Awkword Moments
A Lively Guide to the 100 Terms Smart People Should Know
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Prime members: New to Audible?Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Awkword Moments
Buy for $13.50
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Ross Petras
-
Kathryn Petras
About this listen
A compendium of 100 words and phrases smart people use—even if they only kinda sorta (secretly don't) know what they mean—with pithy definitions and fascinating etymologies to solidify their meanings.
Your boss makes a joke about Schrodinger's cat—which is something you've heard of but you're a little vague about what exactly happened (or didn't happen) with that cat. Or you're reading a New Yorker article that explains that "Solecism slipped into solipsism into full-blown narcissistic project." An excellent point . . . if you're sure what "solecism" means . . . or, for that matter, "solipsism."
Language gurus Ross Petras and Kathryn Petras to the rescue! In the breezy and entertaining yet informative style of their New York Times bestseller You're Saying It Wrong, they give you a brief rundown on words smart people should know—from the worlds of science and the arts to philosophy, and from broader topics like quantum physics and ontology to more specific ones like Plato's cave and trompe l'oeil. They cover the Latin phrases we hear and read (prima facie, sui generis, and the like) as well as those that have entered our vocabularies from other languages (bildungsroman, sturm und drang).
These are the words that, if you were asked directly, "What does this mean?" you might hem and haw and try to change the subject. After listening to this book, you won't have to.
©2020 Ross Petras and Kathryn Petras (P)2023 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
-
That Doesn't Mean What You Think It Means
- The 150 Most Commonly Misused Words and Their Tangled Histories
- By: Ross Petras, Kathryn Petras
- Narrated by: Ross Petras, Kathryn Petras
- Length: 6 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 1
-
Performance0 out of 5 stars 0
-
Story0 out of 5 stars 0
Even the most erudite among us use words like apocryphal, facetious, ironic, meteorite, moot, redundant, and unique incorrectly every day. Don’t be one of them. Using examples of misuse from leading newspapers, prominent public figures and famous writers, among others, language gurus Ross Petras and Kathryn Petras explain how to avoid these perilous pitfalls in the English language.
By: Ross Petras, and others
-
You're Saying It Wrong
- A Pronunciation Guide to the 150 Most Commonly Mispronounced Words—and Their Tangled Histories of Misuse
- By: Ross Petras, Kathryn Petras
- Narrated by: Ross Petras, Kathryn Petras
- Length: 4 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 1
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 1
For word nerds and grammar geeks, a witty guide to the most commonly mispronounced words, along with their correct pronunciations and pithy forays into their fascinating etymologies and histories of use and misuse.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Good collection of words
- By Pearl on 02-26-23
By: Ross Petras, and others
-
The Story of Human Language
- By: John McWhorter, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: John McWhorter
- Length: 18 hrs and 15 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 7,994
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 7,047
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 6,936
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.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
You'll Never Look at Languages the Same Way Again
- By SAMA on 03-11-14
By: John McWhorter, and others
-
Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue
- The Untold History of English
- By: John McWhorter
- Narrated by: John McWhorter
- Length: 5 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 4,024
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,400
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 3,376
A survey of the quirks and quandaries of the English language, focusing on our strange and wonderful grammar. Why do we say "I am reading a catalog" instead of "I read a catalog"? Why do we say "do" at all? Is the way we speak a reflection of our cultural values? Delving into these provocative topics and more, Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue distills hundreds of years of fascinating lore into one lively history.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Great for casual linguists
- By Bertie on 01-11-10
By: John McWhorter
-
The New Right
- A Journey to the Fringe of American Politics
- By: Michael Malice
- Narrated by: Michael Malice
- Length: 9 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 2,630
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 2,302
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 2,288
From the heterodox right wing of the 1940s to the Buchanan/Rothbard alliance of 1992 and all the way through to what he witnessed personally in Charlottesville, The New Right is a thorough firsthand accounting of the concepts, characters and chronology of this widely misunderstood sociopolitical phenomenon. Today’s fringe is tomorrow’s orthodoxy. As entertaining as it is informative, The New Right is required listening for every American across the spectrum who would like to learn more about the past, present and future of our divided political culture.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Great political analysis
