Highly Irregular

Why Tough, Through, and Dough Don't Rhyme - And Other Oddities of the English Language

De: Arika Okrent

Narrado por: 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.

Book content

Fascinating book about the origins of the strange and unusual spelling, words, and phrases used in the English language. Brilliantly and interestingly written and read by the author.

Hwæt the hell English

If you enjoy words or history or both this is a history of words in English about English by an English speaking non-Englishmen.

Fabulous Book on Language

A fun and great book about the English Language. Loved the format and great bits of info that I have not seen anywhere else. I hope we have more books coming from this author!

A fun romp through the ever changing English language!

This book is a delight. If you’ve ever enjoyed looking up the etymology of a word or phrase you will love this book. The author manages to make what to some might sound like a dry subject a highly entertaining and engaging listen! Also, I’m impressed that the author is such an excellent narrator -what an all-around talent!

So interesting!

Loved this book, the depth on some of the more specific quirks in English is honestly the perfect level of entertainment at certain times and this book nails it. To think I could I have studied linguistics and been able to enjoy this as a profession, I feel like I'm missing out!

Quick Hits of Knowledge

I’ve read a few books on the history of English, and this stands out because of its organization. Each short chapter covers a question you might have about a quirk of English, describing the issue with examples and explaining how our language ended up like this.

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.