At one time, Noah Webster called for a unifying national language of American English.  On learning that the English were buying his dictionary, he decided instead it was a better thing to recognize that English is English with more in common on both sides of the ocean than different.  Apparently, English money spends just as well as the dollar?  Who would have thought it, right?

Webster's Calling
by Michael Romani

In America's first days
Of independence and liberty
Noah sought in his linguistic way
To help foment our national unity

In a heated call for clarification
He presented his bold dissertation
That to prevent an elite in our nation
There would be no language differentiation

Having learned just how quickly
English dialects formed sounding prickly
Noah Webster sought to keep original construction
In order to avoid American English's destruction

Making his efforts stridently impressive
He sought to keep our words clear and expressive
Reforming the complications of pronunciation
Noah set out his genial and needed elucidation

He banished local dialect for common stock
As he insisted on a standard way to write and talk
And while he never assumed dictatorial authority
He did his best to set out rules of language and civility

May 31, 2019  Michael Romani
All Rights Reserved