FREE/BARGAIN — Non-Fiction

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

Thank you for the correction.

I rarely use the word "whence" (isn't it used more by the English than those of us in the Colonies?). When I have heard it used, I seem to recall the speakers thereof to have said, "from whence," thus the reason, I think, for my faux pas.

It's a terribly old fashioned word - I don't think anybody actually uses it any more .

"Whence" means "from where", and its partner, "whither", means "to where", but I suspect that you'd get rather funny looks if you were to use them in conversation! German, though, has exactly analogous words, "woher" (from where) and "wohin" (to where), which are still very much used.

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It's a terribly old fashioned word - I don't think anybody actually uses it any more .

"Whence" means "from where", and its partner, "whither", means "to where", but I suspect that you'd get rather funny looks if you were to use them in conversation! German, though, has exactly analogous words, "woher" (from where) and "wohin" (to where), which are still very much used.

I apologize to any Mobilereader whom I caused to have funny looks.

Thankfully, the word "whence," though apparently archaic, is not obsolete. Otherwise, I would have erred in using "whence."

Perhaps my use of "whence" comes from my (minimal--by my own choice) exposure to Shakespeare, in high school (mostly) and in college. I recall that he (or whoever wrote "Shakespeare's" works) frequently used "whences" and "whithers." Dost any Mobilereader out there happen to have a concordance of Shakespeare's works close at hand?

Alternately, and more likely, my familiarity with "whence" may have arisen from my exposure to the King James version of the Bible, especially in childhood. The initial edition of the KJV was published in 1611, a time when, presumably, "whences," "wherefores," and such like were part of the vernacular English language.

[HarryT]

As you say, very common in both Shakespeare and the KJV!

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Permit me to point out that the word "whence" means "from where". One can say either "from where", or just "whence", but not "from whence"!

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

Thank you for the correction.

I rarely use the word "whence" (isn't it used more by the English than those of us in the Colonies?). When I have heard it used, I seem to recall the speakers thereof to have said, "from whence," thus the reason, I think, for my faux pas.

yep, I've also heard "from whence"... I guess since it's largely obsolete, we've forgotten the correct usage

[GlenBarrington]

Speaking of old English. I had an old (really old) English teacher in High School who made us memorize the Introduction to "The Canterbury Tales" and tried to teach us how to speak it as close to the original English that it was written in, as our Midwestern American accents could take us. I'm quite sure she went home and sobbed into her pillow at night in despair.

I don't suppose kids get that sort of education any more, but even 51 years later, I still remember snippets of the thing. I'm glad I do remember those little pieces!

[AnotherCat]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

I apologize to any Mobilereader whom I caused to have funny looks.

Thankfully, the word "whence," though apparently archaic, is not obsolete. Otherwise, I would have erred in using "whence."

Perhaps my use of "whence" comes from my (minimal--by my own choice) exposure to Shakespeare, in high school (mostly) and in college. I recall that he (or whoever wrote "Shakespeare's" works) frequently used "whences" and "whithers." Dost any Mobilereader out there happen to have a concordance of Shakespeare's works close at hand?

Alternately, and more likely, my familiarity with "whence" may have arisen from my exposure to the King James version of the Bible, especially in childhood. The initial edition of the KJV was published in 1611, a time when, presumably, "whences," "wherefores," and such like were part of the vernacular English language.

You are in very good company not just with your use of "whence" but also for your use of "from whence". In answer to your question both Shakespeare and the King James Bible translators make frequent use "from whence" as do many other celebrated writers. So you would have got no "funny looks" from linguists.

While the "from" is technically redundant it is not incorrect to use it if wanted, it is just one of the many redundancies or other quirks of the English language which the technical dissectors may like to quibble over but which linguists enjoy.

[Dngrsone]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It's a terribly old fashioned word - I don't think anybody actually uses it any more .

"Whence" means "from where", and its partner, "whither", means "to where", but I suspect that you'd get rather funny looks if you were to use them in conversation! German, though, has exactly analogous words, "woher" (from where) and "wohin" (to where), which are still very much used.

