"we are two peoples separated by a common language" antedated & attributed

[Stephen Goranson]

Though the discussion transcript was published in the 29 October 1942 issue of The Listener, apparently it was broadcast earlier that month.
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From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Stephen Goranson [goranson at DUKE.EDU]
Sent: Friday, February 25, 2011 5:18 AM
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Subject: Re: [ADS-L] "we are two peoples separated by a common language"              antedated              & attributed

Speaking of 1942, might the quote possibly be a retort to the following (sharing "two peoples" and "by a common language")?

Portrait of John Bull; The English are a puzzling people. They resist change, lack imagination. They muddle yet they improvise brilliantly. An American, who knows them well, analyzes their character with sympathy.
By Raymond Daniell
New York Times Sunday Magazine, 14 June, 1942 pg. SM3

The fact is that the two peoples [British and American] , so similar in many things and bound together by a common language, have developed in different environments so that they have evolved into two races which look and sound very much alike but which sometimes infuriate each other because superficial similarity leads to bitter disillusionment and a feeling of frustration.
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From: Americahttps://exchange.oit.duke.edu/owa/?ae=PreFormAction&t=IPM.Note&a=Reply&id=RgAAAACIFwh8cvwtQKaVx9qO%2ft3GBwDDCzl%2f1XmvSYBCIltKYBOEAAAHlGz5AAA3O1cONSipS7l%2fXrl6OBzwAAvJu9oEAAAJ#n Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Baker, John [JMB at STRADLEY.COM]
Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2011 11:57 PM
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Subject: Re: [ADS-L] "we are two peoples separated by a common language"              antedated              & attributed

If the Reader's Digest timing was the same in 1942 as in later years, the November issue would have been published in early October.


John Baker


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From: American Dialect Society on behalf of Shapiro, Fred
Sent: Thu 2/24/2011 8:27 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: "we are two peoples separated by a common language" antedated & attributed



Nice find, Stephen.  I had tried for years to antedate the Nov. 1942 Reader's Digest occurrence.

Fred Shapiro



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From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Stephen Goranson [goranson at DUKE.EDU]
Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2011 2:35 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: "we are two peoples separated by a common language" antedated &              attributed

Confirmed on paper:
The Listener (London: British Broadcasting Corporation) 29 October 1942,  Volume 28, no. 720, p. 550, col. 1,
in a discussion, "Britain and America Today" (pp. 549-551):
Raymond Gram Swing:....When we discussed this subject in [October] 1930 we talked mostly about the need for knowledge and understanding. British knowledge of America was inadequate then and American knowledge of Britain was not so much better. And in the meantime I should say that what our two peoples actually know of each other has not grown to be anything like enough. Don't forget what Bernard Shaw said: that we are two peoples separated by a common language.

Stephen Goranson
http://www.duke.edu/~goranson

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