India, July 26 -- George Bernard Shaw was spot on when he declared that the US and England are two countries separated by a common language. But so too was Henry Higgins. In My Fair Lady, commenting on their accent, he said: "In America, they haven't spoken it for years".

A recent essay by David Robson on the BBC website to mark the sestercentennial anniversary of American independence explains how American English was born. It's a fascinating story.

Did the founding fathers of the US insist on a new way of speaking? It seems Thomas Jefferson did. In August 1813, he wrote: "So great growing a population, spread over such an extent of country, with such a variety of climates, of productions, of arts, must enlarge their language, to make ...