Robin - I think there is a difference between calling for a degree of formality and hijacking people's threads with complaints about Americanisms or other stylistic choices. That was my main reason for challenging your post about 'roosters' and 'cocks'. Someone had found the bird and wanted to reunite it with its owners. I think it must be frustrating for the original poster to be notified of a reply to their post, only to find it is not a helpful response to their original enquiry. The internet has evolved its own etiquette and 'thread hijacking' is rightly frowned upon.

'If you will' may be an Americanism, but as I have not objected to Americanisms at any point in this debate, I'm not sure what your point is. Also, 'if you will' and 'if you like' do not mean the same thing. I used 'if you will' as an alternative to 'as it were'. I don't think 'if you like' would have carried the same connotation.