"Tip" is not an acronym! Apologies to E.L. Konigsberg, who made that mistake, and with "posh" too, in A View from Saturday. No apologies to Melvyn Bragg, because he is the one writing a history of English.
I had my hands full of a package for Increase and did not rewind at the time I heard the following, and afterward I said whatever the fuck and continued not to rewind and relisten, this being the problem with audio books, but I think Bragg alleges that Richard II put down the Peasant Revolt in 1381. If he had been that talented as a prince, he probably wouldn't've been deposed as a king. Edward the Black Prince squashed Wat Tyler. Sheesh.
The tip myth came up during cookie-making, with iBook open to the proper recipe, easy enough to jot a complaint. I should have noted all its weaknesses, but then I couldn't justify how otherwise I enjoyed the book.
A nonfiction audio book is wonderful to listen to at an airport gate. I sat in a chair with my legs up on my wheelie, head back in my horseshoe neck pillow, noise-blocking headphones in my ears, and if I missed a bit about Australian English or backtracked to repeat the chapter on Caribbean English, well, that's okay. The consistent, if not monotone, voice made for a better lullaby than my crooning playlist.