Category:Damian O'Brien - Revision history

Sue at 07:03, 25 July 2013

2013-07-25T07:03:08Z

Sue at 14:54, 6 January 2013

2013-01-06T14:54:25Z

Sue at 14:51, 6 January 2013

2013-01-06T14:51:54Z

Sue: Created page with "O'Brien, Damian"

2013-01-06T14:40:36Z

Created page with "[[|Category:Authors|O'Brien, Damian]]"

New review

[[|Category:Authors|O'Brien, Damian]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 07:03, 25 July 2013
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	'''THE AUTHOR'''		'''THE AUTHOR'''

−	Damian O'Brien was born in Cheshire and grew up in Buckinghamshire. After leaving school he raced cars and taught performance driving at racetracks including Silverstone and Le Mans. Inspired by a biography of Rasputin, he went to Siberia to spend a year in a remote city on the River Ob. On returning to England he read Sanskrit and Ancient Iranian at ~~Oxford University~~. He ~~then went~~ to ~~Libya~~, where he ~~was one of the few Europeans living~~ in ~~the Bedouin town of Sirte before~~ the 2011 revolution. ~~From Libya he~~ moved to Saudi Arabia, and ~~he now divides his time between Basra in southern~~ Iraq and ~~Veliko Tarnovo in the mountains of central Bulgaria. He has a Siamese cat called Stanley, acquired~~ in the ~~pet souk in Tripoli~~.	+	Damian O'Brien was born in Cheshire and grew up in Buckinghamshire. After leaving school he raced cars and taught performance driving at racetracks including Silverstone and Le Mans. Inspired by a biography of Rasputin, he went to Siberia to spend a year in a remote city on the River Ob. On returning to England he went to Oxford University and read Sanskrit and Ancient Iranian at Harris Manchester College. He began writing If Houses Why Not Mouses? to while away hot evenings in the Libyan city of Sirte, where he worked prior to its destruction in the 2011 revolution. He then moved to Saudi Arabia and Iraq and now works in Somalia for the humanitarian demining charity The HALO Trust.

@@ Line 19: / Line 19: @@
 * If ''goose'', why ''gander''?
-* If ''see'', why '''?
+* If ''see'', why ''saw''?
 * Why does ''one'' sound like it starts with ''w''?

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:51, 6 January 2013
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−	[[\|Category:Authors\|O'Brien, Damian]]	+	[[Category:Authors\|O'Brien, Damian]]
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		+	[[image:DamianOBrian.JPG\|left]]
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		+	'''THE BOOK'''
		+
		+	This isn’t just another history of English, or a catalogue of etymologies. It explores some of the most obvious but unusual features of English, which are also some of the least understood by many of its speakers. These include:
		+
		+	* If ''she works'', why not ''she cans'' or ''she mights''?
		+
		+	* Why do patterns like ''drive, drove, driven'' exist?
		+
		+	* Where did the ''l'' in ''could'' come from?
		+
		+	* Why don’t we pronounce ''ght'' in words like ''eight'' and ''bought''?
		+
		+	* How can ''be, is,'' and ''was'' all be parts of one verb?
		+
		+	* If ''goose'', why ''gander''?
		+
		+	* If ''see'', why '''?
		+
		+	* Why does ''one'' sound like it starts with ''w''?
		+
		+	Drawing on sources as diverse as Sanskrit grammatical treatises, the Bible in six ancient languages, an Anglo-Saxon monk’s survey of whelk-farming, Middle English allegory, Winston Churchill’s memoirs, and the lyrics of reggae legend Lee Scratch Perry, ''If Houses, Why Not Mouses?'' is etymology turbocharged and shows that there explanations for virtually everything. Readers who enjoy the unravelling of linguistic mysteries and tangled relationships between languages will find this an invaluable addition to their libraries.
		+
		+	'''THE AUTHOR'''
		+
		+	Damian O'Brien was born in Cheshire and grew up in Buckinghamshire. After leaving school he raced cars and taught performance driving at racetracks including Silverstone and Le Mans. Inspired by a biography of Rasputin, he went to Siberia to spend a year in a remote city on the River Ob. On returning to England he read Sanskrit and Ancient Iranian at Oxford University. He then went to Libya, where he was one of the few Europeans living in the Bedouin town of Sirte before the 2011 revolution. From Libya he moved to Saudi Arabia, and he now divides his time between Basra in southern Iraq and Veliko Tarnovo in the mountains of central Bulgaria. He has a Siamese cat called Stanley, acquired in the pet souk in Tripoli.