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Spellbound: The Surprising Origins and Astonishing Secrets of English Spelling
Welcome to the illogical, idiosyncratic, outrageous linguistic phenomenon known as the English language. The story of how this ragtag collection of words evolved is a winding tale replete with intriguing accidents and bizarre twists of fate. In this eye-opening, fabulously entertaining book, James Essinger unlocks the mysteries that have confounded linguists and scholars for millennia.
From the sophisticated writing systems of the ancient Sumerians through the tongue twisters of Middle English, the popular National Spelling Bee, and the mobile phone text-messaging of today, Spellbound chronicles the fascinating history of English spelling, including insights about the vast number of words English has borrowed from other languages (“orange,� “vanilla,� and “ketchup,� to name a few), and how their meanings differ from country to country. Featuring a lively cast of characters ranging from the fictional to the historically noteworthy (Chaucer, Samuel Johnson, Noah Webster, Shakespeare, Bill Gates), this affectionate tribute to English spelling shows why our whimsical, capricious common language continues to hold us spellbound.
From the sophisticated writing systems of the ancient Sumerians through the tongue twisters of Middle English, the popular National Spelling Bee, and the mobile phone text-messaging of today, Spellbound chronicles the fascinating history of English spelling, including insights about the vast number of words English has borrowed from other languages (“orange,� “vanilla,� and “ketchup,� to name a few), and how their meanings differ from country to country. Featuring a lively cast of characters ranging from the fictional to the historically noteworthy (Chaucer, Samuel Johnson, Noah Webster, Shakespeare, Bill Gates), this affectionate tribute to English spelling shows why our whimsical, capricious common language continues to hold us spellbound.
305 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
57 people are currently reading
364 people want to read
About the author
James Essinger
43Ìýbooks29ÌýfollowersHi! My name is James Essinger and I'm a writer of fiction and non-fiction.
In my fiction I have a particular interest in personal relationships, travel, history, information technology and chess.
In my non-fiction I have a particular interest in the history of computing, and in language.
I was born in Leicester in the English Midlands in 1957 and I attended Overdale Junior School in Leicester and also Wyggeston Grammar School for Boys. After a year between school and university, I studied English Language and Literature at Lincoln College, which is part of the University of Oxford.
After leaving university I taught English in Finland for three nine-month sessions. I learnt Finnish, and I still speak Finnish fairly fluently. I also speak German and French.
My interests, aside from writing, include: my friends, movies, travel, chess and history.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
August 23, 2021
Well, after now having finished with and actually not having AT ALL textually enjoyed James Essinger’s 2007 Spellbound: The Surprising Origins and Astonishing Secrets of English Spelling (and which I think one can easily discern from my one star rating), I am in retrospect also kind of majorly glad that I did not actually approach Essinger’s featured text with high or in fact with any kind of expectations.
And truthfully, my low and basically almost non existent reading anticipations regarding Spellbound: The Surprising Origins and Astonishing Secrets of English Spelling before I even actively started my perusal, they had become this way mostly due to the annoying truth of the matter that when I quickly read through Essinger’s included bibliography prior to my commencement of Spellbound: The Surprising Origins and Astonishing Secrets of English Spelling I was both flabbergasted and frustrated that not only are the vast majority of the by the author, by James Essinger listed and consulted tomes decidedly too academically lacking in scope for my reading tastes and needs, there are also two featured books on the history of the English language in James Essinger’s bibliography which I have personally and academically found absolutely unreadable as well as horribly arrogant, namely Melvyn Bragg’s The Adventure of English: The Biography of a Language and Bill Bryson’s The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way, both of which I absolutely have despised because of active and ridiculous author boasting and far too many easily to be avoided and blatantly obvious factual errors.
