Ever wondered how the English language developed? Or, to be more accurate, where? There’s an interesting book out called “A History of the English Language in 100 Places.”
I haven’t bought it, although I have to say I am very tempted: I mean, what an interesting idea!
It appears to be an outcome of the work of The English Project. This is a website that is definitely worth exploring. It has a few nice bits and pieces, such as an article about prison slang, followed by a selection of words that prisoners in England use.
Another interesting section, which relates back to the opening paragraph of this article, is 100 Landmarks (of the English Language).
For example, the earliest evidence of written English dates from the year 475. Nearer our own time, San Francisco is where “Twitter English” started, in the year 2006.
In some ways, I suppose, not an especially useful site unless you are working on a historical novel or are undertaking research into the development of our language.
But then, not everything that is interesting has to be useful, just as not everything that’s useful is interesting!