- By Turner Houghton on 05-23-19
By: Michael Malice
-
The Mother Tongue
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: Stephen McLaughlin
- Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,278
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,106
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 1,100
With dazzling wit and astonishing insight, Bill Bryson - the acclaimed author of The Lost Continent - brilliantly explores the remarkable history, eccentricities, resilience, and sheer fun of the English language. From the first descent of the larynx into the throat (why you can talk but your dog can't) to the fine lost art of swearing, Bryson tells the fascinating, often uproarious story of an inadequate, second-rate tongue of peasants that developed into one of the world's largest growth industries.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
More satire than history
- By Barbara Kindle Customer on 12-18-15
By: Bill Bryson
-
That Doesn't Mean What You Think It Means
- The 150 Most Commonly Misused Words and Their Tangled Histories
- By: Ross Petras, Kathryn Petras
- Narrated by: Ross Petras, Kathryn Petras
- Length: 6 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 1
-
Performance0 out of 5 stars 0
-
Story0 out of 5 stars 0
Even the most erudite among us use words like apocryphal, facetious, ironic, meteorite, moot, redundant, and unique incorrectly every day. Don’t be one of them. Using examples of misuse from leading newspapers, prominent public figures and famous writers, among others, language gurus Ross Petras and Kathryn Petras explain how to avoid these perilous pitfalls in the English language.
By: Ross Petras, and others
-
You're Saying It Wrong
- A Pronunciation Guide to the 150 Most Commonly Mispronounced Words—and Their Tangled Histories of Misuse
- By: Ross Petras, Kathryn Petras
- Narrated by: Ross Petras, Kathryn Petras
- Length: 4 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 1
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 1
For word nerds and grammar geeks, a witty guide to the most commonly mispronounced words, along with their correct pronunciations and pithy forays into their fascinating etymologies and histories of use and misuse.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Good collection of words
- By Pearl on 02-26-23
By: Ross Petras, and others
-
The Story of Human Language
- By: John McWhorter, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: John McWhorter
- Length: 18 hrs and 15 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 7,994
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 7,047
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 6,936
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.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
You'll Never Look at Languages the Same Way Again
- By SAMA on 03-11-14
By: John McWhorter, and others
-
Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue
- The Untold History of English
- By: John McWhorter
- Narrated by: John McWhorter
- Length: 5 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 4,024
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,400
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 3,376
A survey of the quirks and quandaries of the English language, focusing on our strange and wonderful grammar. Why do we say "I am reading a catalog" instead of "I read a catalog"? Why do we say "do" at all? Is the way we speak a reflection of our cultural values? Delving into these provocative topics and more, Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue distills hundreds of years of fascinating lore into one lively history.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Great for casual linguists
- By Bertie on 01-11-10
By: John McWhorter
-
The New Right
- A Journey to the Fringe of American Politics
- By: Michael Malice
- Narrated by: Michael Malice
- Length: 9 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 2,630
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 2,302
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 2,288
From the heterodox right wing of the 1940s to the Buchanan/Rothbard alliance of 1992 and all the way through to what he witnessed personally in Charlottesville, The New Right is a thorough firsthand accounting of the concepts, characters and chronology of this widely misunderstood sociopolitical phenomenon. Today’s fringe is tomorrow’s orthodoxy. As entertaining as it is informative, The New Right is required listening for every American across the spectrum who would like to learn more about the past, present and future of our divided political culture.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Great political analysis
- By Turner Houghton on 05-23-19
By: Michael Malice
-
The Mother Tongue
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: Stephen McLaughlin
- Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,278
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,106
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 1,100
With dazzling wit and astonishing insight, Bill Bryson - the acclaimed author of The Lost Continent - brilliantly explores the remarkable history, eccentricities, resilience, and sheer fun of the English language. From the first descent of the larynx into the throat (why you can talk but your dog can't) to the fine lost art of swearing, Bryson tells the fascinating, often uproarious story of an inadequate, second-rate tongue of peasants that developed into one of the world's largest growth industries.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
More satire than history
- By Barbara Kindle Customer on 12-18-15
By: Bill Bryson
-
Uncertain Places
- Essays on Occult and Outsider Experiences
- By: Mitch Horowitz
- Narrated by: Mitch Horowitz
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 34
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 27
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 27
Today’s leading voice of esotericism and the occult, Mitch Horowitz explores topics that evoke widespread misunderstanding, including the real history of secret societies, the wisdom of the Satanic, the relevance of Gnosticism, and connection between today’s spiritual culture and antiquity, including in areas of Hermeticism, deity worship, out-of-body experience, and magick. He demonstrates the occult roots of wide-ranging facets of modern culture, including politics, abstract art, mind-body healing, self-help, and scientific fields such as quantum physics and neuroplasticity.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Uncertain Places
- By Margaret on 12-13-22
By: Mitch Horowitz
-
The Stuff of Thought
- Language as a Window into Human Nature
- By: Steven Pinker
- Narrated by: Dean Olsher
- Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 878
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 449
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 447
In The Stuff of Thought, Steven Pinker marries two of the subjects he knows best: language and human nature. The result is a fascinating look at how our words explain our nature. What does swearing reveal about our emotions? Why does innuendo disclose something about relationships? Pinker reveals how our use of prepositions and tenses taps into peculiarly human concepts of space and time, and how our nouns and verbs speak to our notions of matter.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Pinker is truly a brilliant and lucid explainer...
- By Rudi on 06-17-09
By: Steven Pinker
-
Thinking About It Only Makes It Worse
- By: David Mitchell
- Narrated by: David Mitchell
- Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 738
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 646
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 635
Why is every film or tv programme a sequel or a remake? Why are people so f***ing hung up about swearing? Why do the asterisks in that sentence make it okay? Why do so many people want to stop other people doing things, and how can they be stopped from stopping them? These and many other questions trouble David Mitchell. Join him on a tour of the absurdities of modern life - from Ryanair to Richard III, Downton Abbey to phone etiquette, UKIP to hot dogs made of cats.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Good Book: Wrong Milieu
- By scott on 09-04-19
By: David Mitchell
-
But What If We're Wrong?
- Thinking About the Present as If It Were the Past
- By: Chuck Klosterman
- Narrated by: Chuck Klosterman, Fiona Hardingham
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,455
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 1,295
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 1,290
We live in a culture of casual certitude. This has always been the case, no matter how often that certainty has failed. Though no generation believes there's nothing left to learn, every generation unconsciously assumes that what has already been defined and accepted is (probably) pretty close to how reality will be viewed in perpetuity. And then, of course, time passes. Ideas shift. Opinions invert. What once seemed reasonable eventually becomes absurd, replaced by modern perspectives that feel even more irrefutable and secure - until, of course, they don't.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Another bad review for the narrator
- By Matty N on 06-13-16
By: Chuck Klosterman
-
Amusing Ourselves to Death
- Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
- By: Neil Postman
- Narrated by: Jeff Riggenbach
- Length: 4 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,555
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,017
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,983
In this eloquent and persuasive book, Neil Postman examines the deep and broad effects of television culture on the manner in which we conduct our public affairs, and how "entertainment values" have corrupted the very way we think. As politics, news, religion, education, and commerce are given less and less expression in the form of the printed word, they are rapidly being reshaped to suit the requirements of television.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Excellent Content Read at Warp Speed
- By chaoticmuse on 03-17-11
By: Neil Postman
-
Frank Ramsey
- A Sheer Excess of Powers
- By: Cheryl Misak
- Narrated by: Liam Gerrard
- Length: 19 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 34
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 29
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 29
