Watch your language!
The History Of English Podcast review
Rating – 
This week we are going highbrow. And historical. Everyone knows that English is one of the most mongrel languages there is. The question is why? Now you could say that it is because the British Empire was so colossal that some absorption was inevitable, and that language is constantly changing.
This is true. There is much more to the story than that though. More possibly than you could imagine. That’s the subject of this podcast. I mean, what else would you think a show called The History Of English would be about?
So what’s it about?
This show isn’t some list of words that originate in Latin or Greek or French or whatever. Anybody knows that, or with a bit of reading will work that out. Oh no, this goes deep. Host, Kevin Stroud, is the main force behind this show, and the love of the subject shows in his research. A reading of Beowolf in its original Anlgo Saxon was the impetus for the research, and this germ of an idea grew into the podcast.
It’s a very long running series. To date there are 200 episodes dating back 13 years, so there is no shortage of running time, and with each episode being about an hour long, you won’t get through this in a hurry.
This begins in the deepest history, literally the dawn of civilisation, and the dawn of communication. From the distant past, sounds and words get tracked from Mongolia, through India, Turkey, and eventually to Britain. As these sounds move, they adapt. Not only sounds, but how to record these sounds in writing gets covered too.
The way that linguists and anthropologists have traced words back through time is frankly baffling, and how one word can traverse continents and millennia to the modern day is about as brilliant as it gets (and I don’t mean that as a criticism!)
Is it any good?
As you progress through the episodes, it’s almost as if you can feel your skull crack as your brain absorbs the information, by the end of a binge, your frontal lobes will feel like Arnies bicep. There aren’t many podcasts where you can feel yourself get cleverer, but this is one.
The work of people over the last few hundred years to track language from before animals were domesticated and before farming to why some words have a “c” sound and some have a “k” sound will surely blow your mind.
Having said all this, this is a pretty hard going show. It lacks the hyperactive attention grabbing dialogue and music that will keep the younger generation off their phone screens. Each episode is like a lecture, as I said, each episode averages about an hour. Because of this, you can get burned out after two or three episodes. It really is worth sticking with though. Take a break and get back into it.
Final thoughts
This is an absolutely fascinating show. I appreciate that this review is peppered with hyperbole, but ironically, a podcast about English has left me rather speechless. Who would have thought it would prove so difficult to string 500 (or so) words together on a podcast about the English language.
If you’re looking for something different from true crime, or horror fiction, then this is absolutely where you should start.
Next week, being the first Sunday of the month, I will be posting another interview. This time with the creator of the longest running British podcast. It was a no-brainer to talk to him about his show, so we will be hearing from Mr. Jim Moon of the Hypnogoria podcast!
You can get The History Of English Podcast here:
For more great reviews, I recommend GreatPods