The History of English in Ten Minutes. Chapter 8: American English, or not
English but somewhere in the ballpark. From the moment Brits first landed in
America they needed names for all the new plants and animals, so they borrowed
words like raccoon, squash and moose from the Native Americans, as well as most of
their territory. Waves of immigrants fed America's hunger for words, the Dutch
came sharing coleslaw and cookies. Probably as a result of their relaxed attitude to
drugs. Later the Germans arrived selling pretzels from delicatessens and the
Italians arrived with their pizza, their pasta and their mafia, just like mama
used to make. America spread a new language of capitalism getting everyone
worried about the break-even and the bottom line, whether they were blue chip
or white collar. The commuter needed a whole new system of freeways, subways and
parking lots and quickly, before words like merger and downsizing could be
invented. American English drifted back across the pond as Brits got the hang of
their cool movies and their groovy jazz. There are even some old forgotten
English words that lived on in America so they carried on using fall, faucets
diapers and candy while the Brits moved on to autumn, taps, nappies and NHS dental
care.