CONCERNING THE AMERICAN LANGUAGE and A HELPLESS SITUATION by MARK TWAIN
1001 Classic Short Stories & Tales
Jon Hagadorn
4.5 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 4 January 2021
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Two Mark Twain essays for your enjoyment.
- CONCERNING THE AMERICAN LANGUAGE An amusing essay recalling a conversation with an Englishman comparing the two languages with Mark Twain (real name Samuel Clemens) defending the American language as correct english.
- A HELPLESS SITUATION Twain recalls receiving a letter from someone who is a relative of someone Twain barely knew 16 years before asking him to use his influence to get the writer's manuscript reviewed by his publisher. He poses an imaginary discussion he would have with his publisher.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | And the Yeah, Welcome back everyone to 1001 classic Classic Short Stories and Tales. |
| 0:33.4 | This is your host, John Hagadorn. |
| 0:35.2 | And today, concerning the American language |
| 0:38.4 | by Mark Twain. |
| 0:40.5 | And now our story. Being part of a chapter which was crowded out of a tramp abroad, M.T. |
| 0:48.0 | There was an Englishman in our compartment, and he complimented me on... |
| 0:52.0 | On what? But you would never guess he complimented me on my English |
| 0:57.4 | He said Americans in general did not speak the English language as correctly as I did |
| 1:02.4 | I said I was obliged to him for his compliment English language as correctly as I did. |
| 1:02.8 | I said I was obliged to him for his compliment, since I knew he meant it for one, that I was not |
| 1:07.6 | fairly entitled to it, for I did not speak English at all. |
| 1:11.3 | I only spoke American. He laughed and said it was a distinction |
| 1:17.2 | without a difference. I said no the difference was not prod, but still it was considerable. |
| 1:24.0 | We fell into a friendly dispute over the matter. |
| 1:27.0 | I put my case as well as I could and said, |
| 1:30.0 | The languages were identical several generations ago, but our changed conditions and the spread of our people far to the south and far to the west have made many alterations in our pronunciation and have introduced new words among us and changed the meanings of many old ones. |
| 1:47.0 | English people talk through their noses. We do not. We say no. No. |
| 1:53.0 | English people say now. |
| 1:55.0 | We say cow. |
| 1:56.0 | The Britain says cow. |
| 1:58.0 | Oh come that's pure Yankee. |
| 2:01.0 | Everybody knows that. |
... |
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