July 6, 2011

History of the English language (in 10 minutes!)

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Another 10 minute delight – Open University has 10 videos, each about 1 minute, that are clever takes on the evolution of the English language. From the description:

Where did the phrase ‘a wolf in sheep’s clothing’ come from? And when did scientists finally get round to naming sexual body parts? Voiced by Clive Anderson, this entertaining romp through ‘The History of English’ squeezes 1600 years of history into 10 one-minute bites, uncovering the sources of English words and phrases from Shakespeare and the King James Bible to America and the Internet. Bursting with fascinating facts, the series looks at how English grew from a small tongue into a major global language before reflecting on the future of English in the 21st century.

(If this is your thing, I totally recommend Bill Bryson’s The Mother Tongue, which has afforded me many useful facts about the grand English language, some of which I actually remember).

Check it out: