
Highly Irregular
Why Tough, Through, and Dough Don't Rhyme - And Other Oddities of the English Language
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Narrated by:
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Arika Okrent
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By:
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Arika Okrent
Maybe you've been speaking English all your life, or maybe you learned it later on. But whether you use it just well enough to get your daily business done or you're an expert with a red pen who never omits a comma or misplaces a modifier, you must have noticed that there are some things about this language that are just weird.
Perhaps you're reading a book and stop to puzzle over absurd spelling rules (Why are there so many ways to say "-gh"?), or you hear someone talking and get stuck on an expression (Why do we say "How dare you" but not "How try you"?), or your kid quizzes you on homework (Why is it "11 and 12" instead of "oneteen and twoteen"?). Suddenly you ask yourself, "Wait, why do we do it this way?" You think about it, try to explain it, and keep running into walls. It doesn't conform to logic. It doesn't work the way you'd expect it to. There doesn't seem to be any rule at all.
There might not be a logical explanation, but there will be an explanation, and this book is here to help.
In Highly Irregular, Arika Okrent answers these questions and many more. Along the way she tells the story of the many influences - from invading French armies to stubborn Flemish printers - that made our language the way it is today. Both an entertaining send-up of linguistic oddities and a deeply researched history of English, Highly Irregular is essential for anyone who has paused to wonder about our marvelous mess of a language.
©2021 Arika Okrent (P)2021 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...




















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Fabulous Book on Language
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A fun romp through the ever changing English language!
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So interesting!
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The tone is conversational and irreverent without being vulgar. The explanations seem to be thorough, and often brought up counter-examples or parallel cases which I hadn’t considered before.
The book is well-suited to audio, with the author doing a fine job with the Old and Middle English, Germanic and Latin language examples she uses. (Don’t let that alarm you, it happens infrequently as most of the topics don’t require it.)
The short chapters (-10 minutes each) are long enough to feel you’ve understood her points and give you a good place to stop when your commute is over, or to encourage you to listen to “just one more” if you’re a bungee.
Highly recommended.
Quick Hits of Knowledge
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