The American
Language is a book by H. L. Mencken that was first published in 1919.
H. L. Mencken was
an American writer and journalist, who was a severe critic of American life and
culture. He was once called the American Nietzsche, whom he admired.
He wrote brilliant
satirical reporting from the Scopes trial (Scopes Monkey trial). By the way, if
you want to know more about the Scopes trial, I recommend that you watch the
1960 movie Inherit the Wind or let H. L. Mencken’s reporting be read to you (link).
In his book,
Mencken discusses the English language as it is spoken throughout the United
States, discussing the differences between the US and UK, spelling, names,
slang etc. When I read it, I was particularly impressed by the various regional
differences. He discussed words and slang from various groups, for example
immigrants, Native Americans, blacks, soldiers and criminals.
All in all it is a
very interesting book. It’s worth reading, even though it is fairly long.
The whole text is
also on the web.
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