The Prodigal Tongue Quotes

“How can any of us ever be sure that we know what other people mean when they use words?”
― Lynne Murphy, The Prodigal Tongue: The Love-Hate Relationship Between American and British English

“What grammar we learn in school is often oversimplified to the point of self-contradiction. ("Verbs are action words!" they tell us "Was is a verb!" they tell us. Can you see the problem?) And so our "logical" justifications for saying things in a particular way are often based on faulty premises.”
― Lynne Murphy, The Prodigal Tongue: The Love-Hate Relationship Between American and British English

“What most of these commentators fail to recognize, in any case, is that English people enjoy complaining about things, and that the content of any particular English person's complaint is rarely anything more than a pretext for the act of complaining. From Mr. Woodhouse to Basil Fawlty, complaining about things - the weather, the food, the trains - is what the English have always done best, and with the greatest eloquence and esprit.”
― Lynne Murphy, The Prodigal Tongue: The Love-Hate Relationship Between American and British English

“English is under attack from American words that are “mindless” (the Mail on Sunday),2 “ugly and pointless” (BBC Magazine),3 “infectious, destructive and virulent” (the Daily Mail).4 American words “infect, invade, and pollute” (The Times).5 Even Prince Charles has assessed the situation, warning that American English is “very corrupting.”
― Lynne Murphy, The Prodigal Tongue: The Love-Hate Relationship Between American and British English