When he died in 1930 aged 26, Frank Ramsey had already invented one branch of mathematics and two branches of economics, laying the foundations for decision theory and game theory. Keynes deferred to him; he was the only philosopher whom Wittgenstein treated as an equal. Had he lived he might have been recognized as the most brilliant thinker of the century. This amiable shambling bear of a man was an ardent socialist, a believer in free love, and an intimate of the Bloomsbury set. For the first time Cheryl Misak tells the full story of his extraordinary life.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Great biography, not appropriate as an audiobook
- By Scott on 06-18-24
By: Cheryl Misak
-
The Four Horsemen
- The Conversation That Sparked an Atheist Revolution
- By: Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and others
- Narrated by: Richard Dawkins, Daniel C. Dennett, Sam Harris, and others
- Length: 3 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 1,150
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 973
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 962
In 2007, Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Daniel Dennett filmed a landmark discussion about modern atheism. The video went viral. Now, the transcript of their conversation is illuminated by new essays from three of the original participants and an introduction by Stephen Fry.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Short
- By Cole Brandon Eckhardt on 03-22-19
By: Christopher Hitchens, and others
-
Words on the Move
- Why English Won't - and Can't - Sit Still (Like, Literally)
- By: John McWhorter
- Narrated by: John McWhorter
- Length: 7 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,410
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,270
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,262
Words on the Move opens our eyes to the surprising backstories to the words and expressions we use every day. Did you know that silly once meant "blessed"? Or that ought was the original past tense of owe? Or that the suffix -ly in adverbs is actually a remnant of the word like? And have you ever wondered why some people from New Orleans sound as if they come from Brooklyn?
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Review By a Fan
- By Margaret on 09-25-16
By: John McWhorter
-
Socrates in the City
- Conversations on 'Life, God, and Other Small Topics'
- By: Eric Metaxas (Editor)
- Narrated by: Eric Metaxas
- Length: 14 hrs and 54 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 191
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 167
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 165
The Greek philosopher Socrates famously said that “the unexamined life is not worth living.” Taking this as a starting point, Eric Metaxas founded a speaking series that encouraged busy and successful professionals to attend forums and think actively about the bigger questions in life; thus Socrates in the City: Conversations on “Life, God, and Other Small Topics” was born.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Thought Elixirs
- By Smart to Finished on 01-19-12
-
Breaking Bread with the Dead
- A Reader's Guide to a More Tranquil Mind
- By: Alan Jacobs
- Narrated by: P.J. Ochlan
- Length: 4 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 74
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 63
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 63
W. H. Auden once wrote that "art is our chief means of breaking bread with the dead." In his brilliant and compulsively listenable new treatise, Alan Jacobs shows us that engaging with the strange and wonderful writings of the past might help us live less anxiously in the present - and increase what Thomas Pynchon once called our "personal density." Today we are battling too much information in a society changing at lightning speed, with algorithms aimed at shaping our every thought - plus a sense that history offers no resources, only impediments to overcome or ignore.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Title is wrong.
- By Jamie jones on 09-09-20
By: Alan Jacobs
-
The Pun Also Rises
- How the Humble Pun Revolutionized Language, Changed History, and Made Wordplay More Than Some Antics
- By: John Pollack
- Narrated by: Pete Larkin
- Length: 4 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 61
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 56
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 54
The Pun Also Rises is an authoritative yet playful exploration of a practice that is common, in one form or another, to virtually every language on earth. At once entertaining and educational, this engaging book answers fundamental questions: Just what is a pun, and why do people make them? How did punning impact the development of human language, and how did that drive creativity and progress? And why, after centuries of decline, does the pun still matter?
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Punderful Little Book
- By B. Lane on 01-10-13
By: John Pollack
-
Mind as Builder
- The Positive Mind Metaphysics of Edgar Cayce
- By: Mitch Horowitz
- Narrated by: Mitch Horowitz
- Length: 2 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 62
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 54
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 54
Gain a whole new perspective on Edgar Cayce's core principle that "mind is the builder" - and what it means for you. In this electrifying and practical book, acclaimed author Mitch Horowitz explores the inner meaning of Edgar Cayce's positive-mind principles and how to use them in your life.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Very good, but not what I expected.
