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@Linguist_CIOL DECEMBER/JANUARY The Linguist 25 SECTION HEADER REVIEWS Words come and go. Cross-Atlantic exchanges and returns, principally of nouns, have occurred since the 1600s, when the first English settlers landed in the New World. The environment there gave rise to a need for words for things hitherto unknown to the settlers. As a consequence, anglicised versions of native peoples' words were coined: 'pecan', 'skunk', 'wigwam'. By the late 1700s, the linguistic ties between the British Isles and America's east coast were loosening. The colonists spread westwards and were joined by waves of non-anglophone migrants from the Old World. The preeminent American lexicologist Noah Webster (1758-1843) set out to standardise the spelling brought over from England by trimming the French influence, hence 'labor', 'program' and 'theater'. A separate language identity – "nationlect" – was emerging. An example of how a word returns to common circulation in the British isles occurs with 'smart'. Originally an Old English verb meaning 'to cause sharp pain', it later became an adjective meaning 'painful, stinging'. Then it came to mean 'active, intelligent' in British (and American) English. It was then largely supplanted by the word 'clever' and acquired the meaning 'tidy, well-dressed'. In American English Editorial Board member Malcolm Pollard I first came across Ayckbourn's two-part play in Paris, where I saw Alain Resnais' film adaptation. For me, Resnais was synonymous with avant- garde works such as Hiroshima mon amour, so this adaptation seemed an unlikely collision of two different worlds. Yet the two became good friends. The two parts begin in the same way but evolve differently due to an apparently insignificant detail: the decision to smoke or not smoke a cigarette. A few minutes' difference leads to the unfurling of quite distinct narratives. With character names such as Teasdale and Hepplewick, and a quaint village location, we have an unmistakably English setting for a hilarious Ayckbournian exploration of language and social mores through the perspective of a French visitor. A happy entente cordiale to revisit now when there isn't a great deal of it around! Samuel French, 1985. ISBN 978-0573016127. £14.99 Intimate Exchanges Alan Ayckbourn The Prodigal Tongue Lynne Murphy Oneworld Publications 2018, 368 pp; ISBN 978- 1786072696 Paperback, £16.99 'clever' meant 'agile, nimble'. More recently, 'smart' has re-entered British English usage meaning 'active, intelligent': a smart bomb/card/TV set. This ebb and flow of words and meanings are detailed with alacrity by Lynne Murphy, Professor of Linguistics at the University of Sussex, in The Prodigal Tongue: The love-hate relationship between British and American English. The author, an American, fights her corner when faced with populist, comedic and misconceived jibes against American English in print and online. The strength of the USA – culturally, economically, politically – manifests itself in its language. The beliefs and values of its people and institutions seep into its English. Compound nouns and verbs flourish and express ideas redolent of business, creativity and social mobility – aspects of the American dream, perhaps: an 'A-lister', a 'fixer-upper', 'to table-hop', 'to fund-raise'. You might warm to some phrases (or dislike them less) when you know their origin. For example, 'to hit pay dirt' is derived from prospecting for gold. Similarly, 'to strike it rich' comes from digging for oil. Unfortunately, the same enthusiasm for neologisms has inflicted such phrases on the world as 'wardrobe malfunction', 'woke' (adjective) and the execrable 'to unfriend'. Murphy is at her strongest on etymology and historical linguistics. She writes compelling and convincing accounts of the life of words on both sides of the Atlantic. A considerable part of the book is on the standardisation of the emergent American English and the role played by dictionary compilers and keen amateur linguists (Benjamin Franklin et al). I contest her point about dropping the preposition(s) after 'to appeal' (and other hard-working verbs) with the pronoun 'it', as this makes it unclear whether someone 'appeals against' something (i.e. a decision) or 'appeals to' something (i.e. an authority). Nevertheless, this is a timely, well- researched piece of work worthy of a read for the latest insights into the common language that separates our two nations. Graham Elliott MCIL