Mother Tongue: The English Language, and published in the USA as The Mother Tongue: English & How It Got That Way, is a book by Bill Bryson which compiles the history and origins of the English and the language's various quirks. The book discusses the Indo-European origins of English, the growing status of English as a global language, the complex etymology of English words, the dialects of English, spelling reform, prescriptive grammar, and more minor topics including swearing.
