“Two countries divided by a common language”, so said the Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw about the difference between British and American English. American Robert Chesal and Brit Anne Blair Gould take an amusing and learned look at these two far-reaching and influential versions of the same language. Invoking such erudite figures as “mother tongue” author Bill Bryson and linguist Andy Baxter, our heroes trace the development of American English to its present and quite different form from modern British English.
Producers: Robert Chesal and Anne Blair Gould
Broadcast: June 21, 1996