“A short but stylish run through the genealogies of these small, vital words that are ‘at the very foundation of human expression at all times.’ McWhorter, blessed with a chatty and accessible manner, writes with a mischievous understatement. His approach is generous, measured, and historically informed.”—The New York Times Book Review
“Yes, it weighs in on pronoun politics, but it also travels well beyond that, on a route reflecting John McWhorter’s curiosity, erudition and wit.”—Frank Bruni, The New York Times
“Hang on tight—this tour of pronoun usage swoops and spins around the world and across history so fast. John McWhorter is a descriptive linguist, a scholar interested in observing the evolution of language, not railing against its perceived misuses.”—Ron Charles, The Washington Post
“Fun and instructive—and thou mayest emerge spaking they for that single person standing next to you.”—Kirkus Reviews
“The etymology fascinates, and light humor enlivens what might in lesser hands become stuffy. Word nerds will find much to ponder.”—Publishers Weekly
“Pronoun Trouble recounts the history of our contemporary English pronouns, while adding reflections on language generally. A better guide through this maze than John McWhorter is not readily imagined. He brings to the task a strong element of good sense, nicely combined with references to contemporary movies, television, and popular culture at large.”—The Washington Free Beacon
“In discussing the most staid words in English, he touches on music and wine. In asides, footnotes and parentheses, he is informal and catty: the effect is of listening to a delightful dinner-party guest. As for his subject, he reminds readers at the end that the story of pronouns, and of language more broadly, is never complete”—The Economist
“Unapologetically named after a bit in an old Daffy Duck cartoon, and replete with pop cultural touchstones, McWhorter’s volume affectionately showcases an array of vernacular innovation around the world and throughout the ages, from the Americas to the Shetland Islands to Japan, and the ways in which languages and patois almost always organically evolve to fit generation upon generation of real people’s needs, experiences, and pronunciations.”—The Washington Examiner
“McWhorter invites readers along to conjugate verbs, and doing so will take you back to ancient literature, on a fascinating journey that’s perfect for word nerds and anyone who loves language.”—Los Angeles Blade
“John McWhorter starts with ‘I’ and ‘me’ and ends up circling the world, with stops along the way for Shakespeare, Sesame Street, Broadway musicals, Elmer Fudd, and a hundred other unexpected and fascinating digressions. The only thing better than reading Pronoun Trouble would be sitting next to McWhorter at a dinner party.”—Malcolm Gladwell
“Yes, Pronoun Trouble sheds light on using ‘they’ for a single person, ‘guys’ for girls and women, and the self-contradictory but ubiquitous ‘yeah no.’ But more than that, you come away knowing how the language you love—or take for granted—got that way.”—Deborah Tannen, author of You Just Don’t Understand
“Who would have thought a decade ago that the words inciting shame and outrage would not be slurs identified by a first consonant, or a sexual term with four letters, but the humble pronoun? No one could make better sense of this part of speech than our national treasure, John McWhorter. Pronoun Trouble explains its subject with clarity, insight, and good judgment.”—Steven Pinker (he/him/his), author of The Language Instinct
“John McWhorter takes a small-seeming subject, the pronoun, and with his unique mix of charm, linguistic erudition, and common sense, explains it all to us. Readers may be so taken with his delicate analysis of examples that they miss his larger point: a passionate pluralism of concepts and voices is as essential to a sane view of the way we speak as it is to a sane view of the way we live.”—Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker
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