Perhaps the first truly important book about the divergence of American English from its British roots, this survey of the language as it was spoken-and as it was changing-at the beginning of the 20th century comes via one of its most inveterate watchers, journalist, critic, and editor HENRY LOUIS MENCKEN (1880-1956).In this replica of the 1921 “revised and enlarged” second edition, Mencken turns his keen ear on:
• the general character of American English • loan-words and non-English influences • expletives and forbidden words • American slang • the future of the language • and much, much more.
Anyone fascinated by words will find this a thoroughly enthralling look at the most changeable language on the face of the planet.
H. L. Mencken was born in Baltimore in 1880 and died there in 1956. He began his long career as a journalist, critic, and philologist on the Baltimore Morning Herald in 1899. In 1906 he joined the staff of the… More about H.L. Mencken
Product Details
Ebook | $29.99
Published by Knopf Feb 08, 2012| 739 Pages| ISBN 9780307808783
