That's Not English
Britishisms, Americanisms, and What Our English Says About Us
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Narrated by:
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Marguerite Gavin
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By:
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Erin Moore
About this listen
An expat's witty and insightful exploration of English and American cultural differences through the lens of language that will leave listeners gobsmacked.
In That's Not English, the seemingly superficial differences between British and American English open the door to a deeper exploration of a historic and fascinating cultural divide. In each of the 30 chapters, Erin Moore explains a different word we use that says more about us than we think. For example, "Quite" exposes the tension between English reserve and American enthusiasm; in "Moreish" she addresses our snacking habits. In "Partner" she examines marriage equality; in "Pull" the theme is dating and sex; "Cheers" is about drinking; and "Knackered" covers how we raise our kids. The result is a cultural history in miniature and an expatriate's survival guide. American by birth, Moore is a former book editor who specialized in spotting British books - including Eats, Shoots and Leaves - for the US market. She's spent the last seven years living in England with her Anglo-American husband and a small daughter with an English accent. That's Not English is the perfect companion for modern Anglophiles and the 10 million British and American travelers who visit one another's countries each year.
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David Mitchell: Back Story
- By: David Mitchell
- Narrated by: David Mitchell
- Length: 9 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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David Mitchell, who you may know for his inappropriate anger on every TV panel show except Never Mind the Buzzcocks, his look of permanent discomfort on C4 sex comedy Peep Show, his online commenter-baiting in The Observer or just for wearing a stick-on moustache in That Mitchell and Webb Look, has written a book about his life.
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One of the Funniest, Clever Brits around
- By Delia on 08-30-13
By: David Mitchell
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The Unspeakable
- And Other Subjects of Discussion
- By: Meghan Daum
- Narrated by: Meghan Daum
- Length: 6 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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It's a report tempered by hard times. In "Matricide", Daum unflinchingly describes a parent's death and the uncomfortable emotions it provokes; and in "Diary of a Coma" she relates her own journey to the twilight of the mind. But Daum also operates in a comic register. With perfect precision, she reveals the absurdities of the marriage-industrial complex, of the New Age dating market, and of the peculiar habits of the young and digital.
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Complaining about her dead mom.
- By Erik Hermansen on 11-23-14
By: Meghan Daum
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Laughing Without an Accent
- Adventures of an Iranian American, at Home and Abroad
- By: Firoozeh Dumas
- Narrated by: Firoozeh Dumas
- Length: 5 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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In the best-selling memoir Funny in Farsi, Firoozeh Dumas recounted her adventures growing up Iranian American in Southern California. Now she again mines her rich Persian heritage in Laughing Without an Accent, sharing stories both tender and humorous on being a citizen of the world, on her well-meaning family, and on amusing cultural conundrums, all told with insights into the universality of the human condition. (Hint: It may have to do with brushing and flossing daily.)
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Sigh
- By Sara on 01-29-14
By: Firoozeh Dumas
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Paris to the Moon
- By: Adam Gopnik
- Narrated by: Adam Gopnik
- Length: 4 hrs and 44 mins
- Abridged
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Paris. The name alone conjures images of chestnut-lined boulevards, sidewalk cafés, breathtaking façades around every corner: in short, an exquisite romanticism that has captured the American imagination for as long as there have been Americans.
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Wish this wasn't abridged!!
- By Sarah D. on 03-25-17
By: Adam Gopnik
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The Social Climber's Bible
- A Book of Manners, Practical Tips, and Spiritual Advice for the Upwardly Mobile
- By: Dirk Wittenborn, Jazz Johnson
- Narrated by: Mozhan Marno
- Length: 7 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Welcome fledging Social Climbers! Allow us to show you the way. Birds do it, bees do it, even educated fleas do it. So what’s the big deal? You shouldn’t be punished for wanting to improve your lot in life! This is America, after all. In the grand tradition of True Prep and The Hipster Handbook, The Social Climber’s Bible will teach you everything you need to know to become a pro Mountaineer.
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so great!
- By Sarah Nissen on 05-15-19
By: Dirk Wittenborn, and others
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Made in America
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: William Roberts
- Length: 18 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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In Made in America, Bryson de-mythologizes his native land, explaining how a dusty hamlet with neither woods nor holly became Hollywood, how the Wild West wasn't won, why Americans say 'lootenant' and 'Toosday', how Americans were eating junk food long before the word itself was cooked up, as well as exposing the true origins of the G-string, the original $64,000 question, and Dr Kellogg of cornflakes fame.
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Bryson Not Reading Makes For a Rare Fail
- By John on 02-28-14
By: Bill Bryson
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A Very British Christmas
- Twelve Days of Discomfort and Joy
- By: Rhodri Marsden
- Narrated by: Rhodri Marsden, Helen Keeley, Paul Tyreman
- Length: 5 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Have Yourself a Very British Christmas is a 12-stage sleigh ride through the best, worst, strangest and funniest aspects of the Christmas holiday, with cultural icons saluted, national habits dissected and personal reminiscences from those who've eaten all the mince pies and lived to tell the tale. The essential Christmas stocking filler for every Brit who's ever found themselves on a deflating airbed wedged up against the washing machine in their parents' spare room come Christmas Eve.
