Yes, I've read that one too, but I don't recall any mention in that book of (for instance) 17th century homonyms that make no sense to the modern ear. It was largely because of things like that which might help make sense of people trying to follow derivations of surnames etc. that I thought it worth posting on this board,
As clearly this thread will make no sense without some quoted extracts, here goes with a few points that I thought might interest folk.
Was would rhyme with pass, Father with gather, ream with realm, shoot and suit, Easter with Hester, sea with say.
Anyway, it is a very long book and I do not pretend to have the ability to write with the wit of Bryson, so would suggest people interested in the reasons we talk the way we do should read either Mother Tongue or Made in America, or preferably both.
Bryson makes the point that the reason some US wildlife has a different name to the same species found in Europe was down to the incompetence of the early settlers and their inability to distinguish them. Thus an American rabbit is actually a hare.
