H.L. Mencken (1880–1956). The American Language. 1921.
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(busted), bés-baal (baseball), boggé (buggy), dipo (depot), fraimhus (frame-house), jukre (to euchre), kaemp-mid’n (camp-meeting), kjors (chores), magis (moccasin), malasi (molasses), munke-rins (monkey-wrench), raad-bas (road-boss), sjante (shanty), sőrpreisparti (surprise-party), strit-kar (street-car), tru trin (through train). The decayed American adverb is boldly absorbed, as in han file baed (=he feels bad). “That this lingo,” says Dr. Flaten, “will ever become a dialect of like importance with the Pennsylvania Dutch is hardly possible…. The Norwegians are among those of our foreign-born citizens most willing to part with their mother tongue.” But meanwhile it is spoken by probably half a million of them, and it will linger in isolated farming regions for years.
7. Swedish
A useful study of American-Swedish is to be found in “Vårt Språk,” by Vilhelm Berger,29 editor of the Swedish semi-weekly, Nordstjernan, published in New York. In his preface to his little book Mr. Berger mentions two previous essays upon the same subject: “Det Svenske Språket in Amerika,” by Rector Gustav Andreen, of Rock Island, Ill., and “Engelskans Inflytande på Svenska Språket in Amerika,” by Dr. E. A. Zetterstrand, but I have been unable to gain access to either. Mr. Berger says that the Swedes who comes to America quickly purge their speech of the Swedish terms indicating the ordinary political, social and business relations and adopt the American terms bodily. Thus, borgmästere is displaced by mayor, länsman by sheriff, häradsskrifvare by countyclerk, centraluppvärmning med ånga by steam-heat, and ananas by pineapple, the Swedish measurements give way to mile, inch, pound, acre, etc., and there is an immediate adoption of such characteristic Americanisms as graft, trust, ring, janitor, surprise-party, bay-window, bluff, commencement (college), homestead, buggy and pull. Loan-words taken into American from other immigrant languages
