Look at the process of deterioration which our Queen’s English has undergone at the hands of the Americans. Look at those phrases which so amuse us in their speech and books, at their reckless exaggeration and contempt for congruity, and the compare the character and history of the nation — its blunted sense of moral obligation and duty to man, its open disregard of conventional right where aggrandizement is to be obtained.

Henry Alford (1810-1871) English churchman, scholar, poet, hymnodist

Plea for the Queen’s English (1863)