An open letter from John Cleese to the Americans
Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 1:12 am
"TO ALL U.S. CITIZENS:
In light of your failure to elect a competent President of the USA and thus
togovern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your
independence.
Effective immediately, Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume
monarchical duties over all states, Commonwealths, and territories excepting
Kansas, which she does not fancy.
Our prime minister, Tony Blair, will appoint a Governor for America without
the need for further elections.
Congress and the Senate will be disbanded.
A questionnaire may be circulated next year to determine whether any of you
noticed.
In the transition to a British Crown Dependency the following rules
areintroduced with immediate effect:
1. You should look up "revocation" in the Oxford English Dictionary. Then
lookup aluminium, and check the pronunciation guide. You will be amazed at
just how wrongly you have been pronouncing it.
2. The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as 'favour' and
'neighbour'. Likewise, you will learn to spell 'doughnut' without skipping
half the letters,and the suffix 'ize' will be replaced by the suffix 'ise'.
3. Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable
levels. (look up "vocabulary". Using the same twenty-seven words
interspersed with filler noises such as "like" and "you know" is an
unacceptable andinefficient form of communication.
4. There is no such thing as U.S. English. We will let Microsoft know on
yourbehalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take account of
thereinstated letter 'u' and the elimination of - ize.
5. You will relearn your original national anthem, God Save the Queen.
6 . July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday.
7. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers, or
therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that
you're not adult enough to be independent.
8. Guns should only be handled by adults. If you're not adult enough to sort
things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist then you're not
grown up enough to handle a gun.
9. You will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous
than a vegetable peeler. A permit will be required if you wish to carry a
vegetable peeler in public.
10. All American cars are hereby banned. They are crap and this is for your
own good. When we show you German and Japanese cars, you will understand
what we mean.
11. All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you will start
driving on the left with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go
metric without the benefit of conversion tables.
12. Both roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British
senseof humour.
13. The Former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which you have been
calling gasoline), roughly $6/US gallon. Get used to it.
14. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French Fries
arenot real chips, and those things you insist on calling potato chips are
properly called crisps. Real chips are thick cut, fried in animal fat, and
dressed not with catsup but with vinegar.
15. The cold tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer
at all. Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will be referred to as Beer.
European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as
Lager. American brands will be referred to as "Near-Frozen" Gnat's Urine, so
that all can be sold without risk of further confusion.
16. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as good
guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast English actors to play English
characters. Watching Andie MacDowell attempt English dialogue In Four
Weddingsand a Funeral was an experience akin to having one's ears removed
with a cheesegrater.
17. You will cease playing American football. There is only one kind of
proper football: you call it soccer. Those of you brave enough will, in
time, be allowed to play rugby (which has some similarities to American
football, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds, or
wearing full kevlar body armour like a bunch of nancies).
18. Further, you will stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an
event called the World Series for a game which is not played outside of
America. Since only 2.1% of you are aware that there is a world beyond your
Borders, your error is understandable.
19. You must tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us mad.
20. An internal revenue agent (i.e. tax collector) from Her Majesty's
Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all monies
due (this option backdated to 1776).
Thank you for your co-operation.
John Cleese "
[/quote]
In light of your failure to elect a competent President of the USA and thus
togovern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your
independence.
Effective immediately, Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume
monarchical duties over all states, Commonwealths, and territories excepting
Kansas, which she does not fancy.
Our prime minister, Tony Blair, will appoint a Governor for America without
the need for further elections.
Congress and the Senate will be disbanded.
A questionnaire may be circulated next year to determine whether any of you
noticed.
In the transition to a British Crown Dependency the following rules
areintroduced with immediate effect:
1. You should look up "revocation" in the Oxford English Dictionary. Then
lookup aluminium, and check the pronunciation guide. You will be amazed at
just how wrongly you have been pronouncing it.
2. The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as 'favour' and
'neighbour'. Likewise, you will learn to spell 'doughnut' without skipping
half the letters,and the suffix 'ize' will be replaced by the suffix 'ise'.
3. Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable
levels. (look up "vocabulary". Using the same twenty-seven words
interspersed with filler noises such as "like" and "you know" is an
unacceptable andinefficient form of communication.
4. There is no such thing as U.S. English. We will let Microsoft know on
yourbehalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take account of
thereinstated letter 'u' and the elimination of - ize.
5. You will relearn your original national anthem, God Save the Queen.
6 . July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday.
7. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers, or
therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that
you're not adult enough to be independent.
8. Guns should only be handled by adults. If you're not adult enough to sort
things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist then you're not
grown up enough to handle a gun.
9. You will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous
than a vegetable peeler. A permit will be required if you wish to carry a
vegetable peeler in public.
10. All American cars are hereby banned. They are crap and this is for your
own good. When we show you German and Japanese cars, you will understand
what we mean.
11. All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you will start
driving on the left with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go
metric without the benefit of conversion tables.
12. Both roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British
senseof humour.
13. The Former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which you have been
calling gasoline), roughly $6/US gallon. Get used to it.
14. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French Fries
arenot real chips, and those things you insist on calling potato chips are
properly called crisps. Real chips are thick cut, fried in animal fat, and
dressed not with catsup but with vinegar.
15. The cold tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer
at all. Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will be referred to as Beer.
European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as
Lager. American brands will be referred to as "Near-Frozen" Gnat's Urine, so
that all can be sold without risk of further confusion.
16. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as good
guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast English actors to play English
characters. Watching Andie MacDowell attempt English dialogue In Four
Weddingsand a Funeral was an experience akin to having one's ears removed
with a cheesegrater.
17. You will cease playing American football. There is only one kind of
proper football: you call it soccer. Those of you brave enough will, in
time, be allowed to play rugby (which has some similarities to American
football, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds, or
wearing full kevlar body armour like a bunch of nancies).
18. Further, you will stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an
event called the World Series for a game which is not played outside of
America. Since only 2.1% of you are aware that there is a world beyond your
Borders, your error is understandable.
19. You must tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us mad.
20. An internal revenue agent (i.e. tax collector) from Her Majesty's
Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all monies
due (this option backdated to 1776).
Thank you for your co-operation.
John Cleese "
[/quote]
) and americans can be soo damn touchy, thats why canada kicks ass, we would just laugh it off and continue as if nothing happend