Irreconcilable Differences: The UK and the US

So being an American living in London for the past 5 years, I feel the UK has gotten over a few differences that we've had... ya know, us being Yanks and Rebels and everything. They love our giant sodas, we pretend to like their food. They laud our technology and television, we adore their accents and comedy... but there is an irreconcilable difference between the US and the UK and I'm caught in the middle of it... paper sizes.

Most US printers and papers are 8 1/2 inches by 11 inches... UK has an A4/A5 thing, which I don't understand. UK paper won't fit US envelopes and vice versa... It's so useless! I can't buy a filofax in the US and refill it in the UK... I have to buy a new one... I can't have margins on the pages in the UK and have it print properly in the US without changing my printer settings... SO ANNOYING!

I think this is bigger than metric vs imperial. I know most of Europe has given in to the metric system, and the UK has conceded in some measurements like the weather, etc., but it still measures speed in mph and yet distance in km?? Make up your minds!

Do you want to be imperial or European? Methinks the answer is that you don't know and suffer from mistaken identity... sort yourself out Britain, you're confusing everyone! ;)