[greymule]

And, yes, I know you should not begin a sentence with a conjunction.

Don't believe everything your teachers told you.

"And the evening and the morning were the first day."

"And the great shroud of the sea rolled on as it rolled five thousand years ago."

"And now was acknowledged the presence of the Red Death. He had come like a thief in the night. And one by one dropped the revellers in the blood-bedewed halls of their revel, and died each in the despairing posture of his fall. And the life of the ebony clock went out with that of the last of the gay. And the flames of the tripods expired. And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all."

Regarding British versus American English, I often have the task of converting an entire ad campaign, journal article, or informational layout from British to American English or vice versa. For pharmaceuticals, the British also often use ™ where we use ®.

It's mostly spellings (color/colour; program/programme; ongoing/on-going; well-being/wellbeing; jewelry/jewellery; randomize/randomise; judgment/judgement; practice/practise; and zillions of others). The British also use different punctuation. And some common British words have meanings different from ours.

In America, if you visit someone at her residence, you "drop by her apartment." In the UK, you "knock her up." Some cross-cultural confusion possible there.

The British have a different word for cigarettes, too.

Winston Churchill said the UK and America were two countries separated by a common language.

If softball gets popular in the UK, someone will have to translate the ASA rule book into British English. In the UK, F1 pitches underarm, not underhand.