Hey man, I'm an Anglophile. I heart England and, more broadly, the UK (my love affair began with Wales, back as a dorky kid reading books about King Arthur). I fully intend to one day marry Billie Piper and move there on some sort of domestic partnership visa thing. Or, more realistically, get a job over there and a work visa, meet Billie Piper, and then marry her. Want to stay realistic, you know?
But I am not English (alas), or Irish, or Welsh, or Australian, or Canadian, or from any other formerly-colonized country that decided to stick with the Commonwealth way-of-things for a bit longer than we did. I'm from the United States and, love it or hate it, I spell color, neighbor, and favorite without the u. I also use the American system of measure, which is stupid and makes no sense (multiples of three?) but there you have it. I don't think it'd make me look smarter to spell my words the English (or, let's argue it since translations anywhere use the non-US spellings, the international) way. I don't think that me suddenly popping in and using the metric system makes me cooler.
It's not as though all these little American people on the internets (you know who you are) that titter in a mock-embarassed fashion when they accidentally type "colour," and say it must be because they're just so used to doing it that way (from all the international and cool stuff they read/play/watch/do) but then put it purposefully into their blogs or MySpaces or whatever are going out and driving on the wrong side of the road because omg that is so cultured!!!11!!!!one!!.
This is not a patriotic sticking point. My patriotism is not wasted on things like spelling and rulers. This is more along the lines of "shuttup, fangirls" than it is of "I heart the United States." I've already said our system of measurement is stupid. We should use metrics. The spelling is less of a thing for me. The only reason I care is because the people that do it tend (just tend, don't freak out) to fall into the groups I already don't like. See above, re: "shuttup, fangirls."
Bonus points for using titter in a rant.
Thank you. That neighbour's flat is my favourite colour on the whole street.
The end.