Therefore, I was of course and naturally so more than a trifle worried that James Essinger's printed words, that his textual attitudes and perspectives in Spellbound: The Surprising Origins and Astonishing Secrets of English Spelling towards English and the vagrancies of English spelling could be similar, could be akin and alike to the arrogant and boastful English language superiority Weltanschauung shown by Melwyn Bragg and Bill Bryson in their respective works. And unfortunately so and very much yes indeed, my low, low, low expectations, they have in fact and in my humble opinion been more than well justified, and I do have to say that Spellbound: The Surprising Origins and Astonishing Secrets of English Spelling has been at best a frustrating and sometimes (actually generally) downright infuriating reading experience.
For one, with regard to James Essinger’s choice of words, yes, his utterances are in almost every way quite as arrogant, quite as full of themselves and as lacking in any kind of academic rigour as what had previously infuriated me with regard to Melvyn Bragg’s and Bill Bryson’s narrative voices, with all three authors showing a marked and seemingly personally relished disdain for academic writing and also for those of us who happen to enjoy academic writing, as well as Essinger, Bragg and Bryson also constantly in their narratives actively going against both diachronic (historical) and synchronic linguistics and somehow wanting their readers to believe that English as a language is somehow to be considered superior to all or at least to most other languages (namely that English is successful worldwide not due to reasons of economics, politics and power but because it is as a language in and of itself somehow just inherently better, superior).
Furthermore, and for two and even more of an issue, considering that there is also absolutely NOTHING factually presented and contained in Spellbound: The Surprising Origins and Astonishing Secrets of English Spelling that I do not already know about the history of the English language and how and why English is spelled the way it is, and that there equally and problematically also are quite a goodly number of linguistic errors I sadly have stumbled across, such as for example James Essinger declaring the reconstructed word kuningaz (king) as being Proto-Indo-European when in fact it is considered by ALL serious linguists as being Proto-Germanic, for me, Spellbound: The Surprising Origins and Astonishing Secrets of English Spelling has been a total waste of reading time and is also a book I would NEVER EVER consider recommending to anyone. For come on, while my issues with what I consider James Essinger’s substandard and arrogant narration style are of course personal in nature (and indeed, especially in non fiction, perceived author snobbery and superiority are always a huge so-called pet peeve for me), specific factual errors are something that I just cannot and will not forgive, as these errors of course could give readers of Spellbound: The Surprising Origins and Astonishing Secrets of English Spelling some major textual falsehoods both regarding English and the Indo-European languages in general.
And truthfully, my low and basically almost non existent reading anticipations regarding Spellbound: The Surprising Origins and Astonishing Secrets of English Spelling before I even actively started my perusal, they had become this way mostly due to the annoying truth of the matter that when I quickly read through Essinger’s included bibliography prior to my commencement of Spellbound: The Surprising Origins and Astonishing Secrets of English Spelling I was both flabbergasted and frustrated that not only are the vast majority of the by the author, by James Essinger listed and consulted tomes decidedly too academically lacking in scope for my reading tastes and needs, there are also two featured books on the history of the English language in James Essinger’s bibliography which I have personally and academically found absolutely unreadable as well as horribly arrogant, namely Melvyn Bragg’s The Adventure of English: The Biography of a Language and Bill Bryson’s The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way, both of which I absolutely have despised because of active and ridiculous author boasting and far too many easily to be avoided and blatantly obvious factual errors.
Therefore, I was of course and naturally so more than a trifle worried that James Essinger's printed words, that his textual attitudes and perspectives in Spellbound: The Surprising Origins and Astonishing Secrets of English Spelling towards English and the vagrancies of English spelling could be similar, could be akin and alike to the arrogant and boastful English language superiority Weltanschauung shown by Melwyn Bragg and Bill Bryson in their respective works. And unfortunately so and very much yes indeed, my low, low, low expectations, they have in fact and in my humble opinion been more than well justified, and I do have to say that Spellbound: The Surprising Origins and Astonishing Secrets of English Spelling has been at best a frustrating and sometimes (actually generally) downright infuriating reading experience.
