"In an old magazine, however, I read an article by an Englishman who had traveled widely in the States. He complained that Americans spoke a common language, with few of the interesting variations found in the British Isles."

H.L. Mencken made a similar claim, and Vance Randolph just about took him apart with examples of regional dialect from the Ozark, including an extended passage that would likely have been completely incomprehensible to 'Grumpius Germanicus'