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The American Language

by H. L. MENCKEN (1880 - 1956)

Ch2 The Beginnings of American Pt 4 Changed Meanings

"It was part of my daily work, for a good many years, to read the principal English newspapers and reviews; it has been part of my work, all the time, to read the more important English novels, essays, poetry and criticism. An American born and bred, I early noted, as everyone else in like case must note, certain salient differences between the English of England and the English of America as practically spoken and written—differences in vocabulary, in syntax, in the shades and habits of idiom, and even, coming to the common speech, in grammar. And I noted too, of course, partly during visits to England but more largely by a somewhat wide and intimate intercourse with English people in the United States, the obvious differences between English and American pronunciation and intonation. Greatly interested in these differences—some of them so great that they led me to seek exchanges of light with Englishmen—I looked for some work that would describe and account for them with a show of completeness, and perhaps depict the process of their origin. I soon found that no such work existed, either in England or in America—that the whole literature of the subject was astonishingly meagre and unsatisfactory." - Summary by Mencken (Preface)

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Listen next episodes of The American Language:
Ch 7 Differences in Spelling Pt 1 Typical Forms , Ch 7 Differences in Spelling Pt 2 General Tendencies , Ch 7 Differences in Spelling Pt 3 The Influence of Webster , Ch 7 Differences in Spelling Pt 4 Exchanges , Ch 7 Differences in Spelling Pt 5 Simplified spelling , Ch 7 Differences in Spelling Pt 6 Minor Differences , Ch2 The Beginnings of American Pt 5 Archaic English Words , Ch2 The Beginnings of American Pt 6 Colonial Pronunciation , Ch3 The Period of Growth Pt 1 The New Nation , Ch3 The Period of Growth Pt 2 The Language in the Making , Ch3 The Period of Growth Pt 3 The Expanding Vocabulary , Ch3 The Period of Growth Pt 4 Loan-Words , Ch3 The Period of Growth Pt 5 Pronunciation , Ch4 American and English Today Pt 1 The Two Vocabularies , Ch4 American and English Today Pt 2 Differences in Usage , Ch4 American and English Today Pt 3 Honorifics , Ch4 American and English Today Pt 4 Euphemisms and Forbidden Words , Ch5 Tendencies in American Pt 1 International Exchanges , Ch5 Tendencies in American Pt 2 Points of Difference , Ch5 Tendencies in American Pt 3 Lost Distinctions , Ch5 Tendencies in American Pt 4 Foreign Influences Today , Ch5 Tendencies in American Pt 5 Processes of Word Formation , Ch5 Tendencies in American Pt 6 Pronunciation , Ch6 The Common Speech Pt 1 Grammarians and Their Ways , Ch6 The Common Speech Pt 2 Spoken American As It Is , Ch6 The Common Speech Pt 3 The Verb , Ch6 The Common Speech Pt 4 The Pronoun , Ch6 The Common Speech Pt 5 The Adverb , Ch6 The Common Speech Pt 6 The Noun and Adjective , Ch6 The Common Speech Pt 7 The Double Negative , Ch6 The Common Speech Pt 8 Pronunciation , Ch8 Proper Names in America Pt 1 Surnames , Ch8 Proper Names in America Pt 2 Given Names , Ch8 Proper Names in America Pt 3 Geographical Names , Ch8 Proper Names in America Pt 4 Street Names , Ch9 Miscellanea Pt 1 Proverb and Platitude , Ch9 Miscellanea Pt 2 American Slang , Ch9 Miscellanea Pt 3 The Future of the Language