Ah, voila! Here is the interesting site on American (the authors really mean "only the United States") colloquialisms.
http://polyglot.lss.wisc.edu/dare/dare.html sorry guys/gals I just can't seem to make this into a link. I have tried everything and it is not working out. I'm http'd out. I will now go sit on the bright red coo-coo couch and hang my head in shame.
ooooo, in my previous post (longwinded though it was) I forgot to mention Acadians. The Acadian language is a mishmash of English and French, with Maritime colloquialisms thrown in for good measure. The language follows its own rules of grammar, often using verb tenses in entirely different ways than English grammar dictates. It is a dying language in eastern Canada; the Acadians having been deported out of Nova Scotia in the mid 1700's. Only a few families remained speaking the Acadian language. They finally settled in southern U.S.A. and are known today as Cajuns.
