US expansionism these days involves waistlines, not imperialism
"Clothing' and 'XXXL' produced 4,630 sites, mostly mail-order companies. At XXXXXXL, we were down to 38, including the last gasp of the Morbid Obesity Support Group, which recommends stomach-stapling as a cure and produces a 'Look I'm Melting' T-shirt in this size. By XXXXXXXXXL, we were down to four entries, including a New Zealand shop that once supplied the King of Tonga. Curiously, the Americans seemed to have dropped out at this stage. At XXXXXXXXXXL, though, Team USA made a comeback with the Fat Shack, a 'size-positive' mail-order firm from Georgia whose biggest number is a $26, 83-inch-chest shirt reading, 'This isn't a belly, it's a work of art'. At 11 Xs the search finally petered out, suggesting either that the limits of gluttony had been reached or that it was simply time to try tent manufacturers."
—The Spectator. James Langton looks into the evidence of an overweight America, including searching the web for super-sized clothing. Summary: we are lard-asses. "Almost every concert venue, from the Kennedy Center in Washington to the Hollywood Bowl, has now put in bigger seats, almost always reducing capacity in the process. One sports stadium decreased its capacity by 5,000. The Century City Opera House in Colorado replaced its 17-inch seats with a 22-inch model, and held an open day for patrons to try them. Quaintly, the American Association of Architects still lists 18 inches as the industry standard in building design. As Tim Hussey of the Hussey Seating Company puts it, though, 'We make 18-inch seats, but nobody's buying them.'"'
