How the English language became such a mess

BBC News ^ | June 8, 2015 | James Harbeck

[MinorityRepublican]

First, the greed: invasion and theft. The Romans invaded Britain in the 1st Century AD and brought their alphabet; in the 7th Century, the Angles and Saxons took over, along with their language. Starting in the 9th Century, Vikings occupied parts of England and brought some words (including they, displacing the Old English hie).

Then the Norman French conquered in 1066 – and replaced much of the vocabulary with French, including words which over time became beef, pork, invade, tongue and person.

[Tainan]

Fellow Americans, don’t try to use Oxford English, and do certainly avoid trying to emulate Limey slang. If you fail to follow that advice, you’ll end up sounding like a Frenchman.

A-friggin-men.

[familyop]

Thanks. And howdy! Haven’t seen anything from you for a while. Hope business is good there.

[Moonman62]

Rather, English has truly become the default international language that virtually every educated person uses when traveling or communicating outside his/her own country.

...

Except in the USA.