
Pronoun Trouble
The Story of Us in Seven Little Words
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Narrated by:
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John McWhorter
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By:
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John McWhorter
About this listen
With his trademark humor and flair, bestselling linguist John McWhorter busts the myths and shares the history of the most controversial language topic of our times: pronouns
The nature of language is to shift and evolve—but every so often, a new usage creates a whole lot of consternation. These days, pronouns are throwing curveballs, and it matters, because pronoun habits die hard. If you need a refresher from eighth-grade English: Pronouns are short, used endlessly, and serve to point and direct, to orient us as to what is meant about who. Him, not her. Me, not you. Pronouns get a heavy workout, and as such, they become part of our hardwiring. To mess with our pronouns is to mess with us.
But many of today’s hot-button controversies are nonsense. The singular they has been with us since the 1400s and appears in Shakespeare’s works. In fact, many of the supposedly iron-clad rules of grammar are up for debate (Billy and me went to the store is perfectly logical!), and with tasty trivia, unexpected twists, and the weird quirks of early and contemporary English, John McWhorter guides listeners on a journey of how our whole collection of these little words emerged and has changed over time.
©2025 John McWhorter (P)2025 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"John McWhorter starts with 'I' and 'me' and ends up circling the world, with stops along the way for Shakespeare, Sesame Street, Broadway musicals, Elmer Fudd, and a hundred other unexpected and fascinating digressions. The only thing better than reading Pronoun Trouble would be sitting next to McWhorter at a dinner party."—Malcolm Gladwell
“Yes, Pronoun Trouble sheds light on using ‘they’ for a single person, ‘guys’ for girls and women, and the self-contradictory but ubiquitous ‘yeah no.’ But more than that, you come away knowing how the language you love—or take for granted—got that way.”—Deborah Tannen, author of You Just Don't Understand
"Who would have thought a decade ago that the words inciting shame and outrage would not be slurs identified by a first consonant, or a sexual term with four letters, but the humble pronoun? No one could make better sense of this part of speech than our national treasure, John McWhorter. Pronoun Trouble explains its subject with clarity, insight, and good judgment."—Steven Pinker (he/him/his), author of The Language Instinct
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By: John McWhorter
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The Story of Human Language
- By: John McWhorter, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: John McWhorter
- Length: 18 hrs and 15 mins
- Original Recording
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Language defines us as a species, placing humans head and shoulders above even the most proficient animal communicators. But it also beguiles us with its endless mysteries, allowing us to ponder why different languages emerged, why there isn't simply a single language, how languages change over time and whether that's good or bad, and how languages die out and become extinct.
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You'll Never Look at Languages the Same Way Again
- By SAMA on 03-11-14
By: John McWhorter, and others
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Ancient Writing and the History of the Alphabet
- By: John McWhorter, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: John McWhorter
- Length: 6 hrs and 18 mins
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Embark on a journey to the very beginning of writing as a tool of language and see how the many threads of history and linguistics came together to create the alphabet that forms the foundation of English writing. Your guide is Professor John McWhorter of Columbia University and in the 16 lectures of Ancient Writing and the History of the Alphabet, he will help you navigate the complex linguistic and cultural history behind one of our most crucial tools of communication.
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Great Storytelling!
- By Jared M. Leitzel on 10-22-23
By: John McWhorter, and others
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The Canceling of the American Mind
- Cancel Culture Undermines Trust, Destroys Institutions, and Threatens Us All—but There Is a Solution
- By: Greg Lukianoff, Rikki Schlott
- Narrated by: Rikki Schlott, Kirby Heyborne
- Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Cancel culture is a new phenomenon, and The Canceling of the American Mind is the first book to codify it and survey its effects, including hard data and research on what cancel culture is and how it works, along with hundreds of new examples showing the left and right both working to silence their enemies.
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Good book, Important information, poorly read
- By pj on 12-08-23
By: Greg Lukianoff, and others
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Talking Back, Talking Black
- Truths About America's Lingua Franca
- By: John McWhorter
- Narrated by: John McWhorter
- Length: 4 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Linguists have been studying Black English as a speech variety for years, arguing to the public that it is different from Standard English, not a degradation of it. Yet false assumptions and controversies still swirl around what it means to speak and sound "Black." In his first book devoted solely to the form, structure, and development of Black English, John McWhorter clearly explains its fundamentals and rich history while carefully examining the cultural, educational, and political issues that have undermined recognition of this transformative, empowering dialect.