- By M.C. Seiler on 06-27-18
By: Mitch Horowitz
Related to this topic
-
Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue
- The Untold History of English
- By: John McWhorter
- Narrated by: John McWhorter
- Length: 5 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 4,024
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,400
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 3,376
A survey of the quirks and quandaries of the English language, focusing on our strange and wonderful grammar. Why do we say "I am reading a catalog" instead of "I read a catalog"? Why do we say "do" at all? Is the way we speak a reflection of our cultural values? Delving into these provocative topics and more, Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue distills hundreds of years of fascinating lore into one lively history.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Great for casual linguists
- By Bertie on 01-11-10
By: John McWhorter
-
Semicolon
- The Past, Present, and Future of a Misunderstood Mark
- By: Cecelia Watson
- Narrated by: Pam Ward
- Length: 3 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 67
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 58
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 56
A pause-resisting, existential romp through the life and times of the world’s most polarizing punctuation mark. Through her rollicking biography of the semicolon, Watson writes a guide to grammar that explains why we don’t need guides at all and refocuses our attention on the deepest, most primary value of language: true communication.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Silly me; I thought it was about semicolons
- By Jeffrey D on 08-15-19
By: Cecelia Watson
-
Words on the Move
- Why English Won't - and Can't - Sit Still (Like, Literally)
- By: John McWhorter
- Narrated by: John McWhorter
- Length: 7 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,410
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,270
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,262
Words on the Move opens our eyes to the surprising backstories to the words and expressions we use every day. Did you know that silly once meant "blessed"? Or that ought was the original past tense of owe? Or that the suffix -ly in adverbs is actually a remnant of the word like? And have you ever wondered why some people from New Orleans sound as if they come from Brooklyn?
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Review By a Fan
- By Margaret on 09-25-16
By: John McWhorter
-
The Prodigal Tongue
- The Love-Hate Relationship Between American and British English
- By: Lynne Murphy
- Narrated by: Pam Ward
- Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 54
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 47
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 45
"If Shakespeare were alive today, he'd sound like an American." "English accents are the sexiest." "Americans have ruined the English language." "Technology means everyone will have to speak the same English." Such claims about the English language are often repeated but rarely examined. Professor Lynne Murphy is on the linguistic front line. In The Prodigal Tongue she explores the fiction and reality of the special relationship between British and American English.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
TOO MUCH BITTERNESS
- By Tina on 08-27-20
By: Lynne Murphy
-
The Mother Tongue
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: Stephen McLaughlin
- Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,278
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,106
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 1,100
With dazzling wit and astonishing insight, Bill Bryson - the acclaimed author of The Lost Continent - brilliantly explores the remarkable history, eccentricities, resilience, and sheer fun of the English language. From the first descent of the larynx into the throat (why you can talk but your dog can't) to the fine lost art of swearing, Bryson tells the fascinating, often uproarious story of an inadequate, second-rate tongue of peasants that developed into one of the world's largest growth industries.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
More satire than history
- By Barbara Kindle Customer on 12-18-15
By: Bill Bryson
-
The Story of English in 100 Words
- By: David Crystal
- Narrated by: David Crystal
- Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 272
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 233
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 233
In this unique new history of the world's most ubiquitous language, linguistics expert David Crystal draws on words that best illustrate the huge variety of sources, influences, and events that have helped to shape our vernacular since the first definitively English word was written down in the fifth century ("roe", in case you are wondering). Featuring Latinate and Celtic words, weasel words and nonce-words, ancient words ("loaf") to cutting edge ("twittersphere") and spanning the indispensable words that shape our tongue ("and", "what") to the more fanciful ("fopdoodle"), Crystal takes us along the winding byways of language.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Random but entertaining
- By Sean on 04-01-13
By: David Crystal
-
Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue
- The Untold History of English
- By: John McWhorter
- Narrated by: John McWhorter
- Length: 5 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 4,024
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,400