For one, with regard to James Essinger’s choice of words, yes, his utterances are in almost every way quite as arrogant, quite as full of themselves and as lacking in any kind of academic rigour as what had previously infuriated me with regard to Melvyn Bragg’s and Bill Bryson’s narrative voices, with all three authors showing a marked and seemingly personally relished disdain for academic writing and also for those of us who happen to enjoy academic writing, as well as Essinger, Bragg and Bryson also constantly in their narratives actively going against both diachronic (historical) and synchronic linguistics and somehow wanting their readers to believe that English as a language is somehow to be considered superior to all or at least to most other languages (namely that English is successful worldwide not due to reasons of economics, politics and power but because it is as a language in and of itself somehow just inherently better, superior).
Furthermore, and for two and even more of an issue, considering that there is also absolutely NOTHING factually presented and contained in Spellbound: The Surprising Origins and Astonishing Secrets of English Spelling that I do not already know about the history of the English language and how and why English is spelled the way it is, and that there equally and problematically also are quite a goodly number of linguistic errors I sadly have stumbled across, such as for example James Essinger declaring the reconstructed word kuningaz (king) as being Proto-Indo-European when in fact it is considered by ALL serious linguists as being Proto-Germanic, for me, Spellbound: The Surprising Origins and Astonishing Secrets of English Spelling has been a total waste of reading time and is also a book I would NEVER EVER consider recommending to anyone. For come on, while my issues with what I consider James Essinger’s substandard and arrogant narration style are of course personal in nature (and indeed, especially in non fiction, perceived author snobbery and superiority are always a huge so-called pet peeve for me), specific factual errors are something that I just cannot and will not forgive, as these errors of course could give readers of Spellbound: The Surprising Origins and Astonishing Secrets of English Spelling some major textual falsehoods both regarding English and the Indo-European languages in general.
June 25, 2010
I was expecting to really like this book since I'm a total whore for anything language related, but I was actually pretty bored by it. It didn't really tell me much that I hadn't already learned about the general history of the English language, and the author's style was kind of off-putting. He inserted way too much of himself into the book, with really random comments and opinions. I guess I was looking for something more nerdily academic, while this book was clearly intended to be a bit more accessible to general readers. (I feel like this makes me sound super pretentious or something...really the bottom line was that it wasn't what I was expecting and I wanted a bit more.)
June 27, 2013
I love browsing the library nonfiction shelves because I sometimes happen on books like this: funny, short, entertaining, and genuinely surprising. The title is not an exaggeration. I thought I more or less knew the origins of English spelling: Germanic Saxon, Norman French, Latin, Celtic, adopted foreign words, blah blah. Oh, UK English and American English are slightly different! Big deal, right?
But Essinger explores so many facets of Old English, Middle English, and modern English so well that I learned a great deal. One of the most fun aspects of this book is that some oddities of English that I learned in kindergarten are finally explained. Ghost USED to be spelled "gost," and night USED to be pronounced the way it is spelled.
I enjoyed the focus on the early centuries of English, which I only vaguely understood. I had known about the Norman French invasion, but wer England and English like when the Angles and Saxons invaded a few centuries earlier? Essinger throws in quotes from writers throughout the ages so we can track the development of our language and spelling ourselves. Whatever happened to the good old letters thorn and eth?
But Essinger explores so many facets of Old English, Middle English, and modern English so well that I learned a great deal. One of the most fun aspects of this book is that some oddities of English that I learned in kindergarten are finally explained. Ghost USED to be spelled "gost," and night USED to be pronounced the way it is spelled.
I enjoyed the focus on the early centuries of English, which I only vaguely understood. I had known about the Norman French invasion, but wer England and English like when the Angles and Saxons invaded a few centuries earlier? Essinger throws in quotes from writers throughout the ages so we can track the development of our language and spelling ourselves. Whatever happened to the good old letters thorn and eth?
May 29, 2014
A fun and clever read. I've read plenty of books on the English language and the vagaries of our spelling. As far as English spelling is concerned, this didn't really go into detail like some of the other books and I knew most of what was in this book.
