I know it's an old post and all that crap but... since Google thinks this is a webpage relative to my search, I'll go forward and comment.
I'm a native English speaker so maybe my opinion will actually matter. Having said (written?) that I'll postulate that the only person who makes any sense is Onobaron.
The silliest comment is by hedgepig who was upset that an American couple didn't recognize the German word "abseil".
For all it's worth, English is the language (one language) and the discussion devolved into a bitch and moan session on dialects and accents. And as a native speaker, I can verify (personal experience) that there are native speakers in the US that can not understand each other (it's a big country and dialects can be dramatic).