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George
George is 37% done with Fresh Off the Boat
Mixed feelings so far. I don't get most of the references (clothing brands, American sports, hip hop references). Although people were jerks to him, he also comes across as one too. I also find it hard to sympathise when he got kicked out of 5 different private schools due to his mad bant. He comes from a rich background and tries to reject it, while still reaping the benefits.
Aug 27, 2016 08:18AM Add a comment
Fresh Off the Boat

George
George is 15% done with Fresh Off the Boat
"I always liked sneakers. You had to look fresh playing ball, but I didn't always have the illest pair."
Just to give you an idea of the writing style. Although I'm not mad crazy about the writing, it does make the book more down to earth. I like Eddie Huang due to him combining two of my passions: China and food
Aug 25, 2016 03:24AM Add a comment
Fresh Off the Boat

George
George is 51% done with Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English
Been a bit busy the last few days so haven't been reading as much :(
Aug 20, 2016 08:13PM Add a comment
Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English

George
George is 41% done with Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English
Now examining to what extent the Vikings actually had on our language. Although when they landed originally in the 700s, most likely Old English and Old Norse would have been somewhat mutually intelligible.
Aug 18, 2016 08:57AM Add a comment
Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English

George
George is 41% done with Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English
Now examining to what extent the Vikings actually had on our language. Although when they landed originally in the 700s, most likely Old English and Old Norse would have been somewhat mutually intelligible.
Aug 18, 2016 08:57AM Add a comment
Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English

George
George is 29% done with Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English
He shows that the Anglo-Saxons arriving in Celtic Britain post 'Rexit' (Roman exit),their closely related dialects forming a nascent English language would have then had this language spoken by native Celts who would have had L1 transference,seen in many non native speakers of English today. Mainly grammar but he posits that some etymology unknown words could actually be found in the Celtic languages
Aug 17, 2016 06:59PM Add a comment
Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English

George
George is 28% done with Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English
Loving this book. As someone from the island of Ireland, I speak in some ways a 'dialect' of English (Hiberno English) that is widely accepted to have not just words taken from Irish language, but the -grammar- too. So it is less of a leap for me to accept McWhorter's point that British Celtic languages like Welsh influenced early English grammar.
Aug 17, 2016 06:51PM Add a comment
Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English

George
George is 3% done with Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English
Already this book is different from the last one. Suggesting English is not special because of its word changes over its history, seen in many other languages, but rather it's grammar changes which makes it stand out even fro its close relatives. I also like he is seemingly not a monolingual linguist.
Aug 16, 2016 10:37PM Add a comment
Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English

George
George is 2% done with Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English
John McWhorter is another name that has continuously cropped up when looking for language / linguistic books. I first heard of this book when mentioned in 'the history of English' podcast as being one of the first books to show how present Celtic words are in English but also why they may be so few. This had me interested so I'm glad to finally start it! :)
Aug 16, 2016 10:10PM Add a comment
Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English

George
George is 94% done with The Story of English in 100 Words
Almost finished the book but as the words become more modern with 'LOL' etc I'm beginning to lose interest. There's not much to say on the word but instead similar cases like the development of ROFL and LMAO. I preferred the more in depth word origins in earlier chapters that really gave a good overview of that words historical usage. 100 is a nice round number but I feel a few chapters could have been cut.
Aug 16, 2016 08:58PM Add a comment
The Story of English in 100 Words

George
George is 57% done with The Story of English in 100 Words
There's some overlap with the Pinker book I read before. Particularly in their explanation of the two interpretation of the word 'disinterested'.
Aug 15, 2016 05:49PM Add a comment
The Story of English in 100 Words

George
George is 25% done with The Story of English in 100 Words
Every chapter is a whole word's etymology. Just got to the etymology of 'arse'
Aug 14, 2016 12:12AM Add a comment
The Story of English in 100 Words

George
George is starting Stories of Your Life and Others
Didn't hear of this author before a friend showed me the trailer of a film based on this short story. I was intrigued to find out its a sci fi story most relevant to me: an expert linguist gets called upon by the military to make first contact with a mysterious alien race orbiting Earth. Should be a quick read but looking forward to finishing it.
Aug 11, 2016 08:48PM Add a comment
Stories of Your Life and Others

George
George is starting Stories of Your Life and Others
Didn't hear of this author before a friend showed me the trailer of a film based on this short story. I was intrigued to find out its a sci fi story most relevant to me: an expert linguist gets called upon by the military to make first contact with a mysterious alien race orbiting Earth. Should be a quick read but looking forward to finishing it.
Aug 11, 2016 08:48PM Add a comment
Stories of Your Life and Others

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