Made In America: An Informal History Of The English Language In The United States (2001) - Plot & Excerpts
Much, MUCH, MUCH more than a history of the English language in America! Bryson with magical and funny writing links the evolution of language with the evolution of culture, science, recreation, food, politics. His controversial or almost heretical debunkings of accepted history are supported with an extensive bibliography of the sources.The debunking is endless! Barely a page was turned that didn't leave me amazed at how much I don't know, and just how far away from documented history is the accepted and taught history of just about every aspect of the Europeans' settlement of the 'new' world. About the only thing somewhat factually correct about the white man's settlement of North America is that Europeans came and decimated and displaced the natives. As an example, one of the unknown reasons that the Natives were able to help the first American settlers was that one of them spoke very good English. That synopsis does Bryson's writing a severe injustice, so here is his (slightly abbreviated) telling:"... Before long, as every [American] schoolchild knows, the Pilgrims were thriving, and Indians and settlers were sitting down to a cordial Thanksgiving feast. Life was grand."A question that naturally arises is how they managed this. Algonquian, the language of the eastern tribes, is an extraordinarily complex and agglomerative tongue... full of formidable consonant clusters that are all but unpronounceable by the untutored..."...The answer, surprisingly glossed over by most history books, is that the Pilgrims didn't have to learn Algonquian for the happy and convenient reason that Samoset and Squanto spoke English — Samoset only a litte, but Squanto with total assurance (and some Spanish into the bargain.) (4)I also learned that the so-called Christian purity that, amongst other things, has been accused of distorting American English into using euphemism in place of body part words, originally spoke sexually explicit language enough to make fans of Playboy blush. And, even more astonishing, that the Puritans actively encouraged premarital sex in the 18th century as an accepted method of testing physical compatibility."Sex among the Puritans was considered as natural as eating, and was discussed about as casually, to the extent that, the historian David Fischer writes, 'the writings of the Puritans required heavy editing before they were thought fit to print even in the mid-twentieth century.' Premarital intercourse was not just tolerated but was effectively encouraged. Couples who intended to marry could take out something called a pre-contract — in effect, a license to have sex. It was the Puritans, too, who refined the intriguing custom of bundling, or tarrying as it was also often called, in which a courting pair were invited to climb into bed together..."As one seventeenth-century observer explained it: 'When a man is enamoured of a young women, and wishes to marry her, he proposes the affair to her parents; if they have no objections they allow him to tarry the night with her, in order to make his court with her. After the young ones have sat up as long as they think proper, they get into bed together, also without pulling of their undergarments in order to prevent scandal. If the parties agree it is all very well; the banns are published and they are married without delay. If not they part, and possibly never see each other again; unless, which is an accident that seldom happens, the forsaken fair proves pregnant, and then the man is obliged to marry her.'..."Although never expressly countenanced, fornication was so common in Puritan New England that at least one parish had forms printed up in which the guilty parties could confess by filling in their names and paying a small fine... "(305-6).Bryson defrocks most of Kroc's reputed claims to fame, critically examines myths around the evils of immigrants, suggests that one of the best living examples of how 'real' English may have been spoken is to listen to Yosemite Sam, points out that the famous 'That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind' was in fact the miss-heard version of 'That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.' Bryson also wades into the issue of politically correct language with intelligence, diplomacy, and razor sharp observations — and, of course, humour.This books re-affirms the vivifying joy and beauty and aliveness of the English language. A gem of a book, and one I will now go out and buy.
I'll preface by saying that I've been a Bryson fan for quite some time now. Rarely have I come across a book of his (travelogue or otherwise) that hasn't held my interest. For those who've only read selections such as "The Lost Continent" or "A Walk in the Woods" (which features a highly entertaining encounter with a security guard at Palmerton's own Zinc Company, the central landmark of my beloved hometown), "Made in America" is a solely different journey. This is a book for anyone who's wondered why American English is the way it is -- often absurd, sometimes pleasantly undereducated on the surface, more often than not a hodgepodge of fusions borrowed (and manipulated) from other languages as varied as those used by the Aztecs. (We didn't have a word for "avocado," till we borrowed a word from them that consequently meant "testicle.") That being said, this is a book as much about the growth of America itself, and the evolution of the American people. You can't understand the development of a language without viewing history as a whole. In "Made in America," Bryson treats the reader to a lackadaisical romp through American history with his trademark tongue-in-cheek humor. Albeit brief, this portrait of our rising and falling, triumphs and failings, kept me more engaged than anything any history professor has managed to impart. (Of course, this could be because my professor had a salivary problem that kept those in the front of the class bathed in light showers of sputum, which sometimes distracted from his oratories.) It's the opinion of this reviewer that any prospective reader of this book should first tackle the predecessor to this book. "The Mother Tongue," which is in no measure less entertaining, traces the origins of English itself. I don't believe the author would begrudge me saying that "Mother Tongue" is something of a prequel to "Made in America," and should be read first to lend greater effect to the latter. (Besides, it offers an entire chapter on obscenities which is, in itself, worth conquering the entire book just to get to.) Lastly, I believe that any person, young or old, who has even the remotest interest in etymology, history, or even doesn't (it wouldn't hurt you to read something just for its educational value, now would it?) should read this book. It's just as important to have a working knowledge of current events as it is to have an understanding of what the hell you're saying before it leaves your mouth. You might just stop for a second before claiming that someone is "a pot calling the kettle black." Or maybe you'll stop eating avocados when you realize what they resemble.
