https://wist.info Wish I'd Said That! Sun, 20 Sep 2026 06:02:40 +0000 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1.1 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1.1 https://wist.info/wp/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/little-w-little-box-60x60.jpg https://wist.info 32 32 43606282 https://wist.info/shaw-george-bernard/33272/ https://wist.info/shaw-george-bernard/33272/#respond Tue, 12 Apr 2016 19:57:26 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=33272 England and America are two countries separated by the same language.

George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish playwright and critic
(Attributed)

Variants:

• "England and America are two peoples separated by a common language."
• "England and America are two countries separated by one language."
• "The British and the Americans are two great peoples divided by a common tongue."

Possibly a misattribution from Oscar Wilde in 1887: "We have really everything in common with America nowadays, except, of course, language."

One of the first attributions to Shaw, without source, was in Reader's Digest (Nov 1942). It also shows up in other articles at the time, referenced as a remark by Shaw but without any actual citation. The phrase is not found in Shaw's published writing.

For further discussion of the quote's origins: Britain and America Are Two Nations Divided by a Common Language – Quote Investigator. ]]> https://wist.info/shaw-george-bernard/33272/feed/ 0 33272