The basis of this joke is the Simplified-vs-Traditional character sets for Chinese languages, but, there actually is a thing called Basic English which is sometimes called Simple English and which is used on the Simple English Wikipedia.
My favorite part about British prescriptivism is that when the languages diverged, many of the changes in pronunciation were initiated in British English while American English kept the originals. Of course that's not universally true but I always giggle when I see one brought up in that context.
I saw something a long while back that suggested the British accent that is well known today started not long after the American revolution and was just a fad because some rich and popular dude started speaking that way and all his fans followed suit.
Having a Mexican wife, and having learned Spanish, it makes me irrationally angry when I watch British cooking shows and watch them butcher the pronunciation of basic ingredients. Especially when those same ingredients sound fine when spoken in American English.
I also didn’t know wtf Gordon Ramsey was taking about when he kept saying Picko-Da-Gello, until they showed it on screen.
Y’all spend hundreds of years conquering the planet in search of spices, and failed to learn not only how to use them, but what they’re even called.
Although common in most regions of England and in some other English-speaking countries, and linguistically speaking a neutral evolution in languages, H-dropping is often stigmatized as a sign of careless or uneducated speech.
As a yank, I must protest. How dare you, I resemble that remark!
In this case I'm referring specifically to the American tendency to retain pronunciation more closely to the language of origin, for "herb" even more specifically Latin -> French -> English.
I do enjoy the idea that the stigma of a lack of education could be applied in this case though.