Description: Where do our everyday words come from? The bagel you eat for breakfast, the bumf you have to wade through at the office, and the bus that takes you home again: we use these words without thinking about their origins or how their meanings have changed over time. Simon Horobin takes the listener on a journey through a typical day, showing how the words we use to describe routine activities--getting up, going to work, eating meals--have surprisingly fascinating histories.
Brief description:
Simon Horobin is professor of English language and literature at the University of Oxford and a fellow of Magdalen College. He has written extensively on the history, structure, and uses of the English language. He is the author of How English Became English and other books on the history of English and the language of Chaucer.