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Great Christmas Fun
- By Robin L Childs on 11-13-20
By: Rhodri Marsden
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The Mother Tongue
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: Stephen McLaughlin
- Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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With dazzling wit and astonishing insight, Bill Bryson - the acclaimed author of The Lost Continent - brilliantly explores the remarkable history, eccentricities, resilience, and sheer fun of the English language. From the first descent of the larynx into the throat (why you can talk but your dog can't) to the fine lost art of swearing, Bryson tells the fascinating, often uproarious story of an inadequate, second-rate tongue of peasants that developed into one of the world's largest growth industries.
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More satire than history
- By Barbara Kindle Customer on 12-18-15
By: Bill Bryson
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The End of Men
- And the Rise of Women
- By: Hanna Rosin
- Narrated by: Laural Merlington
- Length: 9 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Men have been the dominant sex since - well, the dawn of mankind. And yet, as journalist Hanna Rosin discovered, that long-held truth is no longer true. At this unprecedented moment, women are no longer merely gaining on men; they have pulled decisively ahead by almost every measure. Already "the end of men" - the phrase Rosin coined - has entered the lexicon as indelibly as Simone de Beauvoir’s "second sex", Betty Friedan’s "feminine mystique", Susan Faludi’s "backlash", and Naomi Wolf’s "beauty myth" have.
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Great book, don't care for the reader's style
- By Darren on 12-05-12
By: Hanna Rosin
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Ask a North Korean
- Defectors Talk About Their Lives Inside the World's Most Secretive Nation
- By: Daniel Tudor, Andrei Lankov - foreword
- Narrated by: P. J. Ochlan, Greta Jung
- Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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The weekly column Ask a North Korean, published by NK News, invites readers from around the world to pose questions to North Korean defectors. By way of these fascinating interviews, the North Koreans themselves provide authentic firsthand testimonies about what is happening inside the "Hermit Kingdom." This book sheds critical light on all aspects of North Korean politics and society and shows that even in the world's most authoritarian regime, life goes on in ways that are very different from what you may think.
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Brilliant Narration on the unknown perspective
- By New Jaa Yeong on 09-01-18
By: Daniel Tudor, and others
What listeners say about That's Not English
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Joshua M. Kuo
- 08-21-19
Fun book and well performed
Language can be very subjective, and I am sure many people on both sides of the Atlantic would find plenty to disagree with the author about. Nonetheless, this is a delightful read, and the audio performance is spot on, switching between American and British accent where appropriate, and really brings the book to life. I highly recommend buying the audio version, even if you already own the printed book.
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- Jaguintexas
- 01-04-16
high expectations
I expected a few more common words and phrases compared. Maybe more popular phrases from the common folk in America.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Hope
- 03-05-16
Shallow and Stereotyped
What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?
I don't think this author could write a book that I would find worth reading. She is judgmental and shallow and assumes that other people are as shallow and even mean. She posits much more dislike between the British and Americans than I have ever had any experience of; perhaps it's who she chooses to be around. She speaks vaguely of British people who get so offended if an American should use 'Cheers' or some such Britishism and that American puts too much emphasis on the 'r'. Come on, what human being worth anything would spend their time getting bent out of shape by something so trivial.
There is always potential for friction between people from different cultures, but she starts by focusing on that and being critical of anyone who might pick up words from a different culture. (And there are many different cultures even within one country; I've heard non-Texans say y'all!) I ended up thinking that she includes the critique of adopting another country's idioms perhaps because she was embarrassed by a rude Brit, or just because she has so little to say in this book that she put in everything she could think of.
She talks a bit about the class system in the UK and how it is more rigid than that of the US, but is clueless about how difficult it actually is to move from one social stratum to another in the US. There really is a well-established (small) upper class in the US that is not as dependent on money as it is on heritage. This is just one example of the ignorance this author shows about virtually everything she writes about.
She has very little real material, so she puts in all kinds of silly things; she tells you that there is a store in London devoted to umbrellas or 'brollies" and then goes on to tell you that umbrellas work well if the rain is coming straight down, but not so well if there's a wind blowing it sideways. And there's even hail sometimes! Part of the book is written as if for someone who is moving to the country and might need the kind of information that would help with that, but I think it's only done as filler. There are simply not enough "Britishisms" to educate or entertain and certainly anyone buying this book is probably not looking for the tiny amount of information it provides for immigrants.
So if you need to know that a baby carriage is called a pram and a stroller is called a push-chair and a very few other things like that, you can buy this book, but I can't believe there are not more useful sources for British/American English translations.
The author is trying to funny and cute. It certainly did not get there for me. I am annoyed that I spent any time or money on this.
Has That's Not English turned you off from other books in this genre?
No, I generally love books about language. Language, and especially the idioms in that language gives such an insight into how the people who speak it think and feel.
What didn’t you like about Marguerite Gavin’s performance?
She spoke in a very smarmy voice, more so when she was using her British accent, but even in her American version, it was pretty condescending.
What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?
Annoyance.
Any additional comments?
This book is not well-thought-out. There is potential for a clever and funny book about the differences between Brits and Americans based on how each culture uses the language differently, but this book was a big fail.
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2 people found this helpful