This collection centers on the work of Allen Walker Read, an employee of the Dictionary of American English at the University of Chicago in the 1930s. Read's first nine essays pick up themes in Early American English such as the impact of ethnicity on language attitudes, English on both sides of the Atlantic, distinguishing features of American talk, and milestones in the branching of British and American English. Subsequent discussion includes the history of o.k., taboo words (including the history of fuck), and Read's autobiographical account about his development as a linguist, presented in two addresses to the renegade Linguistic Association of Canada and the US, and to the American Dialect Society. Articles are preceded by introductory remarks from the editor, and the volume includes a bibliography of Read's papers. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.