The Mother Tongue: English and How it Got that Way

by Bill Bryson

To be fair, English is full of booby traps for the unwary foreigner.

To be fair, English is full of booby traps for the unwary foreigner. Any language where the unassuming word fly signifies an annoying insect, a means of travel, and a critical part of a gentleman’s apparel is clearly asking to be mangled.