hedwards: American English is by far the most common English in the world if you exclude the ephemeral creoles and pigeons that lack any meaningful staying power. It's what folks get the most exposure to internationally from music and films and it's what you have to know and use if you want to do business reliably with America.
But, just having roughly 300m or so native speakers makes it the most common form even without anybody else speaking it. Also, the various dialects within the US are mostly a matter of pronunciation and the rules tend to be really straightforward.
wodmarach: The British Commonwealth would like to laugh at your claim and point out that Commonwealth English is the version taught in most former colonies including India (where it is now the most commonly spoken language (over 100million readers though a larger number can speak it thought to be about 40% or you know ~500million people)) Australia (another 20ish million though I grant you they use a mix of US and British spellings as does Canada which also adds French to the mix) The UK and Ireland ~100million... technically the most common spoken English would likely be the Indian dialect I suppose, but the most common written is likely to be British English
Hedwards has made his ridiculous claim before based on "his calculations". He is wrong. But, he will continue thinking it so why argue.
I've taught English in S.E. Asia for 7 years and lived here for 10, and the prevalent form of English still taught is British English. Most Thais were taught British English, for instance, and still use mainly British English, as do the Malaysians, the Indians, Singaporeans, Hong Kongese etc.
The use of American English is increasing due to so many American movies and TV series being shown around the world, but British English is still the version currently most frequently spoken.
bansama: I don't think it's an amazing fluke at all. The simple fact is that in over 3 decades, not a single Brit I know has ever used that phrase. I'd even go so far to say that most, if not all of them, would also agree that "happy Christmas" feels utterly incorrect. Of course like all phrases, it's entirely possible that near 40 years ago, it was out of use and these days, it's becoming more popular again. Or maybe you're all just pulling my leg ;)
Again, (sigh!), I grew up in the UK and spent the first 21 years of my life there. We never said Merry Christmas and, to this day, none of my relatives who still live in the UK say it either. Happy Christmas has always been the norm in the area of the UK I am from as it is in many other areas.
Just because you don't think it's true, doesn't mean that's reality.
