READINGS IN LANGUAGE

English linguistics in a highly informative, entertaining package

For those who want to know more about the history, current usage, and peculiarities of the English language, Jeremy Butterfield’s Damp Squid: The English Language Laid Bare (Oxford University Press, 176 pages) should prove to be an irresistible, entertaining, and highly satisfying read. Butterfield, a British freelance lexicographer who has previously written the book Oxford A to Z of English Usage, mines the rich trove of information in the world’s largest language databank, the Oxford English Corpus, to explain to lay readers why the English language operates the way it does. In particular, he examines why English spells and pronounces its words and groups them into sentences in its own unique ways, and how it acquired such a vast array of idioms and idiosyncrasies from its beginnings over 1,600 years ago in England until it became today’s global language.

In “How language is changing—and why,” a review of Damp Squid in the mantex.co.uk website in 2009, Roy Johnson says: “Truth be told, this is quite an advanced book on language written from deep within the research vaults of the English linguistic history, but it’s written in a language that most people will be able to understand. Behind the apparently frivolous and amusing selection of examples, Jeremy Butterfield is offering a serious update on how lexicography is conducted in the digital age.”

He describes Butterfield as “a fully committed descriptivist.” He explains: “[His] job as he sees it is to record the manner in which the English language is used, no matter how much it might change its meanings. Hence the title of the book. He argues that damp squid makes just as much sense as the original damp squib—because we hardly ever use the term squib any more. This might infuriate traditionalists and prescriptive grammarians, and it does neglect to note that a squid can hardly be anything other than damp, since it lives in the sea, so the metaphor loses all its force: it fails to make an imaginative connection between two disparate things.”

In “Don’t Be a Damp Squid,” a later review in the May 6, 2010 issue of Wired.com, Jenny Williams says that Butterfield “keeps you entertained along the way” in his discussion of what some people might feel would be a dry topic. “Basic linguistics has always fascinated me, but this book had me wanting a more in-depth study of our language,” she says. “The book also makes me want to study Latin, to learn more about our word origins. But then I’d also have to study Greek, French, German and plenty of other languages to get the whole picture.”

Read Roy Johnson’s review of Damp Squid in the mantex.co.uk website now!

Read Jenny Williams’s review of Damp Squid in Wired.com now!

RELATED READING:

In “Without words, speaking different languages,” an article written for the May 1, 2010 issue of the Los Angeles Times, John Glionna reports from Seoul that a South Korean professor is researching a book that will examine the differences among Asian social customs. He describes Min Byoung-chul, a professor at Konkuk University, as “a cross-cultural interpreter whose terrain is the delicate, often undefined line where cultural mannerisms clash.”

Prof. Min says his research, which included studying and teaching in the U.S. and offering English-language classes on South Korean TV and radio, has led him to conclude that the language barrier is but one hurdle between cultures. He tells this anecdote to illustrate his point: “A 70-year-old Korean man once reached over to rub my inner thigh as we talked in my office. His gesture was meant to show, ‘I know you. I’m friendly. I’ve seen you on TV.’ But I explained that as South Korea becomes more globalized, foreign visitors won’t understand. I advised him to stop doing that."

Read John Glionna’s “Without words, speaking different languages” in the Los Angeles Times now!

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