You Say Potato: A Book About Accents

This is a delightfully written book, and it arrived here in California with amazing speed.I finished reading all of it in just one evening; I couldn't put it down.Especially interesting was the map displaying the names of the numerous regional accents in the U.K. -- a great eye-opener to an an American such as me, who must travel 1,000 miles to encounter a noticeably different accent.

This is an entertaining book if you like discourse analysis and studyin (Mainly English) dialectical differences. There were parts where I was laughing at the two authors (a father and son team) and then going, "I didn't know that!" It will certainly stay in MY library and WILL get re-read.

Another great Crystal-clear book. It is written in the form of a dialogue as you read a chapter by David Crystal followed by a chapter by Ben Crystal. This delightfully creative form of the book gives the impression of a live talk, and if you have encountered the authors before - you will almost "hear the accents".Ben Crystal's tongue-in-cheek footnotes add a similarly creative dimension to the book as a reproduction of a live talk as does his beautiful narrative. As usual, you will find David Crystal's writing insightful, detailed and at the same time reader-friendly. The different perspectives that come from the background of the authors as a linguist and an actor make the book a really successful collaboration.Volumes can be written about the fascinating variety of English accents (or any accent, for that matter). In this lovely little book you learn why the Birmingham accent has been getting a bad press, how to "sound blue" (!), how to resurrect an accent (or, sound like Shakespeare!) and much more.And as the title says, you say potato and add your accent to the record-breaking collection of "potatoes" on the innovative accent map along the likes of Stephen Fry and Jeremy Paxman http://www.panmacmillan.com/book/bencrystal/yousaypotato.I highly recommend the book to all accent hunters and lovers.

It wasn't as good as David Crystal's other books.

What great fun of a book from expertly hands (or ears?).I bought another copy for a friend after she became intrigued by the title when she caught me reading it. The title is an allusion to the song "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" sung by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in the film "Shall We Dance".By taking turns at every other chapter, the authors discuss not only the English accents but the often extreme attitudes towards accents and times when things have been really called off because of an accent!A great Christmas gift for the language geeks out there!

My undergraduate major was linguistics and, at 80, I still buy books in the field and read them eagerly. I enjoy doing accents, and grew up with a mother who was a Little Theater actress/director and taught several to me so we could have fun washing the after-supper dishes while conversing like stage Frenchwomen, Swedes, American Southern belles, etc. Among my linguistics book collection accents are generally ignored, so I thought the book might help plug the gap. Alas, it did not. Whenever Dr David Crystal contributed academic ideas to this book it became interesting--or at least MORE interesting than the narcissism of his actor son, Ben, who turned most of the book into a tedious, unamusing, autobiographical advertisement for himself as ACTOR, for TV programs I've never watched, and more than a chapter on the nuances of the Birmingham way of talking--at least on the telly. There are a few errors and the 2 indexes were worthless. Instead of a useful index of accent regions (Yorkshire, London East End, Glasgow, Birmingham, etc.) actor Ben put in alpha lists of actors and TV shows/films. Thank goodness the print is large and the number of pages short. I can't bear throwing out a book, so I brought it to my church's book sale shelf. Perhaps someone else will like it better.

My daughter enjoyed receiving this book as a Christmas gift!

I bought this book as I'm studying languages at university and I wanted to know more about English accents.The lecture is fluid, amusing and also has some phonetic's explains that make it more easily to understand.Recommended.

David and Ben Crystal are a formidable linguistic duo. They investigate the absorbing subject of accents used by English speakers, in an accessible father/son extended conversation throughout the book. An informative commentary on the evolution of spoken English.

Wurde an eine ehemalige Englisch-Lehrerin verschenkt, und das Feedback war sehr positiv. Buch ist witzig und unterhaltsam geschieben, und hat gefallen.

Pour une petite île, la Grande Bretagne a plein d'accents très différents. Un plaisir pour les linguistes, intéressant et original. Les livres de Ben Crystal sont pour les passionés de l'anglais/les langues, j'adore.

tutto ok