Turns out they've given American English a lot of great words, according once again to Mr. Bryson - among them such gems as blunderbuss, cookie, and waffle. I especially liked learning that we got the odd "How come?" interrogative from a literal translation of the Dutch hoekom, and the word nitwit from the Dutch for "I don't know" (that being Ik neit wiet).
They also gave us those great favorites Santa Claus and Yankee!
I have to say, though, the people that gave us the most fun words were the Irish, although they donated very few: smithereens, lallapalooza, speakeasy, hooligan, and slew were some of the few - couldn't be any more fun! Heehee.
...Oy, I keep getting this awful sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach when it hits me that tomorrow is Election Day...oh good god I hope this country doesn't go in for 4 more years of downward spiral... I can't type anymore for now, I need to go cross my fingers.
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