Pronoun Trouble

The Story of Us in Seven Little Words

De: John McWhorter

Narrado por: John McWhorter

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 Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

"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

Entertaining and enlightening

Mcwhorter is the best at explaining and entertaining at the same time. Love all his books.

the single best linguistics book I've ever read

John McWhorter has done it again. if you think you're coming in just for a linguistics lesson about pronouns, you'll be surprised at how much you learn about history, geography, human migration, gender, problems, and solutions! again, I cannot stress enough how much John McWhorter has changed my life, and this book is just the best one he's done so far!

another great offering

i enjoyed this look at pronouns he starts with a historical look and then moves onto the current discussions around pronouns.

It’s ok

Not a coherent as some of his other work, unfortunately. But still pretty good. The conclusion doesn’t quite hold.