The Earl of Grey or Gray

I'm reading a new book from Knopf A is for American: Letters and Other Characters in the Newly United States and it is an intriguing exploration of Language, in this case English, and its possible role in national identity. The EU has 15 languages that it provides translators and translations for since language is very much a part of national identity, moreso than their respective currencies. So, when the colonies gave the British Empire the shove Noah Webster of later dictionary fame was a vocal advocate of making an American language to give the young country a sense of identity. Hebrew was briefly considered as was French to spite the British but English won in the end due to practicality in spite of the fact that only 1 in 4 people spoke English as a first language. In contrast 230 million [ 1990 ] americans of whom 199 million speak only English as of the 1990 census. We can blame Noah Webster for all the seemingly absurd differences in spelling between US and UK English since he felt it would make the language 'our own'. It's a pity he took so much effort in affecting this change since the spelling differences have become just an annoyance and the culture of both countries has provided more than enough differences in the language to make them distinct.

I was never very keen on US history as 200 years doesn't make racist, egotistical, rich white guys any more interesting than they are in the present . However, much to the authors credit she has written a very readable and interesting tale of American history and some of the early influences on American English. She even tells the oft forgotten story of Sequoyah who invented the Cherokee alphabet to help liberate his people as well as Gallaudet [ sign language ], Morse [ morse code ], and Bell [ speech ]. I still don't think I'd like most of the forefathers if they showed up for tea but I wish more history textbooks were written this well.