That being said, the author is fun to read and the anecdotes were great. Some sections of the book even merited being retold to my husband. I'm also now going to read the novel Trainspotting. I didn't realize how much of a Scottish accent you could give yourself by reading the words in that book the way they are spelled. I'm also going to read the book "The Killer's Guide to Iceland".
If you're interested in a quick, fun, entertaining looks at English spelling, this book is great. If you want something scholarly and in-depth, maybe look elsewhere.
That being said, the author is fun to read and the anecdotes were great. Some sections of the book even merited being retold to my husband. I'm also now going to read the novel Trainspotting. I didn't realize how much of a Scottish accent you could give yourself by reading the words in that book the way they are spelled. I'm also going to read the book "The Killer's Guide to Iceland".
If you're interested in a quick, fun, entertaining looks at English spelling, this book is great. If you want something scholarly and in-depth, maybe look elsewhere.
April 7, 2024
Fascinating and wonderous historical explanations, worth a revisit to teach others on our language, or to look into the author's recommendations and sources.
October 16, 2019
Subtitled: "The Improbable Story of English Spelling"
I bought this book when it came out in 2006 but have only just got round to reading it. I needn't have rushed so much.
Given how many people all round the world contend with the idiosyncracies of English spelling on a daily basis, it's a bit of a surprise there aren't more books on the history of how English words have ended up being spelled (or spelt) the way they are.
David Crystal's book a few years ago was excellent in many respects, but just wasn't the greatest read.
It was clear quite early on that this book would not be up to the job. Is it too much to ask from a book about language that the writing isn't sloppy, full of sentences that don't actually say what one guesses the author intended to say? Or that it hasn't been subjected to intelligent editing?
To be fair to the author, he certainly mentions the key factors that have - over the centuries - affected English spelling.
But he spends too much time (in a not particularly lengthy book) on admittedly related and relevant topics, notably the history of writing systems worldwide, the history of the English language. One can't argue with him covering that ground to some degree, but it leaves too little room to really get to grips with English spelling itself - a task he actually seems reluctant to do.
A couple of times he quotes at length a passage (e.g. The Lord's Prayer) from sources a century or more apart. But, rather than getting his hands dirty on specific spelling differences between the two versions, he essentially just says "They look very different, don't they?" and moves on.
This reluctance to deal directly with the matter at hand, coupled with the numerous inaccuracies or unhelpful references mean that I can't - despite some good stuff - rate the book any higher.
One of his main points is that it is easier to understand and remember how English words are spelled if one knows their history and origin. This is certainly a very valid and helpful point.
However, when it gets down to actually demonstrating this, he flounders. One of his main examples is the word "accommodate" - a word that many people indeed struggle with. He simply tells us that it'll be easier to remember how to spell this if one knows that it is derived from the Latin word "accommodare". I'm sure that'll help a lot of people, Mr Essinger!
I could go on. A shame. As I said earlier, this is some good stuff here but not enough and it's lost among too much pointless or inaccurate material.
I bought this book when it came out in 2006 but have only just got round to reading it. I needn't have rushed so much.
Given how many people all round the world contend with the idiosyncracies of English spelling on a daily basis, it's a bit of a surprise there aren't more books on the history of how English words have ended up being spelled (or spelt) the way they are.
David Crystal's book a few years ago was excellent in many respects, but just wasn't the greatest read.
It was clear quite early on that this book would not be up to the job. Is it too much to ask from a book about language that the writing isn't sloppy, full of sentences that don't actually say what one guesses the author intended to say? Or that it hasn't been subjected to intelligent editing?
To be fair to the author, he certainly mentions the key factors that have - over the centuries - affected English spelling.
But he spends too much time (in a not particularly lengthy book) on admittedly related and relevant topics, notably the history of writing systems worldwide, the history of the English language. One can't argue with him covering that ground to some degree, but it leaves too little room to really get to grips with English spelling itself - a task he actually seems reluctant to do.
