I believe the book you are speaking of is "The Story of English" by Robt.
McCrum, Wm. Cran & Robt. Mac Neil.
As the book states, "The English language arrived in Britain on the point of
a sword." The Angles, Saxons, and Jutes sailed the North sea from Denmark
and Saxony to Britain in the year 449 AD, and pretty much wiped out the
Celts. The conquest so complete, that "Old English" (the language attributed
to the Anglo-Saxons) contains barely a dozen Celtic words.
The book is a truly fascinating work.
American English is truly a language of its own. Everyone who speaks
English can understand the American pronunciation due to the influence of
the global US presence in the broadcast media.
Just my .02 worth,
Clint Spesert
----- Original Message -----
From: "James N. McBride" <jnmcbr@xxxxxxx>
To: <olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, March 29, 2001 6:45 PM
Subject: RE: Language, Really OT (was [OM] Cricket Match)
> Someplace, I know not where, I have a book on the history of the English
> language and it mentions that the earliest known derivative of the
> Anglo-Saxon language was from a group of people that had been banished
from
> Germany and settled in England. That is all I remember about it. I'll find
> the reference and let you know more precisely what it said if you're
> interested. Of course, English has been influenced by many language
sources.
> Only the US version is truly "pure." <g>
>
> /jnm
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