07.06.08
People in England speak English? When did that happen?
Today’s the final day of our holiday weekend celebrating independence from the British, which has led to, most critical of all, silly jokes about how our versions of English have evolved separately (”knocking someone up” has two quite different meanings here and there). Because of the residuals of a fair amount of celebration (it was not my bottle rocket that burned the shape of the Greater Antilles onto my neighbor’s deck), I’m going to let someone else do the talking. Specifically, that someone else is me, by quoting my Everything You Know About English Is Wrong
You see, certain people seem to be quote magnets. They “say” things they’ve never said. But people associate certain types of profundities and witticisms with specific personalities. Today we’re discussing (for the moment, anyway) one Mr. Oscar Wilde. As Leo Knowles writes on worldwidereference.com, “Oscar Wilde famously declared that Britain and America were two nations divided by a common language. Actually he didn’t quite say that but he should have done, which is why he is always misquoted.” (I hope I quoted Mr. Knowles correctly. . . .)
For the record, Sir Winston Churchill said “Britain and America are two nations divided by a common language.”
No he didn’t, but Churchill is another quote magnet often getting the credit. Actually, Bertrand Russell said it.
No he didn’t. He did write in 1944 (in The Saturday Evening Post): “It is a misfortune for Anglo-American friendship that the two countries are supposed to have a common language.” Actually, Dylan Thomas said it.
No he didn’t. He did write that we were “up against the barrier of a common language,” as published in The Listener in 1954. Actually, Oscar Wilde said it. You knew it all along, didn’t you?
Except he didn’t. Wilde’s version in the land of Great Minds Quip Alike is from 1887’s The Canterville Ghost: “We have really everything in common with America nowadays except, of course, language.” But it definitely was not George Bernard Shaw who said it.
Well, it likely is Shaw, actually, who said “England and America are two countries separated by the same language.” And you can quote him on that, because he also has been credited with saying, “I often quote myself. It adds spice to my conversation.”
(Does it ever make you wonder why that quote is never mis-attributed to an American? Or an Australian?)
and 
. Feel free to 
JohnnyB said,
July 8, 2008 at 11:52 am
This is a response to the picture you attached, not the actual topic of your post. When I was much younger, I read something about a mystery book by a British author; the book was referred to as a “whodunit” (I am pretty sure it was spelled with one “n”). I may have heard the term before but I didn’t recognize it because when I read it, I pronounced it in my head as “wad unit”, which I figured was one of those terms used in England (like “loo” or “lorry”) that exist merely to confuse and mock Americans.
mypalmike said,
July 11, 2008 at 12:23 pm
There’s a website, uncyclopedia.org, which is a spoof on wikipedia. A large number of articles there have a running joke about Oscar Wilde being misquoted. The site is fairly amusing, and worth the occasional visit.
roe_cat said,
May 21, 2009 at 7:02 am
Woth a mention that both Shaw and Yeats were Irish (albeit anglo-irish)?