A couple of times he quotes at length a passage (e.g. The Lord's Prayer) from sources a century or more apart. But, rather than getting his hands dirty on specific spelling differences between the two versions, he essentially just says "They look very different, don't they?" and moves on.
This reluctance to deal directly with the matter at hand, coupled with the numerous inaccuracies or unhelpful references mean that I can't - despite some good stuff - rate the book any higher.
One of his main points is that it is easier to understand and remember how English words are spelled if one knows their history and origin. This is certainly a very valid and helpful point.
However, when it gets down to actually demonstrating this, he flounders. One of his main examples is the word "accommodate" - a word that many people indeed struggle with. He simply tells us that it'll be easier to remember how to spell this if one knows that it is derived from the Latin word "accommodare". I'm sure that'll help a lot of people, Mr Essinger!
I could go on. A shame. As I said earlier, this is some good stuff here but not enough and it's lost among too much pointless or inaccurate material.
February 22, 2008
More interesting than you might think. Essinger writes with an enthusiasm which is engaging, though I confess that my interest did start to flag somewhere around the 3/4 mark.
English spelling is notoriously frustrating. My personal belief is that there is actually a 'spelling gene', which is distinct from overall intelligence and linguistic ability to a surprising degree (some of my smartest employees couldn't spell to save their lives). People who are homozygotes for possessing the ability* are the editors and proofreaders of the world (if not in fact, at least in spirit). Most people are heterozygotic - decent spellers, who get all but the most difficult words right. Then there are the misfortunate homozygotes who inherit both bad alleles, for instance my former employee who couldn't understand why his/her rendering of "vial to vial variability" as "vile to vile variability" left me helplessly convulsed. Essinger's defence of current spelling practices, that they provide an informative window on the historical development of the language, is likely to be of little comfort to this third group. Worse, his arguments that 'regularization' will be slow in coming are hard to refute.
I enjoyed this book quite a bit, but I admit to being a total language geek. Other people may not find it quite as fascinating.
*: I am definitely in this group - typos leap off the page to assault my eyes, even on documents which are upside down and halfway across the room. On the other hand, as you may have notice, the correct deployment of commas is something which defeats me completely.
English spelling is notoriously frustrating. My personal belief is that there is actually a 'spelling gene', which is distinct from overall intelligence and linguistic ability to a surprising degree (some of my smartest employees couldn't spell to save their lives). People who are homozygotes for possessing the ability* are the editors and proofreaders of the world (if not in fact, at least in spirit). Most people are heterozygotic - decent spellers, who get all but the most difficult words right. Then there are the misfortunate homozygotes who inherit both bad alleles, for instance my former employee who couldn't understand why his/her rendering of "vial to vial variability" as "vile to vile variability" left me helplessly convulsed. Essinger's defence of current spelling practices, that they provide an informative window on the historical development of the language, is likely to be of little comfort to this third group. Worse, his arguments that 'regularization' will be slow in coming are hard to refute.
I enjoyed this book quite a bit, but I admit to being a total language geek. Other people may not find it quite as fascinating.
*: I am definitely in this group - typos leap off the page to assault my eyes, even on documents which are upside down and halfway across the room. On the other hand, as you may have notice, the correct deployment of commas is something which defeats me completely.
July 11, 2008
The "spelling" aspect is quite secondary - the main "story" consists of a linguistic history of English. Dry English humor helps over the technical bumps, but if you've read The Story of English, and similar works, you've heard most of this before. One odd angle here: Essinger spent quite some time in Finland, and often uses Finnish(!) as a foreign language for comparitive purposes.
June 25, 2008
This book was so much fun! I would have liked a little more depth in how words evolved, but that probably would scare off more casual readers. Good reading for people who wonder why words look the way they do and love to learn about our language.
Read
January 14, 2021No stars... This book did not hold my interest at all so I stopped reading.
