Page "Comparison of American and British English" Paragraph 11

This divergence between American English and British English once caused George Bernard Shaw to say that the United States and United Kingdom are " two countries divided by a common language "; a similar comment is ascribed to Winston Churchill.

Likewise, Oscar Wilde wrote, " We have really everything in common with America nowadays, except, of course, the language " ( The Canterville Ghost, 1888 ).

Henry Sweet incorrectly predicted in 1877 that within a century American English, Australian English and British English would be mutually unintelligible.

It may be the case that increased worldwide communication through radio, television, the Internet and globalization has reduced the tendency to regional variation.

This can result either in some variations becoming extinct ( for instance, the wireless, being progressively superseded by the radio ) or in the acceptance of wide variations as " perfectly good English " everywhere.

Often at the core of the dialect though, the idiosyncrasies remain.