When I was a tyke, my nanny was an Englishwoman who had been sent to Norway to avoid the Nazi bombing of Britain. Ironically, she was there when the Nazis invaded and occupied Norway. She married a Norwegian fisherman and they moved to the United States at the end of WWII.

She read to me from English (as opposed to American) children's books, so I became accustomed to British spelling, British phraseology, and those British lexical choices which differ from those made here in the Colonies. Her husband taught me much about the origins of English words in Old Norse (as well as spinning some very exciting yarns based on Norse mythology).

How could a kid with such a background not develop an interest in the English language?