June 13, 2018
I finished reading this nonfiction book today, and I very much enjoyed discovering the basic story of how I, a woman writing in 2018 in SouthWestCentral Louisiana, is using essentially the same language used by Chaucer and Shakespeare, who wrote when native speakers of English were no more than four million souls (and when those who could write their language with any degree of eptitude were perhaps numbered considerably less than a million). It is a fascinating story, and one that I loved reading.
Essentially, any language can be considered to be a form of magic - someone who does not know me, and might not be able to find SouthWestCentral Louisiana on a map, can still know my thoughts by virtue of this book review on Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ, or Facebook, or my weblog, assuming they can read and understand what I have written.
Anglo-Saxon, the language of Beowulf, written in the eighth century after Christ, is incomprehensible to any but a scholar of Anglo-Saxon, but it is still written in the Roman alphabet (rather than in Cyrillic characters, or in Chinese characters), with a few Norwegian additions. And it is perhaps due to King Alfred (died 899) that books written in Latin and Greek were translated into Anglo-Saxon, and books began to be composed in Anglo-Saxon. The Norman Conquest (1066) ushered in a melding of Norman French with Anglo-Saxon, with the result being the Middle English of Chaucer, which is much more comprehensible than Beowulf, but still requires translation or Cliff Notes for comprehension. Shakespeare wrote in the late 1500's to early 1600's, and his spelling and word usages, though quiteÌýidiosyncratic by today's standards, are quite readable to an educated person. The first English dictionaries came out in the very early 1600s, By the middle of the 1700s the Great Vowel Shift had taken place and spelling had become regularized by usage and dictionaries, so that essentially Jane Austen (died 1817) was writing the same language that I am using today. In large part, the only differences between British English and American English are in spelling of words (centre/center), and in using different words for the same thing (lorry/truck).
The author of this work notes that all attempts to change English by getting rid of irregular nouns and of all the things that make English the internally strange language it is at times have failed; essentially, the only thing that changes the language now is for a significant portion of people to agree on a new word (bromance, locavore, or sexting), or the changing of the spelling of a given word (removing the hyphen from e-mail or audio-book, since those things are now normal enough to not need a hyphen).
I very much enjoyed reading this E-book, and highly recommend it.
Essentially, any language can be considered to be a form of magic - someone who does not know me, and might not be able to find SouthWestCentral Louisiana on a map, can still know my thoughts by virtue of this book review on Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ, or Facebook, or my weblog, assuming they can read and understand what I have written.
Anglo-Saxon, the language of Beowulf, written in the eighth century after Christ, is incomprehensible to any but a scholar of Anglo-Saxon, but it is still written in the Roman alphabet (rather than in Cyrillic characters, or in Chinese characters), with a few Norwegian additions. And it is perhaps due to King Alfred (died 899) that books written in Latin and Greek were translated into Anglo-Saxon, and books began to be composed in Anglo-Saxon. The Norman Conquest (1066) ushered in a melding of Norman French with Anglo-Saxon, with the result being the Middle English of Chaucer, which is much more comprehensible than Beowulf, but still requires translation or Cliff Notes for comprehension. Shakespeare wrote in the late 1500's to early 1600's, and his spelling and word usages, though quiteÌýidiosyncratic by today's standards, are quite readable to an educated person. The first English dictionaries came out in the very early 1600s, By the middle of the 1700s the Great Vowel Shift had taken place and spelling had become regularized by usage and dictionaries, so that essentially Jane Austen (died 1817) was writing the same language that I am using today. In large part, the only differences between British English and American English are in spelling of words (centre/center), and in using different words for the same thing (lorry/truck).
The author of this work notes that all attempts to change English by getting rid of irregular nouns and of all the things that make English the internally strange language it is at times have failed; essentially, the only thing that changes the language now is for a significant portion of people to agree on a new word (bromance, locavore, or sexting), or the changing of the spelling of a given word (removing the hyphen from e-mail or audio-book, since those things are now normal enough to not need a hyphen).
