A personal journey through the groves and thickets of the English language, this title combines personal reflections, historical allusions and travel observations to create a mesmerising account of David Crystal's encounters with the language throughout the world.

Are we tired of hearing that fall is a season, sick of being offered fries and told about the latest movie? Yeah. Have we noticed the sly interpolation of Americanisms into our everyday speech? You betcha. And are we outraged? Hell, yes. But do we do anything? Too much hassle. Until now. In this book Matthew Engel presents a call to arms against the linguistic impoverishment that happens when one language dominates another.