A Bawdy Language: How a Second-Rate Language Slept Its Way to the Top

Richler, who writes a language column for the Montreal Gazette , describes the English language as permeable, inherently chaotic, incredibly fertile, and absolutely faithless. He loves it. Well bred languages, he says, are unable to enjoy the same degree of riddles, anagrams, lipograms, puns, and palindromes. He runs it through its tricks. Being from Montreal, he may have more of a political or cultural message than Americans would necessarily catch. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)