Title:
Made in America
Author:
Bill Bryson
Publisher:
William Morrow and Company, 1994
ISBN
0-688-10312-X

Bill Bryson, by vocation a journalist, has already made a name for himself in the field of the history of the English Language. His book The Mother Tongue was entertaining, informative, and, for the most part, accurate. So I took up Made in America with some prior expectations.

I was not disappointed. The book is a well organized narrative, describing the history of the English language in North America. Because the histories of language and people are so intimately intertwined, Bryson makes frequent excursions to the stories the inhabitants of North America tell about themselves, and where they come from. The book's 21 chapters are annotated in the back of the book, which also includes a thorough index.

The book covers the history of English in North America from the time of the first English speaking arrivals from Europe (even touching upon those who came to the continent long before), to the present day. Bryson has acerbic comments for those who feel American English is in some fashion inferior to British English, as well as for those who will bowdlerize the language in the name of political correctness.

Much of the history is whimsical. The book does not suffer from this - after all, the English language has always profited from whimsy. Thus such diverse subjects as the automobile, food, and sexual mores are discussed, always leading to the effect they had on American English.

Because of the colorful background the language has, particularly in the USA, Bryson touches on many commonly held beliefs, often to debunk them. So he takes up the story that at one point German was almost declared the national language of the USA, pointing out that no such event ever occured. (In 1795 the House considered a bill to publish federal laws in German as well as English.) He takes on parson Weems and little George's hatchet.

When talking about the origins of USAn surnames, he tackles the belief that freed African slaves had no problem adopting the surnames of their former owners. He even points out that LA's suburban sprawl cannot be blamed on the automobile. That he has to battle through a jungle of folklore is hardly surprising, as even the folklore itself has contributed to American English.

A word of caution must be inserted here. Bryson tries awfully hard to footnote his substantive statements. Sometimes, though, he is obviously making a statement that he feels needs no further support. So, for instance, he gives Eli Whitney full credit for inventing the cotton gin, with no further elaboration. (According to Mothers of Invention, Whitney may not deserve this credit.)

He claims that Benjamin Franklin suggested that people could avoid flatulence by drinking perfume. The only piece by Franklin on the subject that I was able to find was a letter, written to the Academy of Science in Brussels in jest, which argued that flatulence would not be objectionable if it just didn't smell so bad, and challenged researchers to come up with ways to turn the wind of our bowels into sweet perfume. (Quite a funny piece, really.)

In other places his sources are apparently wrong. For example, he agrees with the 1970 NASA company position that Armstrong didn't flub his famous line, but that the crucial syllable was lost in transmission. His cite is Ira Flatow's They All Laughed. Just how Flatow made this claim I do not know, but by now even Mr Armstrong has admitted that he was only human.

Of course, the book is meant as an informal history of the English language. As long as readers are aware of the problematic nature of myth and legend, Bryson's book should afford them a lot of pleasure.