BRITISH REVOKE USA INDEPENDENCE A Message from John Cleese

Just received this in my email. It's been around for a while, but it's a classic!


Subject: Fw: BRITISH REVOKE USA INDEPENDENCE

BRITISH REVOKE USA INDEPENDENCE 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 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, John Brown, 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:

1. You should look up 'revocation' in the Oxford English Dictionary. 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.

3. Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable
levels (look up vocabulary).

4. Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noises such as
'like' and 'you know' is an unacceptable and inefficient form of
communication.

5. 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.

6. You will relearn your original national anthem, God Save the Queen. 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. 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.

10. All American cars are hereby banned. They are rubbish and this is for your
own good. When we show you German 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.

12. 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.

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 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.

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,
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.

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

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 world beyond your
borders, your error is understandable.

19. 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 monies due
(backdated to 1776).

Thank you for your co-operation.

:yoiks:

:hide:

...but it's still funny!

Maybe there's still time... maybe we can save the Constitution... maybe it's not too late.

IMPEACH! IMPRISON! IMPRISON! IMPEACH!!!

1, 2, 3, 4, NOT IN OUR NAME ANYMORE!!!

GEORGE W BUSH, YOU CAN'T HIDE! WE CHARGE YOU WITH GENOCIDE!!!

Maybe that'll persuade them to give us one more chance to make our Founding Fathers proud...

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 world beyond your
borders, your error is understandable.

It's quite popular throughout the Caribbean as well as Japan. Although the point of a "World Series" is valid - if we're going to have a World Series, we really ought to compete against international teams. :toast:

and so would the rest of the world