A Message from John Cleese

A Message from John Cleese to the
citizens of the United States of America

In light of your failure to elect a competent President of the USA 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 (excepting Kansas, which she does not
fancy).

Your new 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. To aid in the transition to a
British Crown Dependency,

the following rules are introduced with immediate effect: You should
look up "revocation" in the Oxford English Dictionary. Then look up
alu-minium, and check the pronunciation guide. You will be amazed at just
how wrongly you have been pronouncing it.

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).

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.
July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday.
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.

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.

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.

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.

The Former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which you have been
calling gasoline)-roughly $6/US gallon.  Get used to it.

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.

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. American brands will be referred to as Near-Frozen
Gnat's Urine, so that all can be sold without risk of further confusion.

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 Weddings and a Funeral was an experience akin to having one's ears
removed with a cheese grater.

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).

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.

You must tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us mad.

An internal revenue agent ( i.e. tax collector) from Her Majesty's
Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all
revenues due (backdated to 1776).

Thank you for your co-operation.

John Cleese