If I went to America, the traps could be as potentially disastrous as in South Africa. Cross the Herring Pond, and I'm told it means the exact opposite. Food is a minefield all its own. The French try it with the Academie Francaise which pontificates on what is correct, trying to stem the flood of Franglais bringing English and American words into French. Not with any notable success.
Emigration sometimes preserves old English usages.
Long may The Vocabula Review continue to stir things up, to alternately enlighten and infuriate, but let's not take it all to seriously. In my 45 years as a technical writer and editor, I have found journalists to be rather less educated in grammar, syntax, word usage, and spelling than others of my professional colleagues. Hardly a day goes by that I do not see errors in print or on screen or hear errors spoken on television newscasts or in commercials. However, I doubt that all of them are. I believe a significant number of them are caused by either carelessness or downright ignorance.