dictate what terms are 'offensive' or 'dated'. To use a direct quote, "if it doesn't matter, then DO IT MY WAY." She believes male writers should use "he or she", or alternate between the two, but overlooks the trend I see among female writers to use "she" exclusively. She also states that "actress" is seen by the public as a substandard category of the broader term "actor" and should be discontinued. And on it goes. In summary, her biases greatly diminish her credibility as an objective instructor.

Following lectures are mere catalogs of medical and military terms that are in common usage, and even here she misses some great examples-- though as I said, the last third of these lectures could be deleted entirely and this book improved thereby.

On the plus side, I did enjoy the first 2/3 enough that I won't ask Audible for a refund. That's worth mentioning.

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A promising start derailed by feminist rhetoric

I loved the first 20-some chapters; they included the derivation of many, many words, and useful information about various dictionaries and their predilections. I have always loved the etymology of the English language and the regional differences it exhibits.

I was a little disconcerted by the assertion that there is no 'right' or 'wrong' way to speak the English language, The author accepts whatever slang comes into the language as part of the evolution of language but I can accept that; after all, this isn't a textbook on grammar and usage. (However, at your next job interview, don't use ain't; and definitely don't substitute ax for ask).

But somewhere around 2/3 of the way through the book, the author's feminist activism and political correctness started to hijack the whole subject. Gradually, the author's focus changed and instead of learning about this subject which has fascinated me for my entire life, I was subjected to a lecture scolding me about the fractious and discriminatory aspects of the language. Perhaps if the author felt it necessary to give a soapbox harangue it could have been presented as a concluding postlude chapter or simply woven more subtly into the context. As it stands in this lecture, it is a shrill disconnect from the rest of the book.


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Wish I could get my credit back....

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

College students who need someone to fill their heads.

Would you ever listen to anything by The Great Courses again?

I have several of their courses, but it is getting more difficult for me to discern between the professors.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Professor Anne Curzan?

No one

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Secret Life of Words: English Words and Their Origins?

I would not cut any. I was expecting a neutral lecture on words, but what I received was a P.C. (yes, I typed, P.C.) version of a history of words. There are some nice stories in the beginning of the lecture, but not enough to hold the lecture. I got to the 28th lecture and could go no further, it was that painful for me. I am an older person, so it is difficult for me to listen to someone who is enmeshed in her own world - that being a college campus.

Any additional comments?

I would disagree with her analogy of a prostitute/whore with a slut. They are not the same thing.

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Fantastic

Anne Curzan is a masterful teacher. She is organized, yet conversational. She gives you a cornucopia of linguistic and lexicographical information that is both fascinating and instructive. She is funny and adept at giving felicitous examples to support her point. You will learn so much about the English language in this course. I just can't rave enough about it. It's far better that John McWhorter's meandering courses. I think I learned more from Curzan's few lectures about English's history than McWhorter's entire course about the subject. This is one of the best Great Courses.

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Meh. Go elsewhere.

Frankly, there are better lectures on linguistics. She isn't terribly charismatic, and these lectures seemed to drag. I also felt that some of the comments weren't accurate, and that some of the information was skewed. I most clearly recall her comment that "out of left field" had partially to do with English's prejudice against the left hand. That is rubbish.

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A wordsmith in her own right.

Would you listen to The Secret Life of Words: English Words and Their Origins again? Why?

I would absolutely listen to this series again - and again - and again. You can't appreciate it all the first time through. It would be wonderful to have a followup lecture each year to see how we morph on the continuum.

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

Everything was compelling. Anne is credible, interesting, and has an off beat sense of humor that keeps things in perspective. Her superb organization of concepts makes her easy to follow. Excellent use of examples. Just wish I could remember them all!

Which character – as performed by Professor Anne Curzan – was your favorite?

As this was not a novel with characters, an interesting question. I was sincerely struck however with Anne's own beautiful, expansive, choice of descriptive words. Even if I hadn't learned volumes from the content, I would have appreciated her word choices for their own use in context.

If you could give The Secret Life of Words: English Words and Their Origins a new subtitle, what would it be?

Perfect title. Or perhaps a paraphrase of the song title Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered - by Words.

Any additional comments?

The Great Courses - a Teaching Company offerings are a wonderful contribution to the Audible library. The courses create opportunity for those of us who stopped formal education years ago. Audible, thank you for providing Great Course material.

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