The Prodigal Tongue: The Love–Hate Relationship Between British and American English

By Lynne Murphy

‘The first and perhaps only book on the relative merits of American and British English that is dominated by facts and analysis rather than nationalistic prejudice. For all its scholarship, this is also a funny and rollicking read.’

The Economist, Books of the Year

Only an American would call autumn fall or refer to a perfectly good pavement as a sidewalk… Not so, says Lynne Murphy. The English invented sidewalk in the seventeenth century and in 1693 John Dryden wrote the line, ‘Or how last fall he raised the weekly bills.’

Perhaps we don’t know our own language quite as well as we thought.

Murphy, an American linguist in Britain, dissects the myths surrounding British and American English in a laugh-out-loud exploration of how language works and where it's going.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Oneworld Publications
• Release date: Mar 29, 2018
• ISBN: 9781786072702

Reviews for The Prodigal Tongue

[Graham Downs · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Anyone who’s remotely interested in the differences between US and UK English, how they diverged, and the extent of those differences, should absolutely read this book!

I learnt a lot. The differences go way beyond some simple spelling issues, or a few words and phrases that have different meanings on either side of the Atlantic.

It’s written by an American linguist who’s been living in the UK for the past twenty years, so she’s uniquely qualified to write about the subject. She also spent some time living in South Africa in the 1990s, so she knows our history too, and can draw comparisons between the divergence of US and UK English, and that of, say, Afrikaans and Dutch. Which was helpful, and very interesting.

The author busts plenty of myths about what’s “American” and what’s “British”, and she speaks from a point of view that’s often sympathetic to Americans and all the flack they get.

In fact, as a self-confessed pedant, I will admit to feeling a little uncomfortable on more than one occasion. But that’s a good thing, because all good art makes you feel things.

The writing feels a bit ranty sometimes, poking fun at British people for all their misconceptions and pointing out how idiotic some of them are. But then you realise she isn’t really ranting at those of us who speak UK English; she’s just defending US English as an entirely valid form, and calling us out sometimes for our intolerance of the way they use a language that’s supposed to be bringing us together instead of tearing us apart.

All the differences are especially poignant to me as an author, when I hear about authors from different countries making a point of trying to write in American English, so as not to alienate their US audiences. The thing is, I now realise that they’re nowhere near getting it right, because as the author points out, there’s no way you can pretend to know all the intricacies and nuances of American English unless you’ve actually spent a considerable amount of time in America. Americans probably laugh at those authors.

Not that British people are the only ones to blame, of course: Americans have plenty of misconceptions themselves.

The only issue I have with this book is with the formatting of the ebook edition (at least, the one I read on Scribd). There are loads of footnotes and references in this book, which is good, but the ebook edition appears to have been put together by someone who doesn’t really understand the format. Below each of these references, there’s a horizontal rule that spans the width of the screen. Which I suppose would be fine for a print book, where you can control where sentences and paragraphs will end on a page, but in the ebook it means having them in the middle of screens. Often in the middle of sentences, so you see something like, “According to John Smith’s paper,[22]{HR}{CR}{LF}{BLANKLINE} the usage of...”

It’s really jarring!

There’s also a reference to another chapter on a particular page number, which was obviously taken straight out of the print edition, because page numbers mean nothing in an ebook.

Now, these things are obviously none of the author’s fault (except that she shouldn’t’ve outsourced such an important thing as book formatting to a third party, and should’ve self-published like all the “cool kids” are doing these days), but they still affect one’s overall enjoyment of her product.

No matter. Now that I’ve told you about them, they might be less noticeable to you, and you can get on with the business of appreciating the amazing book that this author has produced. In fact, I’ll reprise my opening statement: if you speak English, you should read this book.

[pivic-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very well written, modern, and current, this book destroyed a lot of my prejudices in regards to differences between the so-called American and British English.

[michaelhodges · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great Read, most readable and a comprehensive earnest discussion regarding current usage and developments on both sides of the Atlantic.300pp of straight in your face text!.

[mm_jones · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A look at the social, political and linguistic forces behind version of the English language. Pros: very informative, lots of detail and examples. Cons: author, a Professor of Linguistics, presents the psychology of language choices as facts without reference and uses her natal location as representing American English.