I didn’t mean to watch this entire thing, but dammit if I didn’t sit through all ten minutes (alright, technically 11 minutes and 20 seconds) of this fantastically witty, animated history of the ...

This article is excerpted from the new book, "The Language Wars: A History of Proper English" from Farrar, Straus and Girous. No language has spread as widely as English, and it continues to spread.

Simon Horobin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond ...