Splendiferous Speech: How Early Americans Pioneered Their Own Brand of English

Description

What does it mean to talk like an American? According to John Russell Bartlett's 1848 Dictionary of Americanisms, it means indulging in outlandish slang-- splendiferous, scrumptious, higgeldy piggedly --and free-and-easy word creation-- demoralize, lengthy, gerrymander. American English is more than...