I very much enjoyed reading this E-book, and highly recommend it.
March 22, 2017
P. 192 - "When two groups of people speaking different languages mingle socially and at work, there is always a pressure toward grammatical simplification in order to aid the processs of communication."
P. 201 - "Middle English itself can be described not only as a hybrid, but also as a convenient simplification that contains elements of both the languages from which it derives."
P. 214 - "...the century of revolutionary change in English from 1400 to 1500 involved greater change than anything that has happened to the English language in the past three or even four centuries prior to our present-day vantage point."
P. 257 - "By reflecting and stating the accepted standard of public spelling (that is, the spellings already widely used by printers), the 'Dictionary' also became the accepted standard for private spelling during the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries." (Dr Johnson's Dictionary)
P. 280 - "At the heart of 'Spellbound' there are ultimately two principal arguments, and they help to explain why these middle-ranking spelling reforms have never worked and are not likely to do so.
First, as we have seen, experienced readers read by making very rapid, even almost instinctive, association between the way a word looks on the page and a particular meaning. This being so, the illogicality of English spelling is not necessarily a major problem once the spelling system of English has acutally been learned.
Second, and to make the point yet again, a new way of spelling that utilizes the Roman alphabet would, for perhaps no significant benefits, deprive us of the rich cultural heritage of the English spelling system. The English writing system, is, in effect, a daily reminder of the heritage of the English-speaking people, and we have every right to be extremely proud of it."
P. 201 - "Middle English itself can be described not only as a hybrid, but also as a convenient simplification that contains elements of both the languages from which it derives."
P. 214 - "...the century of revolutionary change in English from 1400 to 1500 involved greater change than anything that has happened to the English language in the past three or even four centuries prior to our present-day vantage point."
P. 257 - "By reflecting and stating the accepted standard of public spelling (that is, the spellings already widely used by printers), the 'Dictionary' also became the accepted standard for private spelling during the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries." (Dr Johnson's Dictionary)
P. 280 - "At the heart of 'Spellbound' there are ultimately two principal arguments, and they help to explain why these middle-ranking spelling reforms have never worked and are not likely to do so.
First, as we have seen, experienced readers read by making very rapid, even almost instinctive, association between the way a word looks on the page and a particular meaning. This being so, the illogicality of English spelling is not necessarily a major problem once the spelling system of English has acutally been learned.
Second, and to make the point yet again, a new way of spelling that utilizes the Roman alphabet would, for perhaps no significant benefits, deprive us of the rich cultural heritage of the English spelling system. The English writing system, is, in effect, a daily reminder of the heritage of the English-speaking people, and we have every right to be extremely proud of it."
December 29, 2022
Fact - many words are spelled illogically and arbitrarily
In the preface, we read “Writing not only preserves language. It also � in a real sense � cheats death.� As I reach my four score you may be reading this review after my demise; such is the power of the written word.
However, even though this book has width and depth when it comes to the subject of English, the actual target is English spelling. If I did not have Microsoft word and Dragon Speak this review would not exist; I can not spell my name the same way twice.
In the introduction, we get what James Essinger is going to tell us. However, we have to glean it from between all the name-dropping of writers and book characters.
Essinger points out punctuation from the book “Eats, Shoots & Leaves.� This reminded me of an old Benny Hill sketch � “What's this thing called? Love�
This book is a good place to start on your way to spelling and why to do so.
In the preface, we read “Writing not only preserves language. It also � in a real sense � cheats death.� As I reach my four score you may be reading this review after my demise; such is the power of the written word.
However, even though this book has width and depth when it comes to the subject of English, the actual target is English spelling. If I did not have Microsoft word and Dragon Speak this review would not exist; I can not spell my name the same way twice.
In the introduction, we get what James Essinger is going to tell us. However, we have to glean it from between all the name-dropping of writers and book characters.
