English as She Is Spoke (and Texted)

“The evolution of words is a capsule history of the race,” wrote Dwight Macdonald in his essay “The Decline and Fall of English.” Suffice it to say Macdonald, who once wrote a lengthy critique of the third edition of Webster’s New International Dictionary for The New Yorker, had some strong opinions on the evolution of language. Were he alive today, Macdonald would have lots to say about a new exhibit opening this November at the British Library. The ambitious show, called “Evolving English: One Language, Many Voices,” aims to do nothing less than chart the fifteen-hundred-year history of our native tongue.

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