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Very interesting look at Language Dialects in USA
- By Ambariffic on 05-16-19
By: John McWhorter
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Enough Is Enuf
- Our Failed Attempts to Make English Easier to Spell
- By: Gabe Henry
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 5 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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In the comic annals of linguistic history, legions of rebel wordsmiths have died on the hill of spelling reform, risking their reputations to bring English into the realm of the rational. This book is about them: Mark Twain, Ben Franklin, Eliza Burnz, C. S. Lewis, George Bernard Shaw, Charles Darwin, and the innumerable others on both sides of the Atlantic who, for a time in their life, became fanatically occupied with writing thru instead of through, tho for though, laf for laugh, beleev for believe, and dawter for daughter (and tried futilely to get everyone around them to do it too).
By: Gabe Henry
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Language Families of the World
- By: John McWhorter, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: John McWhorter
- Length: 15 hrs and 54 mins
- Original Recording
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Professor John McWhorter of Columbia University takes you back through time and around the world, following the linguistic trails left by generations of humans that lead back to the beginnings of language. Utilizing historical theories and cutting-edge research, these 34 astonishing lectures will introduce you to the major language families of the world and their many offspring, including a variety of languages that are no longer spoken but provide vital links between past and present.
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Entertaining
- By Mark on 02-10-19
By: John McWhorter, and others
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Proto
- How One Ancient Language Went Global
- By: Laura Spinney
- Narrated by: Emma Spurgin-Hussey
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Daughter. Duhitár-. Dustr. Dukte. Listen to these English, Sanskrit, Armenian and Lithuanian words, all meaning the same thing, and you hear echoes of one of history’s most unlikely journeys. All four languages—along with hundreds of others, from French and Gaelic, to Persian and Polish—trace their origins to an ancient tongue spoken as the last ice age receded. This language, which we call Proto-Indo-European, was born between Europe and Asia and exploded out of its cradle, fragmenting as it spread east and west.
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Brilliant research and narration
- By Dr. Krishnendu Ray on 05-16-25
By: Laura Spinney
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“Whatever It Is, I’m Against It”
- Resistance to Change in Higher Education
- By: Brian Rosenberg
- Narrated by: Gabriel Vaughan
- Length: 8 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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In “Whatever It Is, I’m Against It,” president emeritus of Macalester College Brian Rosenberg draws on decades of higher education experience to expose the entrenched structures, practices, and cultures that inhibit meaningful postsecondary reform, even as institutions face serious challenges to their financial and educational models. A lively insider’s account, the book pinpoints factors that hinder the ability of U.S. colleges and universities to be creative and entrepreneurial amid calls to improve affordability, access, and equity for students.
By: Brian Rosenberg
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Alive
- Our Bodies and the Richness and Brevity of Existence
- By: Gabriel Weston
- Narrated by: Gabriel Weston
- Length: 7 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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What does it mean to live in a body? For Gabriel Weston, there was always something missing from the anatomy she was taught at medical school. She’d forged an unconventional path, first studying humanities and getting an entry-level job in publishing, before a spark of inspiration set her on the path to becoming a doctor.
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Winning at life
- By Richard Wakeland on 05-21-25
By: Gabriel Weston
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Says Who?
- A Kinder, Funner Usage Guide for Everyone Who Cares About Words
- By: Anne Curzan
- Narrated by: Anne Curzan
- Length: 10 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Our use of language naturally evolves and is a living breathing thing that reflects who we are. Says Who? offers clear, nuanced guidance that goes beyond “right” and “wrong” to empower us to make informed language choices. Never snooty or scoldy (yes, that’s a “real” word!), this book explains where the grammar rules we learned in school actually come from and reveals the forces that drive dictionary editors to label certain words as slang or unacceptable.
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Tour de force in descriptive prescriptivism
- By Gerhard van Huyssteen on 03-22-25
By: Anne Curzan
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The Corporation in the 21st Century
- Why (Almost) Everything We Are Told About Business Is Wrong
- By: John Kay
- Narrated by: Peter Wicks
- Length: 14 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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John Kay's incisive overhaul of our ideas about business redefines our understanding of successful commercial activity and the corporation—and describes how we have come to "love the product" as we "hate the producer." This is a brilliant and original work from one of the greatest economists.
By: John Kay
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Freakslaw
- By: Jane Flett
- Narrated by: Abigail Lawrie
- Length: 10 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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It is the summer of ‘97 and the repressed Scottish town of Pitlaw is itching for change. Enter the Freakslaw―a travelling carnival of deviant queers and architects of mayhem. There’s Gloria, fortune teller and worm charmer; her daughter Nancy, a contortionist witch; big-hearted tightrope walker, Werewolf Louie; not to mention illusionists and conjoined twins, Cass and Henry, and tattooed human pincushion, Pin Gal.
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Fun but Frustrating
- By unco on 06-02-25
By: Jane Flett
Entertaining and enlightening
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the single best linguistics book I've ever read
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another great offering
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