Essinger points out punctuation from the book “Eats, Shoots & Leaves.� This reminded me of an old Benny Hill sketch � “What's this thing called? Love�
This book is a good place to start on your way to spelling and why to do so.
February 3, 2023
Good overview of the English alphabet and spelling
The book is an interesting and enjoyable read. It covers the intended subject well and guides the reader through the history and fluidity of the English language and it's spelling, but leaves out a lot of details. If you enjoy this book I recommend The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester for an intriguing history of the OED. The History of the Alphabet by Kevin Stroud provides an abundance of information and since it is audio helps the listener hear the different sounds. For those who enjoy any of these books I highly recommend the History of English podcast by Kevin Stroud.
The book is an interesting and enjoyable read. It covers the intended subject well and guides the reader through the history and fluidity of the English language and it's spelling, but leaves out a lot of details. If you enjoy this book I recommend The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester for an intriguing history of the OED. The History of the Alphabet by Kevin Stroud provides an abundance of information and since it is audio helps the listener hear the different sounds. For those who enjoy any of these books I highly recommend the History of English podcast by Kevin Stroud.
May 15, 2023
I was hoping to like this book more than I did. The author’s goal was to write something accessible to the non-word-nerd, but in attempting to merge academia with accessibility, the book fell short in both. The book also rides the line between descriptivism and prescriptivism, and I worry that a prescriptivist would have no trouble using this book to justify their ideas (when I don’t think that was the intent of the author). I can’t read this form the perspective of someone who doesn’t know many of these histories already, so maybe this book would appeal better to such a person, but to me it fell flat.
February 24, 2019
Whie we tawk like thiz.
If you are at all interested in history, this book is a fascinating read. Everybody uses language whether it be English or some other. If English is your native tongue or your adopted one, this book leads you through its development as it relates to sweeping historical events . Whee. What a ride !!
If you are at all interested in history, this book is a fascinating read. Everybody uses language whether it be English or some other. If English is your native tongue or your adopted one, this book leads you through its development as it relates to sweeping historical events . Whee. What a ride !!
April 24, 2018
This was an excellent read! I learned so much about the history of the English language and English spelling, which are particularly fascinating to me because I participate in spelling bees and soon the National Spelling Bee. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in etymology!
February 21, 2023
I thought that James Essinger's writing was engaging and very witty. I did not expect to be as entertained as I was about what I thought to be a somewhat dry topic. I enjoyed the presentation of the compelling history of the English language.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 4, 2017
A brief but solid history of the English language, but it doesn't include any surprising information or astonishing secrets.😉
February 13, 2024
Very good, especially in the second half, for anybody who likes simply the history of language.
August 27, 2016
Interesting if you are an English language (or possibly any language) geek. But perhaps light on new knowledge if you've already read . Although the focus on spelling is different here and the role of printers in standardizing spelling is a new detail for me.
December 26, 2007
Fascinating guide through the development of the English language with interesting side trips into the creation of early alphabets, the first written germanic language, the impact of Norman French on Old English, the Great Vowel shift etc. I really enjoyed it.
March 15, 2009
I found this book fascinating. It really points out to me what I have always argued with people who get picky about language and that is "LANGUAGE CHANGES GET OVER IT" Even names like Shakespeare had a handful of ways it was spelled.
January 28, 2015
It cracked me up to read: "it is hardly surprising that many British people use American English expressions to make themselves sound sophisticated, witty, and up to date." This fellow is obviously a British author. I just never knew it went both ways!
October 31, 2007
Interesting look at the perverseness of English spelling - could have been a bit tidier in the telling...
February 18, 2008
Still reading....
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Currently reading
September 19, 2008great so far, very british, very humorous.
December 6, 2008
About the origins of English and English spelling. Very interesting and written in a way that is easy to understand.
June 12, 2009
A lay-person's read for why English is spelled the way it's spelled. It was very interesting and entertaining, but I'm a nerd...
July 15, 2013
Excellent. Witty, informative, gives plenty of examples of what he's illustrating.
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