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David Crystal: The Story of English in 100 Words 3 stars

Review of 'The Story of English in 100 Words' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Entertaining and erudite discussion of the history of 100 English words. Very good on American vs Britishisms and much related interesting history - early American history under "skunk", the peculiar addition of the letter b to "debt" in the 16th century, the various theories for the origin of "OK",etc. One quibble - under Yiddishisms he mentions the expression Joe Schmoe, but does not state what Schmoe is a euphemism for.