Britain is Repossessing the <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com
ffice:smarttags" /><st1:country-region><st1lace>U.S.A.</st1lace></st1:country-region>
A Message from John Cleese
To the citizens of the <st1:country-region><st1lace>United States of America</st1lace></st1:country-region>:
In light of your failure to nominate competent candidates for President of the <st1:country-region><st1lace>USA</st1lace></st1:country-region> and thus to govern 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 (except <st1:State><st1lace>Kansas</st1lace></st1:State> , which she does not fancy).
Your new prime minister, Gordon Brown, will appoint a governor for <st1:country-region><st1lace>America</st1lace></st1:country-region> 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.
To aid in the transition to a British Crown Colony, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:
You should look up "revocation" in the Oxford English Dictionary.
1. Then look up 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. Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. (look up 'vocabulary').
3. Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noises such as "like" and "you know" is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication.
There is no such thing as US English. We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell- checker will be adjusted to take account of the reinstated letter 'u' and the elimination of -ize. You will relearn your original national anthem, God Save The Queen.
4. July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday.
5. 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. 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.
6. Therefore, 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.
7. All American cars are hereby banned. They are crap and this is for your own good. When we show you German cars, you will understand what we mean.
8. 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 with immediate effect and without the benefit of conversion tables. Both roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British sense of humour.
9. The Former USA will adopt <st1:country-region><st1lace>UK</st1lace></st1:country-region> prices on petrol (which you have been calling gasoline)-roughly $10 per <st1:country-region><st1lace>US</st1lace></st1:country-region> gallon. Get used to it.
10. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French fries are not 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.
11. 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, and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as Lager. South African beer is also acceptable as they are pound for pound the greatest sporting nation on earth and it can only be due to the beer. They are also part of <st1lace>British Commonwealth</st1lace> – see what it did for them.
12. <st1:City><st1lace>Hollywood</st1lace></st1:City> will be required occasionally to cast English actors as good guys. <st1:City><st1lace>Hollywood</st1lace></st1:City> will also be required to cast English actors to play English characters. Watching Andie McDowell attempt English dialogue in Four Weddings and a Funeral was an experience akin to having one's ears removed with a cheese grater.
13. 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). Don't try <st1lace>Rugby</st1lace> - the South Africans and Kiwis will thrash you, like they regularly thrash us.
14. 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 <st1:country-region><st1lace>America</st1lace></st1:country-region>. Since only 2.1% of you are aware that there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable. You will learn cricket, and we will let you face the South Africans first to take the sting out of their deliveries.
15. You must tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us mad.
16. An official from Her Majesty's Inland Revenue (i.e. tax collector) will be with you shortly to ensure the collection of all monies due (backdated to 1776). Until these are paid, there will be no representative government in the <st1:country-region><st1lace>USA</st1lace></st1:country-region>, in line with the policy: "No representation without taxation".
17. Daily Tea Time begins promptly at <st1:time Hour="16" Minute="0">4 pm</st1:time> with proper cups and saucers (never mugs), and with high quality biscuits (cookies) and cakes; strawberries in season.
18. Some tea has gone missing, and we expect it back. We'll be searching <st1:City><st1lace>Boston</st1lace></st1:City> first.
God save the Queen.
She should be saved, and only He can.
John Cleese
ffice:smarttags" /><st1:country-region><st1lace>U.S.A.</st1lace></st1:country-region>A Message from John Cleese
To the citizens of the <st1:country-region><st1
lace>United States of America</st1lace></st1:country-region>:In light of your failure to nominate competent candidates for President of the <st1:country-region><st1
lace>USA</st1lace></st1:country-region> and thus to govern 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 (except <st1:State><st1
lace>Kansas</st1lace></st1:State> , which she does not fancy).Your new prime minister, Gordon Brown, will appoint a governor for <st1:country-region><st1
lace>America</st1lace></st1:country-region> 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.
To aid in the transition to a British Crown Colony, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:
You should look up "revocation" in the Oxford English Dictionary.
1. Then look up 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. Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. (look up 'vocabulary').
3. Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noises such as "like" and "you know" is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication.
There is no such thing as US English. We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell- checker will be adjusted to take account of the reinstated letter 'u' and the elimination of -ize. You will relearn your original national anthem, God Save The Queen.
4. July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday.
5. 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. 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.
6. Therefore, 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.
7. All American cars are hereby banned. They are crap and this is for your own good. When we show you German cars, you will understand what we mean.
8. 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 with immediate effect and without the benefit of conversion tables. Both roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British sense of humour.
9. The Former USA will adopt <st1:country-region><st1
lace>UK</st1lace></st1:country-region> prices on petrol (which you have been calling gasoline)-roughly $10 per <st1:country-region><st1lace>US</st1lace></st1:country-region> gallon. Get used to it.10. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French fries are not 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.
11. 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, and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as Lager. South African beer is also acceptable as they are pound for pound the greatest sporting nation on earth and it can only be due to the beer. They are also part of <st1
lace>British Commonwealth</st1lace> – see what it did for them.12. <st1:City><st1
lace>Hollywood</st1lace></st1:City> will be required occasionally to cast English actors as good guys. <st1:City><st1lace>Hollywood</st1lace></st1:City> will also be required to cast English actors to play English characters. Watching Andie McDowell attempt English dialogue in Four Weddings and a Funeral was an experience akin to having one's ears removed with a cheese grater.13. 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). Don't try <st1
lace>Rugby</st1lace> - the South Africans and Kiwis will thrash you, like they regularly thrash us.14. 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 <st1:country-region><st1
lace>America</st1lace></st1:country-region>. Since only 2.1% of you are aware that there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable. You will learn cricket, and we will let you face the South Africans first to take the sting out of their deliveries.15. You must tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us mad.
16. An official from Her Majesty's Inland Revenue (i.e. tax collector) will be with you shortly to ensure the collection of all monies due (backdated to 1776). Until these are paid, there will be no representative government in the <st1:country-region><st1
lace>USA</st1lace></st1:country-region>, in line with the policy: "No representation without taxation".17. Daily Tea Time begins promptly at <st1:time Hour="16" Minute="0">4 pm</st1:time> with proper cups and saucers (never mugs), and with high quality biscuits (cookies) and cakes; strawberries in season.
18. Some tea has gone missing, and we expect it back. We'll be searching <st1:City><st1
lace>Boston</st1lace></st1:City> first.God save the Queen.
She should be saved, and only He can.
John Cleese
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