Do You Speak American? Paperback - 2005
by Robert MacNeil; William Cran
The companion volume to a PBS special, this is the tale of the surprising discoveries the authors made while interviewing a host of native speakers and observing everyday verbal interactions across the country. High school & older.
Summary
These and other questions catapulted Robert MacNeil and William Cran, coauthors of the language classic The Story of English, on a journey that took them around the country in search of answers. Do You Speak American?, the companion volume to a PBS special, is the tale of the surprising discoveries they made while interviewing a host of native speakers and observing everyday verbal interactions across the country. Examining the histories and controversies surrounding both written and spoken American English, MacNeil and Cran address highly emotional anxieties and assumptions about our language-and offer some unpredictable responses.
With insight and wit, MacNeil and Cran bring us a compelling follow-up to The Story of English that is at once a celebration and a potent study of our singular language.
From the jacket flap
These questions, and more, about our language catapulted Robert MacNeil and William Cran--the authors (with Robert McCrum) of the language classic "The Story of English--across the country in search of the answers. "Do You Speak American? is the tale of their discoveries, which provocatively show how the standard for American English--if a standard exists--is changing quickly and dramatically.
On a journey that takes them from the Northeast, through Appalachia and the Deep South, and west to California, the authors observe everyday verbal interactions and in a host of interviews with native speakers glean the linguistic quirks and traditions characteristic of each area. While examining the histories and controversies surrounding both written and spoken American English, they address anxieties and assumptions that, when explored, are highly emotional, such as the growing influence of Spanish as a threat to American English and the special treatment of African-American vernacular English. And, challenging the purists who think grammatical standards are in serious deterioration and that media saturation of our culture is homogenizing our speech, they surprise us with unpredictable responses.
With insight and wit, MacNeil and Cran bring us a compelling book that is at once a celebration and a potent study of our singular language.
Each wave of immigration has brought new words to enrich the American language. Do you recognize the origin of
1. blunderbuss, sleigh, stoop, coleslaw, boss, waffle?
Or
2. dumb, ouch, shyster, check, kaput, scram, bummer?
Or
3. phooey, pastrami, glitch, kibbitz, schnozzle?
Or
4. broccoli, espresso, pizza, pasta, macaroni, radio?
Or
5. smithereens, lollapalooza, speakeasy, hooligan?
Or
6. vamoose, chaps, stampede, mustang, ranch, corral?
1. Dutch 2. German 3. Yiddish 4. Italian 5. Irish 6. Spanish
Details
- Title Do You Speak American?
- Author Robert MacNeil; William Cran
- Binding Paperback
- Edition Reprint
- Pages 240
- Volumes 1
- Language ENG
- Publisher Houghton Mifflin, Wilmington, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
- Date 2005-11-14
- Features Bibliography, Index, Maps, Table of Contents
- ISBN 9780156032889 / 0156032880
- Weight 0.6 lbs (0.27 kg)
- Dimensions 8 x 5.2 x 0.6 in (20.32 x 13.21 x 1.52 cm)
- Library of Congress subjects Americanisms, English language - United States
- Library of Congress Catalog Number 2005023093
- Dewey Decimal Code 420.973
Media reviews
Citations
- Ingram Advance, 11/01/2005, Page 91
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