A hilarious detailing of the frustrations of ESL and native speakers (from all over the world) alike. Too bad he doesn't give a bushel of giggles in homage to the robots who read to us when eyesight is temporarily askew. Laugh your way through this short offering anyway!
I requested and received a temporary uncorrected review galley from Black Rose Writing via NetGalley.
#DamnEnglish by Gary Sherbell @blackrosewriting #NetGalley
#storygraph #bookbub #goodreads @librarythingofficial #witty #situationalhumor #bookshop_org #bookshop_org_uk @barnesandnoble @kobobooks @booksamillion @waterstones

Non fiction is never my favorite, but I like reading about differences between English spoken/written in the US and spoken/written elsewhere. This book does a good job of showing the differences in how words can be spelled the same, but spoken differently or spoken the same but mean different things or spelled differently and sound the same, but mean different things. Boar/bore. Night/knight. Read/read, for example. Letters that are silent-why are they there?

The author states he does not get into the roots of the language, which is more what I was looking for, but I liked his writing style. It's not the kind of book you take to the beach and I found I read in smaller time periods as it didn't hold my attention so much as fill my head up with info.

Thank you NetGalley for an advance reader copy. Honest opinions expressed here are my own and are freely given.

As an English teacher with decades of experience, an applied linguist, and as. a person who has taught courses on the history of the English language, I was looking forward to reading this book. While I completely agree that English is full of all kinds of things to poke fun of, I felt the stream-of-consciousness style of writing and the really, REALLY, strong attempts to be funny quite off putting. As a female reader, I also found many parts of the book to be borderline offensive and some parts outright offensive. Having said that, I might have had a different reading experience if I had read a paper copy and not an e-copy of this book. It might be easier to digest if one could dive into it here and there and read a paragraph or two. I also think that illustrations might have also helped convey the humor.
Many thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for an ARC of this novel.

I liked the book as a discussion of the weirdness, inconsistencies and ill-logic of the English language. Gary Sherbell makes many clever observations and offers linguistic solutions. I thought however, that the humor felt forced and frequently juvenile, and became tiresome very quickly, to the point where I started skipping text when I felt that the point had been made. Thank you to Netgalley and Black Rose Writing for the advance reader copy.

This book is about the ridiculousness of the English language and it was very fun to read because of its conversational style. I think the cover gives justice to the contents, because I felt like listening to one of those medieval bards (or is that a jester?). I laughed a lot of times, which means the book, that aimed to entertain as well as inform and propose, reached its goal.

The book was divided into two sections. One was about English as it used today, and in the second the author proposes how some English words and idioms could be improved to fit the current society. This is because a lot of expressions were created long ago and they don’t reflect our society anymore because society has changed. A lot of expressions aren’t always able to communicate what we want or some are difficult to define literally and depend a lot of context. Language(s) is creative, alive, and it has the ability to model itself to the change of times, as we can see if we read a book published two centuries ago and one published today. The author thus proposes some changes that could benefit English users around the globe.

English is indeed a ridiculous language and I second that it’s a shame that the words aren’t pronounced the way they are written (like on the other hand they are in my native language, which is Italian). There were a lot of things that were relatable and with which I agreed. I learned English as a second language and as an English teacher, I find myself thinking about this language and the whys and whos of it a lot – or alot, like the author proposes. Can’t think of a definite amount, sorry. Hence, this book was my cup of tea.

It’s definitely worth a read if you enjoy metalinguistics.

Thanks so much to Black Rose Writing for letting me read and ARC of this book.

"It's all about English, from the asinine to the moronic to the zany." Oh, yes...count me in! Being a retired K-9 Language Arts teacher, this book is right up my alley. (Yes, Mr. Sherbell, I know it's a weird idiom.) Anyone who has struggled with the absurd spelling rules that don't hold true, to trite sayings that don't even make sense, will enjoy Damn English! At the very least, it's validation that others share your pet peeves. This book was an enjoyable break from the daily madness, and who doesn't need that?