The invasion of England has begun, reported the Eton College Chronicle in alarm. "An army of ill-bred and offensive words . . . spreading from Whitehall," said the Chronicle, "has contaminated our newspapers, whose pages are filled with roving participles and the remains of shattered infinitives.
"With all due respect to our American cousins, whose language is vivid and amusing and has a superficial resemblance to our own, it is they who are partly responsible for this deplorable state. . . .
"It was the Americans who taught us the value of headlines and the use of expressions like God-hungry [and] slumberwear [but]...
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