Welcome to Litsy!

I am quite sure I'll not complete anymore books over the next few days.... so here's the tally on my #bookspinbingo for March. Gonna post my next list soon!

@TheAromaofBooks

I actually get disappointed when I come to the end of his books. Such a brilliant writer, and I love the way he views the living aspect of English.

"For all their artifactual splendor, dictionaries are misleading portraits of something as endlessly transforming as language."

???

McWhorter is the one who first got me hooked on linguistics a decade ago. I'd since read others of his works and been underwhelmed. This one did not disappoint. Lots of interesting material, and new food for thought even for those who have read broadly in linguistics. Beware though, McWhorter uses A LOT of analogies. #triplespin

@TheAromaofBooks

Any other linguistics geeks & John McWhorter fans in the house?? (I wish Litsy counted “The Great Courses” audio books as books, LOL.) I have listened to all of Prof. McWhorter‘s podcasts, courses, and audio books to date, and own both his friend Gaston Dorren‘s books (Babel & Lingo). I‘ve got 1 Audible credit left to spend & I already have most of Steven Pinker‘s...anyone have a good #linguistics #audiobook to recommend?? #recommendations #nonfic

I get paid to be a language prescriptivist in the classroom; however, in real life, I am a descriptivist all the way. Language is alive. It evolves. It‘s glorious. Bend it to your will!

A sad sight as I start to pack up my books.

Starting this one today. Sometimes I think I should have been a linguist.

Once upon a time, in my third year of University during the spring of 2014, I took an introductory linguistic course. I nearly flunked out of that class, but would have passed with flying colours if John McWhorter had been teaching. This was one of my best reads of the year! I'm a milennial, and this book was really interesting to me as it discusses how we got to "here" (i.e., is millenial-speak really as awful as everyone else makes it seem?).

Moving right along! This one feels pretty academic, but seems interesting already. I'm really feeling audiobooks today! #TBRcleanup

I finished listening to this book while sitting on the front porch with a salad for supper and a kitten for company. I love books like this about language, how it came to be the way that it is and how it is still changing. Although this one did not wow me like The Adventure of English, it was very informative and often entertaining.

#audiobook #nonfiction #catsoflitsy

Changing it up and listening to nonfiction while I field cultivate today. If you look really closely, you can see the planter along the edge of the field just above the book screenshot.

This is fascinating book about our constantly changing language.

Thanks @Booksandcooks for the recommendation!

#audiobook #nonfiction #BooksontheFarm

Looking forward to diving into today's #audible daily deal! 🤓

This was my pick for best nonfiction #audiobook of the year when I judged the 2017 #armchairaudies. I paid full price for, and it was so worth every penny, but you can get it for $2.95! #audible #dailydeal

Y'all this book is like awesome. I'm all you should check it out and listen to it. He's like talking about how language changes over time. No really.

All of the above are changes he noted in the way we talk. That's just the last chapter. And based off (another change) my recommendation, you should head to #audible and buy it.

Last of the #ArmchairAudies in #nonfiction. I hope to have all my blog posts up by the 1st. #nonfictionchallenge17

Spent my shower listening to the last book in my #nonfiction #ArmchairAudies category. I'm really enjoying this one. I'm going to have to listen to a chapter of Evicted to compare the two. Both are very different and have EXCELLENT narration! 🤔🤔😃 #springcleaningreadathon

I listen to the Lexicon Valley podcast, which John McWhorter hosts, so I've been interested in reading his book for a while. It's about how English is always changing, and there were some fascinating anecdotes about language change and spelling explanations. I'm aware that being fascinated by spelling makes me a nerd, but I'm ok with that. Some of the things in the book were also explained in episodes of the podcast, but I personally didn't mind.

Great little read--it took me a while because I put it down and forgot about it, but in this case, I was happy to dive back in! McWhorter, a linguistics professor at Columbia University has a fun and clever take on the whole issue of "new" words and how grammar and parts of speech can morph over time. Hmmm, I bet morph might be one of those words! Fascinating and fun. I wanted to read allowed often for my family to hear all the clever things!

On the go kit: favorite tote bag, a bunch of books, literary magazines, notebooks, colorful pens/pencils, bookmarks, headphones. Just in case... 😎 What does your literary bag look like? 😊
#onthego

This morning I'm running errands, so I'm all about #nonfictionnovember! I love listening to nonfiction on audio (it's basically the only way I take it in anymore). McWhorter is ridiculously smart and has an amazing writing (and narrating) voice. Audio is definitely the way to read this one!

YES!

The words "tree" and "true" are from the same root (pun intended). https://youtu.be/VYFE3tYUdJU