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 3,376
A survey of the quirks and quandaries of the English language, focusing on our strange and wonderful grammar. Why do we say "I am reading a catalog" instead of "I read a catalog"? Why do we say "do" at all? Is the way we speak a reflection of our cultural values? Delving into these provocative topics and more, Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue distills hundreds of years of fascinating lore into one lively history.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Great for casual linguists
- By Bertie on 01-11-10
By: John McWhorter
-
Semicolon
- The Past, Present, and Future of a Misunderstood Mark
- By: Cecelia Watson
- Narrated by: Pam Ward
- Length: 3 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 67
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 58
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 56
A pause-resisting, existential romp through the life and times of the world’s most polarizing punctuation mark. Through her rollicking biography of the semicolon, Watson writes a guide to grammar that explains why we don’t need guides at all and refocuses our attention on the deepest, most primary value of language: true communication.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Silly me; I thought it was about semicolons
- By Jeffrey D on 08-15-19
By: Cecelia Watson
-
Words on the Move
- Why English Won't - and Can't - Sit Still (Like, Literally)
- By: John McWhorter
- Narrated by: John McWhorter
- Length: 7 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,410
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,270
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,262
Words on the Move opens our eyes to the surprising backstories to the words and expressions we use every day. Did you know that silly once meant "blessed"? Or that ought was the original past tense of owe? Or that the suffix -ly in adverbs is actually a remnant of the word like? And have you ever wondered why some people from New Orleans sound as if they come from Brooklyn?
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Review By a Fan
- By Margaret on 09-25-16
By: John McWhorter
-
The Prodigal Tongue
- The Love-Hate Relationship Between American and British English
- By: Lynne Murphy
- Narrated by: Pam Ward
- Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 54
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 47
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 45
"If Shakespeare were alive today, he'd sound like an American." "English accents are the sexiest." "Americans have ruined the English language." "Technology means everyone will have to speak the same English." Such claims about the English language are often repeated but rarely examined. Professor Lynne Murphy is on the linguistic front line. In The Prodigal Tongue she explores the fiction and reality of the special relationship between British and American English.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
TOO MUCH BITTERNESS
- By Tina on 08-27-20
By: Lynne Murphy
-
The Mother Tongue
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: Stephen McLaughlin
- Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,278
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,106
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 1,100
With dazzling wit and astonishing insight, Bill Bryson - the acclaimed author of The Lost Continent - brilliantly explores the remarkable history, eccentricities, resilience, and sheer fun of the English language. From the first descent of the larynx into the throat (why you can talk but your dog can't) to the fine lost art of swearing, Bryson tells the fascinating, often uproarious story of an inadequate, second-rate tongue of peasants that developed into one of the world's largest growth industries.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
More satire than history
- By Barbara Kindle Customer on 12-18-15
By: Bill Bryson
-
The Story of English in 100 Words
- By: David Crystal
- Narrated by: David Crystal
- Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 272
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 233
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 233
In this unique new history of the world's most ubiquitous language, linguistics expert David Crystal draws on words that best illustrate the huge variety of sources, influences, and events that have helped to shape our vernacular since the first definitively English word was written down in the fifth century ("roe", in case you are wondering). Featuring Latinate and Celtic words, weasel words and nonce-words, ancient words ("loaf") to cutting edge ("twittersphere") and spanning the indispensable words that shape our tongue ("and", "what") to the more fanciful ("fopdoodle"), Crystal takes us along the winding byways of language.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Random but entertaining
- By Sean on 04-01-13
By: David Crystal
-
The Glamour of Grammar
- By: Roy Peter Clark
- Narrated by: Roy Peter Clark
- Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 59
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 42
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 40
Early in the history of English, glamour and grammar were the same word, linked to enchantment and magical spells. Now grammar brings to mind language bullies and bored-out-of-their-skulls students. Roy Peter Clark, one of America’s most influential writing teachers, wants to change that by putting the glamour back into grammar.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Wasteful
- By ABID on 12-05-13
By: Roy Peter Clark
-
How to Write Short
- Word Craft for Fast Times
- By: Roy Peter Clark
- Narrated by: Roy Peter Clark
- Length: 5 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 81
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 73
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 72
In How to Write Short , Roy Peter Clark turns his attention to the art of painting a thousand pictures with just a few words. Short forms of writing have always existed - from ship logs and telegrams to prayers and haikus. But in this ever-changing Internet age, short-form writing has become an essential skill. Clark covers how to write effective and powerful titles, headlines, essays, sales pitches, Tweets, letters, and even self-descriptions for online dating services.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Ironically long
- By Amazon Customer on 03-14-16
By: Roy Peter Clark
-
Frank Ramsey
- A Sheer Excess of Powers
- By: Cheryl Misak
- Narrated by: Liam Gerrard
- Length: 19 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 34
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 29
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 29
When he died in 1930 aged 26, Frank Ramsey had already invented one branch of mathematics and two branches of economics, laying the foundations for decision theory and game theory. Keynes deferred to him; he was the only philosopher whom Wittgenstein treated as an equal. Had he lived he might have been recognized as the most brilliant thinker of the century. This amiable shambling bear of a man was an ardent socialist, a believer in free love, and an intimate of the Bloomsbury set. For the first time Cheryl Misak tells the full story of his extraordinary life.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Great biography, not appropriate as an audiobook
- By Scott on 06-18-24
By: Cheryl Misak
-
Language Intelligence
- Lessons on Persuasion from Jesus, Shakespeare, Lincoln, and Lady Gaga
- By: Joseph J. Romm
- Narrated by: Drew Birdseye
- Length: 4 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 74
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 62
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 64
Joseph Romm, one of Rolling Stone magazine’s top "100 Agents of Change", has focused his talents on helping us all to increase our language intelligence and to better understand the art of persuasion. Romm demonstrates that you don't have to be an expert to vastly improve your ability to communicate. He has pulled together the secrets of the greatest communicators in history to show how you can apply these tools to your writing, speaking, blogging - even your Tweeting.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Liberal Propaganda
- By Craig on 02-05-13
By: Joseph J. Romm
-
The Pun Also Rises
- How the Humble Pun Revolutionized Language, Changed History, and Made Wordplay More Than Some Antics
- By: John Pollack
- Narrated by: Pete Larkin
- Length: 4 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 61
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 56
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 54
The Pun Also Rises is an authoritative yet playful exploration of a practice that is common, in one form or another, to virtually every language on earth. At once entertaining and educational, this engaging book answers fundamental questions: Just what is a pun, and why do people make them? How did punning impact the development of human language, and how did that drive creativity and progress? And why, after centuries of decline, does the pun still matter?
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Punderful Little Book
- By B. Lane on 01-10-13
By: John Pollack
-
Cultural Amnesia
- Notes in the Margin of My Time
- By: Clive James
- Narrated by: Clive James
- Length: 6 hrs and 16 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 149
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 104
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 103
From Anna Akhmatova to Stefan Zweig, via Charles de Gaulle, Hitler, Thomas Mann and Charlie Chaplin, this varied and unfailingly absorbing book is both story and history, both public memoir and personal record - and provides an essential field-guide to the vast movements of taste, intellect, politics and delusion that helped to prepare the times we live in now.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Very enjoyable and well narrated
- By Larbi on 05-18-08
By: Clive James
-
The Dream of Reason, New Edition
- A History of Western Philosophy from the Greeks to the Renaissance
- By: Anthony Gottlieb
- Narrated by: Anthony Gottlieb
- Length: 19 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 66
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 59
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 58
Already a classic, this landmark study of early Western thought now appears in a new edition with expanded coverage of the Middle Ages. Author Anthony Gottlieb looks afresh at the writings of the great thinkers, questions much of conventional wisdom, and explains his findings with unbridled brilliance and clarity. From the pre-Socratic philosophers through the celebrated days of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, up to Renaissance visionaries like Erasmus and Bacon, philosophy emerges here as a phenomenon unconfined by any one discipline.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Bias spoils the work.