I have been known to use such words from time to time. I also amazed my daughter once by explaining to her the differences between "hither", "thither", and "yon". She professed no knowledge of any of those words, despite being an English major in college.

I tell you, what are they teaching kids these days? (where's my old man smilie when I need him?)

[Gudy]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It's a terribly old fashioned word - I don't think anybody actually uses it any more .

"Whence" means "from where", and its partner, "whither", means "to where", but I suspect that you'd get rather funny looks if you were to use them in conversation! German, though, has exactly analogous words, "woher" (from where) and "wohin" (to where), which are still very much used.

Indeed. And lamentably, the same redundant construction "von woher" (lit. "from from where") is frequently heard, especially in colloquial speech. Interestingly, the analogously redundant "to whither" and "nach wohin" seem to be exceedingly rare in both languages.

(can you tell that I've also been following the Adverb thread? :-D )

[Little.Egret]

Endeavour, Kindle single, free


Jerusalem: England's National Anthem by David Boyle

‘Jerusalem’ has become one of the best-known poems in the English language.
And, set to music, has become the unofficial English national anthem.

But what is the story behind its strange words?
And how did it come to strike such a powerful chord with the nation, uniting left and right, republicans and monarchists alike?

Penned in 1804 by the radical poet William Blake, as he sat in a cramped room near London’s Oxford Street, it is a call for personal struggle to transform England into the paradise it was somehow meant to be.

But Blake had no idea that these few stanzas would hold such national importance two hundred years on.

Over 100 years after Blake wrote it, ‘Jerusalem’ was rediscovered, set to music by Sir Hubert Parry and used to whip up patriotic fervour during the First World War.

Since then, it has been sung by socialists and conservatives alike, by patriots and feminists and dreamers.

David Boyle is a British author and journalist who writes mainly about history and new ideas in economics, money, business and culture. His books include ‘Alan Turing: Unlocking the Enigma’, ‘Peace on Earth: The Christmas Truce of 1914’, ‘Unheard Unseen: Warfare in the Dardanelles’, ‘Towards the Setting Sun: The Race for America’ and ‘The Age to Come’.


https://www.amazon.com/Jerusalem-Eng...dp/B00YAU81Y8/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jerusalem-E...dp/B00YAU81Y8/

https://www.amazon.ca/Jerusalem-Engl...dp/B00YAU81Y8/

[bfisher]

Thanks for the links to Jerusalem.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Thank you - this looks extremely interesting! Bought. A whopping 74MB, I see .

Curious. The Amazon site shows "The English and Their History" (to which my quote above is referring) as follows:

Product details

Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 74620.0 KB
Print Length: 875 pages
Publisher: Penguin (6 Nov. 2014)

but when I finally got around to downloading it this morning it was only a little over 9MB in size. I wonder where that 75MB figure came from?

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Curious. The Amazon site shows "The English and Their History" (to which my quote above is referring) as follows:



but when I finally got around to downloading it this morning it was only a little over 9MB in size. I wonder where that 75MB figure came from?

I suspect KFX vs AZW3, but the ratio seems large. My D/L via USB sizes are usually half the amazon listed sizes.

[Little.Egret]

Free

Disinfecting People: The Epic Battle For Scientific Medicine And How The Word Became Cleaner (The 19th Century in Ads Book 3) by Anna Lemos

All of a sudden the earth was full of killer microorganisms. Of course, they had always existed, but people didn't know it, they believed that disease came from the bad air, the conjunction of planets or divine punishment.

It took less than a century from the invention of the microscope to the germ theory of disease” to be enunciated; it took more than two centuries and a half and an epic battle for it to be accepted. In the last decades of the 19th-century people, scientists and governments undertook the challenging task of disinfecting the world.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07468DGP9

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07468DGP9

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07468DGP9

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Little.Egret

Free

Disinfecting People: The Epic Battle For Scientific Medicine And How The Word Became Cleaner (The 19th Century in Ads Book 3) by Anna Lemos

It's a good subject, but this book is so full of typos that it's not worth getting, IMO. I've deleted my copy from my Amazon account, it's so bad.

[GA Russell]

You mean like "How the Word Became Cleaner?"