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John H. McWhorter

John McWhorter

Doing Our Own Thing: The Degradation Of Language And Music And Why We Should, Like, Care Paperback

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ASIN ‏ : ‎ B000BTH4L8
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8 ounces

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John H. McWhorter
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John McWhorter
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John McWhorter teaches linguistics, philosophy, and music history at Columbia University, and writes for various publications on language issues and race issues such as Time, the Wall Street Journal, the Daily Beast, CNN, and the Atlantic. he told his mother he wanted to be a "book writer" when he was five, and is happy that it worked out.
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Eve M.

McWhorter is brilliant.

Reviewed in the United States on April 13, 2023

Love him ~

If you seek the proof of his analysis...

Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2021

Verified Purchase

I’ll start by observing that I’m writing this review exactly 19 years after Prof. John McWhorter first put “finger to keyboard, for this book,” as he phrased it; a coincidence I find amusing because later on he muses on someone reading this book in 20 years, having retrieved it from some (presumably dusty?) library shelf. I suppose in 2002, Kindle was not so much as a gleam in anyone’s eye. But there you have it; here it is on Kindle, allowing me to read and enjoy, as well as be inspired and illuminated by it.

As far as a review proper, I do not have much to say, despite a tendency to be prolix in other circumstances, especially when I find myself at odds with something. That is not the case the here. I believe this to be a very important book and, thus, as is (sadly) the way in our society these past few decades, a neglected one. There seems to be – or perhaps I should say, it seems to me there is – a certain inevitability to this: if this book were to be appreciated as it should be, it would not need to be written; if it needed to be written (which it did), our society lacks the wherewithal to properly appreciate it.

Now, to say I heartily agree with the premise and content of this book is, at this point, probably redundant; to say it is insightful, articulate, and eloquent – I could add elegant and graceful to my list of adjectives – is self-evident to anyone who avails themselves of the sample, and to say that it is spot on… well, I’ll get to that.

One thing that does strike me is the vituperation of the negative reviews this book as received. Clearly Prof. McWhorter struck a nerve with these folks, as well he should have. To say they missed the point or that their reading comprehension was faulty does them too much credit. In their (often) pompous vitriol, their blinkered point of view, and their constipated egotisticallity, they give firm evidence for the important truths this book lays down.

As for the rest of this review, I can do no better than paraphrase the epitaph of Sir Christopher Wren: if you seek the proof (of his analysis), look around you.

And lastly: I still find the Dartmouth joke hysterical.

3 people found this helpful

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J. C Clark

A Degraded Effort

Reviewed in the United States on March 4, 2010

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From an author clearly intelligent and knowledgeable, and with a command not just of English but of who knows how many other languages as well, this is one disjointed and, at times, tedious book. Many of the criticisms leveled elsewhere on this page seem off the mark to me. He is not just whining about some age-old language purity that is no longer present. But the "Why this decline is a problem" is not clearly and effectively spelled out. I agree (how could one not?) that we seem to have lost something significant when Barack Obama is hailed as an orator. But what does it mean? And how does he domonstrate, rather than claim, it does?

Let me focus on two lengthy chunks. Mr. McWhorter enjoys musicals. And believes that the quality of writing, both lyrically and musically, has declined significantly. Well, I cannot match him on chapter and verse, but there were lots of dreary and silly songs in musicals in the Thirties and Forties, and if these were, indeed Golden Years, why did this glory grow from the minstrel/vaudeville world that preceded it. If there was a decline since then due to language deterioration, how were the Thirties better than the Gay Nineties? But really, is "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair" a song for the ages? Performed in his beloved piano bars? Remember Sturgeon's Law, which holds that "90 Percent of Everything Is Junk" and we just can't tell very well which is the 10 and which is the 90 while we're in it? The piano bar has performed that service after 60 or 70 years of winnowing.

Now, this is not to say that contemporary pop music isn't an almost primal cry for power, sex, and respect. But the problems this "music" exemplifies are bigger than the evolution from the written word to the spoken. And besides, even if McWhorter is unaware of it, there is lots of melodic and skilled and crafted material being written and performed today.

And his long and pointless discussion of opera? Well, I like the text supertitles. I like the operas sung in Italian, or German, or Russian. I even like the titles when the opera's in English. It takes a few moments to read the lines. I can do it....

Richard Mitchell addresses many of the questions McWhorter raises, but also has some clear and specific worries about what happens (other than boring piano bars) when we lose our language facility. A smaller vocabulary is like s smaller toolbox, and the fewer tools we have, the more often we must make do. A crescent wrench can perform as a hammer, but it slows the job and makes it less likely to be done at all, never mind done well.

Lots of interesting things in here, but too diffuse an argument and too much extraneous or repetitive material. I kept looking for the source of the essays that made up this tome, but apparently this is how it was composed. Disappointing.

14 people found this helpful

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Max Lubach

The power of words.

Reviewed in the United States on October 19, 2020

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A fascinating book by a linguist who
explains and analyzes speech patterns,
as well as slang. Traditionally, we have
used a special literary language for writing
and another type of language for everyday
speaking. We may be surrendering our formal
written modes for the language used in the
street and with friends. The clever, witty,
and solemn modes of past styles of writing
are worth preserving. Our language is
capable of exalted, rhetorical, and personal
styles more polished, more elegant, highly
enjoyable. We may be in danger of losing our
more artistic and satisfying written forms.

3 people found this helpful

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WenJo

Doesn't deliver

Reviewed in the United States on January 19, 2004

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Mr. McWhorter says it is inconceivable that anyone in America today would make a statement such as, "Wow, I love the way she (or he) uses English". But, in fact, that's a close approximation to what I said to myself when I heard Mr. McWhorter interviewed and why I went out and bought his book. Although he documents with trained ease the decline of written and spoken English, I was left with the impression that he's not going to take his hands off the keyboard and do any dirty, heavy lifting to reverse the trend. Makes me think of the young man in the FedEx commercial who has an MBA and doesn't "do shipping". An interesting read but in the end disappointing.

8 people found this helpful

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