Reviews and Media

Reviews of The Prodigal Tongue

The Economist: Books of the Year

“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 New York Times, Will Shortz

Of all the recent books I’ve read, my favorite is THE PRODIGAL TONGUE, by Lynne Murphy […] She has a keen ear for the way people speak.

The New York Times, Sarah Lyall
“Many of us already know and admire Murphy from her sprightly Twitter feed and her excellent blog, Separated by a Common Language, both of which reflect her exquisite ear, catholic interests and sly sense of humor. The Prodigal Tongue reminds us of the academic underpinnings of her work, the extensive reading she has done and her own highly entertaining preoccupations.”
“Murphy’s great love for language radiates from these pages.”

The New Yorker
“The author, a scholar of linguistics, revels in the minutiae of spelling, grammar, and usage, and her love of our living, changing language is infectious.”

Times Literary Supplement, Lionel Shriver
“The Prodigal Tongue is thorough, well researched, and keen on digging down that extra layer where the linguistic bones are buried. Yet to call it ‘serious’ might do the book an injustice, for her delivery is sparkling, her approach mischievous, her material brightened by the unexpected.”
“The Prodigal Tongue is playful, funny, smart and often humbling. The volume reads well for a general readership, yet evidences enough scholarly underpinnings that it must have been a lot of work. Murphy’s prose is beguiling.”

The Telegraph, Jonathon Green (21 April 2018)
“Murphy’s book is pedantic, but for once the definition is positive: she gets things right, offers proof and skewers inaccuracy, and does so with wit and erudition.”

New Statesman, Sophie McBain
“entertaining and sometimes gleeful”
“The Prodigal Tongue is ultimately a celebration of the richness and diversity of English, and a reminder that the language we use reflects and perpetuates cultural, political and social imbalances.”

Wall Street Journal, Henry Hitchings
“‘The Prodigal Tongue’ is acute about the more subtle differences between America and Britain”
“the book’s chief pleasure is a simple one: Instead of sending the language to school, it savors a great many words and phrases that are staples on one side of the pond and unfamiliar on the other. Ms. Murphy has an amusing facility for zapping tired language myths”

The Chronicle of Higher Education, Ben Yagoda
“entertaining and enlightening”
“Murphy drills down deep into these differences and emerges with unexpected narratives”

Financial Times, Michael Skapinker
“witty and erudite account of the relationship between these two anglophone tribes”
“what lifts The Prodigal Tongue is Murphy’s deep learning, lightly worn, in linguistics and linguistic history”

The Arts Desk, Liz Thomson
“The book’s a swell read – check it out!”
“it would make a great gift for friends from both countries…I was consistently engaged throughout”

Irish Times, Brian Maye
“the engaging, thoughtful and humorous approach makes for a readable and informative experience”

i , Jeff Robson
“a forensic but entertaining demolition of some of the myths and assumptions that ‘British English’ advocates in particular take to be empirical facts”
“a witty and erudite celebration of the English language, in all its forms” 

The Baltimore Sun, John E. McIntyre:
“This book is a romp. Go buy it.”
“Murphy would have us understand how rich and sturdy English is, that we may come to understand and delight in the richness of our differences.”

Publisher’s Weekly:
“thoughtful, funny, and approachable”
“The book’s momentum comes from Murphy’s witty presentation, but its real power comes from its commitment to inquiry and its profound belief that ‘communication involves a million little acts of faith.'”

The Times, Rose Wild
“Murphy ranges far and wide, with much wonderful detail and colour.”
“she discusses, with energy and erudition, the linguistic issues that divide our two nations”

The Incomparable, Jason Snell
“Lynne Murphy’s position as the perfect observer to talk about this stuff makes it a delightful book.”