Made in America

[Nigel E. Richardson]

Dennis Jones wrote:

> All this comes from Bill Bryson's recent "Made in America" which, as 
> well as being a good laugh and a mine of such info, also goes a long way to
> exploding the widely held belief ( at least among non-Americans) that the
> yanks have been doing dastardly things to the once pure language ever since
> the founding fathers stepped onto Plymouth Rock (which apparently they
> never did). Turns out that, more often than not, English terms,
> pronunciation and spelling lived on in the New World long after dying out
> back home. Here we are again with American conservatism v Old World
> progressivism.

I just finished reading MADE IN AMERICA at 2am last night.... it is one of
those books where you tell yourself you'll just read one more chapter...
okay, just one more... So I too recommend it to all my fellow
non-Americans on this list as a primer on all aspects of Americana
(covering everything from pre-marital sex amongst the Puritans to the man
who designed the Batmobile). Very useful for those of us who love American
novels but don't know our Burma Shave from our Edsel....

Nigel E. Richardson
Leeds, UK

PS. Just flown back from New York, having picked up the obligatory copy
of INFINITE JEST at Tower Records (25% off). No sign of it or any of his
previous works appearing in the UK. Noticed while I was there that Will
Self's books are now out in the USA. He's probably the closest thing we've
got to Wallace at the moment, although a hell of a lot more irritating (in
person and in his writing). Be interested to know what you guys think of
his stuff...