I am indeed thinking of the British Isles (glad you spotted that: I suspected I needed to qualify that claim somehow). I'm convinced that Americans spell their own language better than the British (or the French), who can misspell any handmade sign however simple. I probably don't have enough anecdotal evidence to make the counting claim compelling, but I've never managed to confuse an American cashier by overpaying in some complicated way in order to get fewer coins in change.