What do You think about Made In America: An Informal History Of The English Language In The United States (2001)?
Bryson’s Made In America is a usually fascinating but sometimes overwhelming conversation about the manner in which language has evolved in the United States over the last couple hundred years. If you imagine a guy at the end of the bar who knows way too much about a particular subject and, while he shares quite a few compelling and memorable facts with you over the course of an evening, eventually you forget them all because there are so goddamn many that you just want the guy to be quiet for a second so you can take it all in and sip your beer, well, you have this book.Bryson’s research skills shine in this book. He cites his sources constantly and his transitions from one subject to the next work more often than not. He would be the first to admit that his perspective (for example, in the influence of “politically correct” mindsets on language) is more editorial than reporting; at the same time, he doesn’t apologize (and I don’t think he should) for his point of view. Bryson also provides, whether he planned to do so or not, a short-form American history lesson through his efforts to contextualize the language’s changes and how/why they came to fruition. I could probably have used fifty fewer pages (I didn’t need as much on the space program or car companies). Still, I’d read more Bryson (this is his third title on my “read” shelf, I believe) and I’d recommend Made in America to someone looking for an intensive, if somewhat random, analysis of English in the United States. He’s a little dry, a little nerdy, but, well, I’d rather get drunk with Bryson then, say, a heroin addict talking about smack dealers or an earnest poet waiting for me to ask him to read his verse. You know what I mean.
—RandomAnthony
This book is advertised as a history of the English language in the United States. But readers who primarily want to know about the trends of English in America, about its broader causes and effects, will only feel satisfied with this book about 50% of the time. When Bryson uses vocabulary examples to support larger narratives or points, he's brilliant. When was American English adapted from British English (losing 'doth' and 'liveth'), how was it altered by different eras of immigration, and what does this mean historically? Bryson tells us. To that end, I loved his early chapters - on the 18th century, national identity, immigration, and infrastructure, for example. The later chapters are less narrative and less cohesive with one another. Words that cropped up with the advent of cars, cinema, modern shopping. At times it feels like a chronicling of inventions and geographic names... interesting but not always yielding linguistic insight. And there's SO MUCH of it, that it's easy to grow tired of the details that aren't, well, pertinent to thoughtful discussion. At these points, the book feels more like a book of trivia than a linguistic history. The research is extensive. Bryson read or consulted some linguistic and American history classics, and compiled pretty good notes and a bibliography. But in some historical discussions he draws exclusively from secondary sources and reaches debatable conclusions, which he then oversimplifies. His depiction of Ellis Island as a magnificent and welcoming gateway full of charitable employees (and he cites only one, secondary source) might raise some eyebrows. Finally, I personally become suspicious when authors cite almost no sources by name in-text, except for one that pops up over and over again. David Hackett Fischer is everywhere.Ultimately, this is a general history of the U.S., through the lens of new words over the centuries. And the writing is by any measure good, but not brilliant. I give it an uninspired 2 1/2 stars, or a Goodreads 2.
—Jill
I listened to the Audible version read by William Roberts. This is a book on the history of the English language in the United States, but there is a lot of historical information thrown in, too. I was puzzled by the choice of this particular narrator--this is a book about language and sometimes specifically about pronunciation, but Roberts had an odd accent I couldn't identify (he sounded a bit like a pompous professor), and he mispronounced more than one word. "Poo-berty" for puberty, saying the "t" in "Filet-O-Fish", and pronouncing Hamtramck (MI)as two syllables when it's three syllables(Ham-tram-ick). This made me wonder what else he might be saying incorrectly! Issues of the narration aside, the content of this book is really all over the place, but Bryson tries hard to keep it narrowed to a theme. I enjoyed it and laughed more than once. This could be very dry material, but Bryson knows how to inject a good amount of anecdotal humor to keep it entertaining. Some of it is a little bit dated--I don't know the exact date of publication, but seems to have been written in the late 90s. No mention of the Internet at all.
—Tracy
