Bill Bryson's "The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way"

As a class, we just finished reading "The Mother Tongue." I know that along the way and through our presentations, we've discussed with each other what we liked and didn't like about the book. However, I feel like laying out a few aspects of the book that really got me thinking is a good way to interact with the text itself, but also, it allows me to think aloud about some things we didn't discuss in class.

So, here goes nothing...

1. "Indeed, such is the demand to learn the language that there are now more students of English in China than there are people in the United States" (Bryson 4).
I feel that this quote is a nice introduction to the book, and it sets the groundwork for a lot of the different aspects that Bryson investigates in the English language. This quote caught my attention and immediately made me think about all that we, as Americans, take for granted. Until reading this book, I never stopped to really think about our language, its uniqueness, or its high demand globally. I never considered that people are seeking after knowing the language because it was just handed to me. I feel that we take our language for granted most times, and this quote really opened my eyes to that fact.

2. "Sometimes the changing connotations of a word can give a new and startling sense to literary passages..." (Bryson 81).
This quote JUMPED off the page at me the first time I read it. Again, this book has opened my eyes to so much about our language that I've never thought about, and for that, I am appreciative! This quote summarizes why teachers/professors always stress the importance of context (both in the book and the historical time period when it was written). Reading a poem today that was written by Shakespeare hundreds of years ago, we could possibly interpret it a completely different way from how he meant it just because we attribute meanings to a word that weren't there long ago. It is very important to read, reread, and research when unpacking a piece of literature.

3. "What is certain is that the number of words we use is very much smaller than the number of words we know" (Bryson 164).
Are we just creatures of habit sticking to what we like best, or are some words so specific that a time to use them rarely appears? This is the question that popped into my mind when reading this passage. When you really stop to think about it, we do tend to use the same words over and over again just in a different order (unless you're writing an essay, then I think we all right-click and use the synonyms option to make ourselves sound smarter...at least I do...). In response to the question, I think it's a mixture of both. We are simplistic people, but there are words that hardly ever need to be used. Good job, Bill, you got us thinking.

History is Present

Throughout his novel, Bryson presents the history of the English language. But if you look close enough and stop to really think about it, I think that the history he talks about is very much present today. Just like how Shakespeare created 10% of the words he used in his own literary works, people all around the world are making up words for new situations. Two examples of this are in slang and technology. Slang incorporates any of the words from "swag" to "lit" to "bruh." These are most prominent among the younger generations in society, and they can often give us a bad name. Technology and its advancements have also increased the number of words we use today that weren't used in previous centuries. The pilgrims on the mayflower didn't have any need for an "iPhone" or "Microsoft." Native Americans weren't concerned with updating their "software" on their "computer." Pioneers weren't rushing home to "binge watch Netflix" or check how many "likes" their "Instagram post" received. These are just some basic words that most people know and use on a daily basis that weren't even thought of 100 years ago. So while our vocabulary is changing, our patterns of advancement aren't.

Future...To Be or Not To Be

The future of English is in question, here, and to be honest, I don't know what that looks like. I mean we're soon going to have cars driving themselves and we already have drones dropping packages on your doorstep, so whose to say if we are even still talking in 20 years. Now this is being a little dramatic, but who can honestly know. I think it's scary to think about. Will the rules of grammar and sentence structure still be in place when we have kids, or are things going to change so much that we won't even be certified to teach? I feel like English, like our country, is heading down a dark and scary path where if we don't back out soon, we will be doomed. But, hopefully I'm wrong. I mean, I don't want that to happen, so I think that's where we, as future educators, come into play. I won't let English go down without a fight. WHO'S WITH ME??