H. L. Mencken (1880–1956)
Auteur van The American Language: An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States
Over de Auteur
H. L. Mencken 1880-1956 H. L. (Henry Louis) Mencken was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on September 12, 1880. He considered Maryland to be his home despite his many years in New York. As a child he attended Professor Friedrich Knapp's Institute, a private school for children of German descent. He toon meer completed his secondary education at Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, from which he graduated at the age of 16. Mencken wanted to be a writer but was obligated to work in his father's cigar factory. When his father died suddenly in 1899, Mencken immediately sought a job at the Baltimore Herald. Through he began with no experience in journalism, he quickly learned every job at the newspaper and at age 25 became its editor. Mencken went on to build himself a reputation as one of America's most brilliant writers and literary critics. His basic approach was to question everything and to accept no limits on personal freedom. He attacked organized religion, American cultural and literary standards, and every aspect of American life that he found shallow, ignorant, or false - which was almost everything. From the 1920's until his death, Mencken's sharp wit and penetrating social commentary made him one of the most highly regarded - and fiercely hated - of American social critics. He was later memorialized in the dramatic portrait of the cynical journalist in the play and film Inherit the Wind. Shortly after World War I, Mencken began a project that was to fascinate him for the rest of his life: a study of American language and how it had evolved from British English. In 1919 he published The American Language: A Preliminary Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States. To this and his publisher's surprise, the book sold out quickly; its wit and nonscholarly approach attracted many readers who would not normally buy a book on such a subject. In 1936, a revised and enlarged edition was published, and in 1945 and 1948, supplements were added. The work shows not only how American English differs from British English but how the 300 year American experience shaped American dialect. Thus the book, still considered a classic in its field, is both a linguistic and social history of the United States. Mencken died in his sleep on January 29, 1956. He was interred in Baltimore's Loudon Park Cemetery. (Bowker Author Biography) toon minder
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Werken van H. L. Mencken
The American Language: An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States (1936) 707 exemplaren
The American Language: An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States, Supplement II (1948) 218 exemplaren
The American Language: An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States, Supplement I (1945) 171 exemplaren
The American Language: An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States {abridged} (1963) 148 exemplaren
A New Dictionary of Quotations on Historical Principles from Ancient and Modern Sources (1942) 117 exemplaren
A Religious Orgy in Tennessee: A Reporter's Account of the Scopes Monkey Trial (2006) 101 exemplaren
Prejudices: The First, Second, and Third Series + Prejudices: The Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Series (2010) — Auteur — 88 exemplaren
The American Language: An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States; Supplement I; Supplement II (1919) 66 exemplaren
Thirty-five Years of Newspaper Work: A Memoir by H. L. Mencken (Maryland Paperback Bookshelf) (1994) 31 exemplaren
The American Language: An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States, Supplements I & II (1945) 24 exemplaren
A gang of pecksniffs: And other comments on newspaper publishers, editors and reporters (1975) 22 exemplaren
Three Early Works: A Book of Prefaces; Damn! A Book of Calumny; The American Credo (2006) 20 exemplaren
The American Language: An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States {Second Edition} (1921) 15 exemplaren
The American Language: A Preliminary Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States {First Edition} (1919) 13 exemplaren
The Antichrist 12 exemplaren
H. L. Mencken Seven Book Collection: The American Credo; The American Language; The Philosophy Of Friedrich Nietzsche;… (2017) 10 exemplaren
Men Versus the Man: A Correspondence Between Robert Rives La Monte, Socialist, and H. L. Mencken, Individualist (1910) — Co-author — 10 exemplaren
Dreiser-Mencken Letters: The Correspondence of Theodore Dreiser and H. L. Mencken 1907-1945 (1986) 8 exemplaren
DREISER - MENCKEN LETTERS. The Correspondence of Theodore Dreiser & H. L. Mencken 1907 - 1945. Volume One. (2016) 7 exemplaren
The American Credo / A Contribution Toward the Interpretation of the National Mind (2010) 6 exemplaren
Notes on Democracy 5 exemplaren
The mating game and how to play it: Tips and pointers from the collected wisdom of H. L. Mencken (over fifty years a… (1974) 5 exemplaren
Samlade fördomar : artiklar och essayer 3 exemplaren
Classic Philosophy: 7 Books by Nietzsche 3 exemplaren
Selected Prejuduces Second Series 3 exemplaren
Ship Ahoy — Medewerker — 3 exemplaren
Eleven Plays of Henrik Ibsen 3 exemplaren
The Works of H. L. Mencken 2 exemplaren
Ausgewählte Schriften: Ausgewählte Werke, 3 Bde., Bd.2, Autobiographisches 1930-1948 (2000) 2 exemplaren
Writings in the Smart Set, Volume 4: 1916-1917: Edited and annotated by S. T. Joshi (Collected Essays and Journalism of… (2018) 2 exemplaren
The rewards of virtue 2 exemplaren
The American Mercury. Vol. I No. 3 March 1924 A Monthly Review Edited by H.L. Mencken & George Jean Nathan 2 exemplaren
SUPPLEMENT TWO, THE AMERICAN LANGUAGE 1 exemplaar
H L MENCKEN / American Language An Inquiry Into the Development 1960 [Hardcover] MENCKEN, H.L 1 exemplaar
American Credo: a Contribution Toward the Interpretation of the National Mind, improved 8/19/2010 1 exemplaar
The American Mercury January 1924 1 exemplaar
H. L. Mencken's Smart set criticism 1 exemplaar
Russian Ballet Technique: As Taught by Alexis Kosloff of the Imperial Russian Ballet School, Moscow (Classic Reprint) (2016) 1 exemplaar
H.L. MENCKEN PREJUDICES 1 exemplaar
Ventures Into Verse 1 exemplaar
Fordomme. Udvalg og oversættelse ved Hartvig Andersen. (Hasselbalchs Kulturbibliotek Bd. XXX) 1 exemplaar
Heliogabalus a buffoonery in three acts 1 exemplaar
A Book of burlesques 1 exemplaar
The American Mercury. October 1926. v. IX, No. 34 — Redacteur — 1 exemplaar
The young Mencken : the best of his work 1 exemplaar
Supplement 1 exemplaar
The triumph of the have-not 1 exemplaar
The Scopes Trial (in Law as Lit) 1 exemplaar
The American Mercury: Volume 26, Number 104: August 1932 (including John Fante "Altar Boy") 1 exemplaar
The American Mercury: Volume 26, Number 107: November 1932 (Including John Fante "Home Sweet Home" 1 exemplaar
James Branch Cabell; three essays 1 exemplaar
H. L. Mencken on Politics 1 exemplaar
Menckeniana A Schimpflexicon 1 exemplaar
American Mercury, August 1930 1 exemplaar
A Girl From Red Lion, P.A. 1 exemplaar
The Sensibility of Woman 1 exemplaar
The American Mercury, Volume XXII No 85, January 1931 — Redacteur — 1 exemplaar
Homo Neanderthalensis 1 exemplaar
Mr. Cabell of Virginia 1 exemplaar
American Mercury, July 1931 1 exemplaar
Where is the Graveyard of Dead Gods? 1 exemplaar
Writings in the Smart Set, Volume 3: 1914-1915: Edited and Annotated by S. T. Joshi (Collected Essays and Journalism of… (2018) 1 exemplaar
The American language. Suppl.2 1 exemplaar
The Smart Set December 1919 1 exemplaar
Writings in the Smart Set, Volume 8: 1922-1923: Edited and Annotated by S. T. Joshi (Collected Essays and Journalism of… (2019) 1 exemplaar
Writings in the Smart Set, Volume 7: 1921-1922: Edited and Annotated by S. T. Joshi (Collected Essays and Journalism of… (2019) 1 exemplaar
Writings in the Smart Set, Volume 6: 1920-1921: Edited and Annotated by S. T. Joshi (Collected Essays and Journalism of… (2018) 1 exemplaar
Writings in the Smart Set, Volume 5: 1918-1919: Edited and Annotated by S. T. Joshi (Collected Essays and Journalism of… (2018) 1 exemplaar
Writings in the Smart Set, Volume 2: 1912-1913: Edited and Annotated by S. T. Joshi (Collected Essays and Journalism of… (2018) 1 exemplaar
Memorable Quotations: H.L. Mencken 1 exemplaar
Writings in the Smart Set, Volume 1: 1908-1911: Edited and Annotated by S. T. Joshi (Collected Essays and Journalism of… (2018) 1 exemplaar
Ventures Into Verse: Being Various Ballads, Ballades, Rondeaux, Triolets, Songs, Quatrains, Odes and Roundels (Classic… (2017) 1 exemplaar
The American Mercury, Vol. II, No. 6 1 exemplaar
The American Mercury, Vol. XII, No. 46 1 exemplaar
The American Language Reference Library -The American Language, Fourth Edition, The American Language Supplement One,… (1960) 1 exemplaar
American Mercury, Vol. XIII No. 49, January 1928 1 exemplaar
The Intellectual Squirrel-Cage 1 exemplaar
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Tagged
Algemene kennis
- Gangbare naam
- Mencken, H. L.
