English does not equal American

Two posts in one day, yikes! Just couldn't let this one slip by without throwing my two cents in... Now I love me some tattoos, have three of them myself and am working to eventually get more if I can rake up the cash and find a new Chicago based artist (spending 4 hours on a bus with a fresh tat does not sound pleasant to me at all). Personally, branding is taking it a step too far for my own tastes, but I have always been a to each his own kinda gal. But I am getting ahead of myself and digressing from my original reason for the double post. Let me set the stage for you.

Months ago I was introduced to a website called Fark - it's basically an aggregate of entertaining headlines and note worthy news from around the world. I check it out every couple of days, though sometimes the fark intro is better than the actual article. It keeps me up to date, provides me with entertaining retelling opportunities at the bar/coffee shops, and often makes me shake my head in disbelief at what is considered acceptable writing and grammar from our journalistic friends (and before you comment on my grammar fuck ups - I'm a blog, I'm usually sneaking these in at work, and I'm allowed to suck now and then).

So today, I'm cruising through the headlines list and saw this, listed under "stupid" and I couldn't resist...

Old and busted: tattoos. New hotness among idiots: branding.
""It was an incredible experience. There was smoke coming out of my arm and my
burnt flesh smelled like a cross between chicken and bacon"

Anything with "Bacon" in the title will get my attention. The link takes me to an article from the Daily Mail, which happens to be a UK publication (knowledge which I gathered by the web address ending in .co.uk and prices in the article having the funny little euro symbol instead of the $). The article goes on to say that branding is becoming more and more popular as a form of expression now that tattoos and piercings are becoming more commonplace. Not a big deal, pretty much what I was expecting from the lead in. But then I start to read the comments and come across this -

"I thought I seen it all with the tattoos and body piercings. We as a country
must have gone off on the deep end." (Emphasis all mine)

My problem with this comment? The guy is from Casper fucking Wyoming - which means (unless there is a Casper, WY in England) this guy is writing from the good old U.S. of A.

So basically what we seem to have is 1) a European article, 2) regarding a European trend (which may or may not be happening here in the states), and 3) an American commenter automatically assuming it's all about him. I love that the Internet has opened up an eight lane super highway of information, readily available to everyone/anyone (ie those with money and time but that's a post for another day), but apparently I need to point out that just because something is written in English, does not mean it originates from America.