There’s an interesting exploration of this phenomenon in Bill Bryson’s books, actually, where he traces how certain language quirks that came over with the first settlers survived better in America that in England where the language evolved differently.

” lot of more traditional English is better preserved in certain parts of the US than in the UK”

Maybe in some isolated communities in Appalachia, but not so much elsewhere.

Yes, thanks for pointing that out! I mentioned only what it generally appeared as without clarifying, more focused on the use of ‘would’ than how it’s also a subjunctive phrase rather than past simple. I’ll make that clearer!

I wouldn’t necessarily equate more archaic English with British English; it’s interesting that actually a lot of more traditional English is better preserved in certain parts of the US than in the UK, as the language evolved differently in the two countries.

Would that they were related..

Oh that would be an interesting explanation – I don’t know myself the etymology there, but that seems like a logicial connection!