#158 Merry Christmas to All

Everyone had gone home with the new gifts packed away in the shopping bags in which they had arrived, beautifully wrapped. Deciding I would figure out my new laptop tomorrow, I sat down and clicked on the TV. To my pleasure, C-Span was running Book-TV, my favorite week-end program, even though it was Thursday. John McWhorter was discussing his book on discourse in American English, “Doing our own thing,” at the Clean well lighted place for books (apparently the name of a store with a whimsical name) in San Francisco.

"McWhorter details how cultural change is turning the English language upside down in America today, but he explains that it hasn't always been this way. He marshals an impressive array of examples to show that when Americans were comparatively less well-off and well-educated, they understood and appreciated speeches that would be far too intricate, too lofty in their ideas, and simply too long for modern audiences."
Bookservice