# The Stories of English

Canonical: https://www.bookquiver.com/david-crystal/the-stories-of-english/9780141015934

![The Stories of English](https://quivercdn.com/covers/penguin/david-crystal/the-stories-of-english_978-01-4101-593-4.jpg?v=2026-04-23%2008%3A01%3A09)

- Book: [The Stories of English](https://www.bookquiver.com/david-crystal/the-stories-of-english) ([The Stories of English.md](https://www.bookquiver.com/david-crystal/the-stories-of-english.md))
- Authors: [David Crystal](https://www.bookquiver.com/david-crystal)
- Publisher: Penguin
- ISBN: 978-01-4101-593-4
- Pages: 592
- Published: 2005-05-05
- Language: en_GB
- Binding: Softcover

## Description

When and why did 'thou' disappear from Standard English? Would a Victorian Cockney have said 'observation' or 'hobservation'? Was Jane Austen making a mistake when she wrote 'Jenny and James are walked to Charmonth this afternoon'? This superbly well-informed - and also wonderfully entertaining - history of the English language answers all these questions, showing how the many strands of English (Standard English, dialect and slang among them) developed to create the richly-varied language of today.