- Pseudoniemen en naamsvarianten
- Drayham, William (pseudonym)
Hatteras, Owen (shared pseudonym)
Mencken, Henry Louis (birth name) - Geboortedatum
- 1880-09-12
- Overlijdensdatum
- 1956-01-29
- Graflocatie
- London Park Cemetery, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
- Geslacht
- male
- Nationaliteit
- USA
- Geboorteplaats
- Baltimore, Maryland, USA
- Plaats van overlijden
- Baltimore, Maryland, USA
- Woonplaatsen
- Baltimore, Maryland, USA
- Opleiding
- Baltimore Polytechnic Institute
Cosmopolitan University - Beroepen
- journalist
editor - Relaties
- Mencken, August, Jr. (brother)
Dreiser, Theodore (friend)
Joyce, James (friend)
Haardt, Sara (wife) - Organisaties
- Baltimore Morning Herald
Baltimore Sun
The Smart Set
The American Mercury
Leden
Besprekingen
Lijsten
Catalog (1)
Art of Reading (1)
Prijzen
Misschien vindt je deze ook leuk
Gerelateerde auteurs
Statistieken
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- 191
- Ook door
- 48
- Leden
- 6,867
- Populariteit
- #3,563
- Waardering
- 4.0
- Besprekingen
- 80
- ISBNs
- 348
- Talen
- 8
- Favoriet
- 52
If you are of a sensitive nature, you might be offended by Mencken’s well-known bigotry, but he does not display it openly here. It is just occasionally slightly exposed. You might not even notice it unless you are an American of non-English ancestry.
Of some interest were:
Mencken explains the difference between the meaning of the expression to jew someone in the US and England on p. 124 (Who knew?).
There is a list of Americanisms that derive from commercial products. Some are surprising and some that anyone would have known in 1936 have disappeared, e.g. uneeda.
There is a list of common short words that were selected and used by newspaper editors for their headlines that sometimes popularized the word, e.g.
Ace. In the sense of expert or champion it came in during the World War. It has since been extended to mean any person who shows any ponderable proficiency in whatever he undertakes to do…
Blast. It has quite displaced explosion in headlines…
Car. It is rapidly displacing all the older synonyms for automobile, including even auto….
He discusses the creation of American verbs in various ways, e.g. to phone … to tiptoe (for to walk tiptoe) … to reminisce … to orate … to author, and others using -ize and a proper name which are now almost lost to us, e.g. to hooverize (introduced in 1917 and included in Webster’s New International Dictionary in 1934) and to oslerize appearing after a famous oration by Dr. William Osler in 1905.
Along with other true or pseudo-abbreviations Mencken mentions the American expression O.K., which he comments was already used internationally in 1936, and he discusses its various false origin histories.
There is an extensive discussion of the differences between American and English school terminology that I found useful since I never understand what it means if a character in a novel is in their third standard, or what the differences are among an usher, a master, a pro-chancellor, or a high steward.
Various American vs English euphemisms are mentioned including nerts that I mostly see in old comic strips, but was apparently very widely used in 1936. He mentions some odd euphemisms that have been used in newspapers where gonorrhea, syphilis, venereal, and even virgin were prohibited. In 1933 the new treatment of giving a patient malaria to treat tertiary syphilis was invented (the fever is beneficial; the inventor won the Nobel prize in Medicine). The New York Times spoke of it only as a dread form of insanity caused by a blood disease. Mencken tells us that in Appalachia and the Ozarks certain common words were avoided in every-day speech regardless of context. Examples include bed, tail and leg!
There is an interesting discussion of various expletives and the history of their development, e.g. hell and, in England, bloody.
In a fantastic discovery (!), I learned that the word insignia is, in Latin, the plural of insigne, and that it was formerly considered inappropriate to use insignia as a singular noun, much as some decry data or criteria as a singular.… (meer)