there's a significant part of the land you sometimes refer to misguidedly as England, which not only has a seperate language but even has a different alphabet!

I agree with you there. In my high school years we had a drama teacher from England who, on one fateful day, startled the class by asking a student to make the sound of a cock. Here in Canada a cock is not a male chicken but a protruding part of the male anatomy. Thirty awestruck students watched as one, very red-faced, fellow got up and went pssssssssssss. The sad part is that she started arguing about it, saying, "that was NOT the sound of a cock, I want a cock, a cock, don't you know what a cock is." Picture it...thirty 14 year olds (mention cock once in high school and you have a disturbance, several times and it is havoc). A bit high strung that teacher, she left soon after. Sad really.

Oh and to get back to original point. I live in Quebec, Canada where it is mandatory to have both French and English on everything, with French featured first. Public pools are identified with this dubious sign <PISCINE POOL> (pronounce "PISS IN POOL". I never go there.