- By MC on 08-21-20
By: Anthony Gottlieb
-
Jewish Comedy
- A Serious History
- By: Jeremy Dauber
- Narrated by: Jeremy Dauber
- Length: 10 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 177
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 153
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 153
In a major work of scholarship both erudite and very funny, Jeremy Dauber traces the origins of Jewish comedy and its development from Biblical times to the age of Twitter. Organizing his book thematically into what he calls the seven strands of Jewish comedy - including the satirical, the witty, and the vulgar - Dauber explores the ways Jewish comedy has dealt with persecution, assimilation, and diaspora through the ages. He explains the rise and fall of popular comic archetypes such as the Jewish mother, the JAP, and the schlemiel and schlimazel.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Not funny
- By supermantwo on 08-31-20
By: Jeremy Dauber
-
The Curmudgeon's Guide to Getting Ahead
- Dos and Don'ts of Right Behavior, Tough Thinking, Clear Writing, and Living a Good Life
- By: Charles Murray
- Narrated by: Charles Murray
- Length: 3 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 736
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 632
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 628
Best-selling social historian Charles Murray has written a delightfully fussy - and entertaining - book on the hidden rules of the road in the workplace - and in life - from the standpoint of an admonishing, but encouraging, workplace grouch and taskmaster. Why the curmudgeon? The fact is that most older, more senior people in the workplace are closet curmudgeons. In today's politically correct world, they may hide their displeasure over your misuse of grammar or your overly familiar use of their first name without an express invitation. But don't be fooled by their pleasant demeanor....
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Good Book: From one curmudgeon to another
- By DaWoolf on 05-22-14
By: Charles Murray
-
Irrationality
- A History of the Dark Side of Reason
- By: Justin E. H. Smith
- Narrated by: Jeff Harding
- Length: 13 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 37
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 33
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 33
Discovering that reason is the defining feature of our species, we named ourselves the “rational animal”. But is this flattering story itself rational? In this sweeping account of irrationality from antiquity to today - from the fifth-century BC murder of Hippasus for revealing the existence of irrational numbers to the rise of Twitter mobs and the election of Donald Trump - Justin Smith says the evidence suggests the opposite.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
A good brain workout
- By ThomasC on 04-09-19
-
Angels and Ages
- A Short Book About Darwin, Lincoln, and Modern Life
- By: Adam Gopnik
- Narrated by: Adam Gopnik
- Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 76
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 48
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 46
Written 200 years after Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln shared a birthday on February 12, 1809, this insightful account sheds new light on two men who changed the way we think about the meaning of life and death. Award-winning journalist Adam Gopnik's unique perspective, combined with previously unexplored stories and figures, reveals two men planted firmly at the roots of modern views and liberal values.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Connecting Darwin and Lincoln
- By Joshua Kim on 06-10-12
By: Adam Gopnik
-
You Say Potato: A Book About Accents
- By: Ben Crystal, David Crystal
- Narrated by: David Crystal, Ben Crystal, Jane Savage, and others
- Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 76
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 71
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 70
Some people say 'sconn' while others say 'schown'. He says 'bath' while she says 'bahth'. You say 'potayto'. I say 'potahto'. And - wait a second, no one says 'potahto'. No one's ever said 'potahto'. Have they? From reconstructing Shakespeare's accent to the rise and fall of received pronunciation, actor Ben Crystal and his linguist father, David, travel the world in search of the stories of spoken English.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Wish there were more native recordings.
- By Matt Dobler on 07-01-16
By: Ben Crystal, and others