The Prodigal Tongue

Narrator Pam Ward's clipped, wry tone is an excellent match for author and linguist Lynne Murphy's sharp analysis of how and why British English and American English came to be such different languages. She also channels Murphy's occasionally acid remarks on her own experience of speaking American English in England, a country where an editor was once chastised her for using the American term "cupcake" instead of the British "fairy cake." Of course, it turns out that lots of Americanisms are imports from across the Pond and vice versa, so, really, we should just get along. Meanwhile, Murphy's erudite, amusing, and--fair warning--detailed, list-filled book speaks to our mutual incomprehension. A.C.S. � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine