Assuming that was aimed at me, since I pointed out the difference in common usage....(whilst vs. while).

What's interesting is that you seem to assume I was also saying...

Whilst I was obviously being a bit "cute"--not to mention off topic (mea culpa)--I don't get where you could validly infer an assertion of chauvinism from my statement.

Was I poking fun at what to my primitive 'Mercan ear sounded a bit quaint? OK, I was.

But my comment--at least to my mind, as I was making it--was not so much poking fun, as it was an observation that I think holds true:

It would be difficult for an American to try to write for your audience.

A point you seem to agree with...

In fact "whilst" is almost never used in the States. I can't remember any of my philosophy professors in college using it. Even when we were discussing Whitehead or the British Empiricists. (of course it was a land grant college.)

Any copywriter who used "whilst" for an American audience had better know exactly what he was doing, because in almost every case, it would sound affected. My 1968 Random House Dictionary identifies it as "Chiefly Brit."

So the Yank would likely not "know how to write properly" unless his ear were trained for British usage.

(Having watched "A Fish Called Wanda" several times, I consider myself an expert on this topic.)

Or you can go here to get a great perspective on American vs. British usages:

http://www.worldwidewords.org/index.htm

It's just as well that we're adopting American expressions at the rate of knots, or else I wouldn't be able to write for a British audience either! (Given that most of the business books I read are by Americans plus the time I spend here etc etc - there is a certain lingo that develops around a subject and then you find that you can't remember how to express the same thing in your own language anymore).

Well, I wouldn't want to deprive anyone of their fun. But why do Americans think we're "quaint". According to dictionary.com:

Now, charmingly odd seems reasonable to me, given that we're purportedly a nation of eccentrics. And when you look at some of the weird and wonderful things we've invented, you just know that only the most eccentric mind could have come up with such crazy ideas (wind up radios, the bouncing bomb, vacuum cleaners without bags).

But old-fashioned? That just sounds like one of those myths that lives in the minds of Americans who think England is all about the lord of the manor, croquet games and lemonade on the lawn in colonial India. The reality is in stark contrast to this outdated and idealistic imagery. Perhaps we export that image westwards to bring in the tourist dollars, whilst simultaneously detering Americans from wanting to emigrate to this series of backward, rocky outcrops.

Anyway, probably best not to stir up the hornet's nest.

And what do those poor old Canadians do? Do they use American spellings, or British spellings? Or would it be easier to throw in the towel and speak French or Inuit?

Jane