Chaucer

Why I Write About England

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England. The mere name conjures up images of castles, long rolling plains of green, ancient stone structures, knights, kings, pageantry of a different age, stone walls and thatched cottages. Chaucer, Shakespeare, Tolkien. Magical in every sense of the word. And growing up in a household of rabid Anglophiles certainly set me on an inevitable course … Read more

Why Can’t the English Teach Their Children How to Speak?

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You might recognize the title of this blog post from the musical “My Fair Lady” wherein linguist Henry Higgins laments that the English language was being corrupted by its many dialects. Indeed, George Bernard Shaw, who penned the original play “Pygmalion” on which “My Fair Lady” was based, was supposed to have said, “The English … Read more