> I have heard in the past some Americans saying "If it weren't for us you'd be speaking English by now." Remember this - If it weren't for us Brits, you'd probably be speaking SPANISH by now...

Fortunately I happen to find both arguments insidious. If it weren't for the British, I wouldn't be speaking Spanish. I wouldn't physically exist. Not that I'm giving you personally credit for my existence.

> I must admit that there are some good things about the American language (I'm still refusing to add the English suffix)

I deleted a response to this thread from Mousie, who took offense to your message, as I thought her reply was a little too reactionary and not productive enough. I'm thinking perhaps I was wrong to do so. I hope this discussion is all in good fun, but I'm wondering -- if this is actually how you feel, I take offense just as she did. British English and American English -- yes, English -- are not two different languages at all. There are a couple of words that are different. Big deal. There are more "foreign" dialects than American English used right on your island.

A creole is a language derived from the merger of two others. Sorry, no dice. _Influence_ from other languages doesn't count, but even if it did, British English is no less influenced by Latin, Greek, French, etc., than American English. You'll have a better case with the word "dialect," but even then you have to be careful, because then you lump British English and American English in amongst more divergent pairs as Cantonese and Mandarin, which are different enough that the user of one cannot understand a user of the other.

If you and I can communicate, as we are now, and understand each other perfectly fine, which we do, then like it or not, we speak the same language. To suggest otherwise is something dangerously akin to snobbery. To suggest otherwise on the basis of dropped silent 'u's and a handful of different nouns is something dangerously akin to pettiness.