That is one urban legend that just won't die.....It is however, based upon very real concerns of the period.  Here's a link:

http://www.watzmann.net/scg/german-by-one-vote.html

When I first started to read your comment,  I thought you might be referencing the German Juggernaut war machine of WW2......it is 'rumored' that had just a few critical decisions been changed by one or both sides, that we ALL may be speaking German today!  She certainly was far in advance of the rest of the world in many areas of technology.....many western scientists refuting the 'impossiblity' of her rocket technology right up until they started landing on Britain!   Johnny, do a google on New Schwabenland......foo fighters and Viktor Schauberger......now if that ain't the makins of an urban legend.......

As far as "American English" goes the few brits I know have used that term regularly... If anything I was making a comment on the degradation of the language here in the states.

Can I rant?  Can I?

On one side, you've got the English professors, who want the language written and spoken the same way it's "always" been written and spoken, and if you can revive the use of some arcane word or phrase, good for you.  If they had their way all the time, language would stagnate and die, or at least become quite dull.

On the other side, you've got teenagers, country bumpkins, and the rest of the pre- or un-educated masses, individuals who want to use language that makes sense on a personal level, not to mention the overly educated specialists invested in the use of jargon.  If they had their ways, the language would deteriorate into nonsensical babel.

Since the goal is communication, and since this forum has such a large international contingent, it makes sense to use accepted rules of grammar, capitalization, spelling, etc., and to avoid abbreviations, excepting situations where slinging jargon is appropriate (e.g., The release node on my lovelock keeps hitting the retention, so the glandes hangs in the cradle and all I get with my underhand are hummers!)

It makes me think of the tower of Babel.......Just as today's engineers can launch an orbital telescope with a near fatal flaw based upon 'language' differences....perhaps that shows how easily languages split and evolve.  If one can accept the Babel account....then perhaps it went down something like this:   Over time, as work became more efficient, the respective trades divided into highly compartmentalized groups, each evolving according it's style and allowed slang to creep in slowly and unnoticed.  As each group stuck to it's own......over time, only the taskmasters themselves maintained the necessary retention of the former language and interpreted each for their respective group.   At this point, after much time elapsed.....all one need have done is remove the key personnel and voila'......complete discord.......(just a thought)  Certainly the bards of old, were they to be resurrected here in our day, would be hard pressed to converse with a fair portion of modern america!

I note that you dually mention the phrase,  "what do I know?"  That is a question worth asking twice in the least.  Just what do you know 'Mithras'?   

Language is simply a means of expressing one's feelings, and if you feel that "shucks" accurately tells someone else what you are feeling, then so be it.  Grammar rules are fairly silly; I much prefer Chinese, where basically, anything goes, so long as the words are there.  No noun declensions, no verb conjugations, no cases, no awkward and obscure pronouns... it is lovely.  The only difficult thing is pronunciation.
  The Tower of Babel, where everyone speaks the same language, is a real possibility.  Some linguists think that all languages descended from one original language; archaeologists know that all humans came from Africa, pretty much all in the same place.  The problem is:  did humans acquire language capabilities before or after they spread out and left the continent?  Obviously, if before, then they spoke one language, and if after, they spoke many.  If all languages come from one, then language groups are irrelevant, whether they are indo-european, ural-altaic, sino-tibetan, malayo-polynesian or iroquoian.  Hence, as all language has been fluid and changing as the evidence of language splits suggests then surely it should be fluid and changing now, and as such, grammar rules should be essenitally made redundant and language should be easily understandable (sounds like a bit of a "duh" statement, but really, most languages are startlingly complex.) 
  I have studied a lot (and I mean, A LOT) of languages, and I know how complex grammar rules can get, and to be honest, I wish they would disappear sometimes.  I hate the cases in Russian most of all; why do you need seven?  Why not just use a simpler idea, of word position?
So basically, we should all speak so that others can understand, rather than according to rules.

Quote:

What ???

Google me, BK.


It gets worse.


Much worse.


But then, of course, 


I am always willing to be forgiven.





TS