As an Englishman who was lucky enough to learn to fly in America and as a Training Captain with CX, I am astonished by the B.S. I see spouted on this thread.
Some of the finest pilots I have ever had the pleasure to fly with and learn from are Americans, who will be equally astonished by the stupidity of what is being written by these so called professionals complaining about CX culture.
Here at Cathay we do things in a set way - by the book. If you don't, it exposes you, not necessarily as a bad pilot but as an ill-disciplined pilot.
Does saying "flaps" or "flap" or "decimal" or "point" make you a better or worse pilot - NO, but given the choice of the two why not take the more disciplined option? What are YOU trying to prove?
Why is it important, hopefully you already know the answer? If not then I highly recommend Lt. Col. Tony Kern's book "Flight Discipline". Have a look at his chapters on Procedural Discipline and Communications Discipline. You might learn why we do it the way we do, and by the way, the author is American..
All the training/check Captains I know in CX have one goal and one goal only; to get the trainee through successfully and fairly, believe me no one wants to write a negative training report.
So to any Americans out there considering joining - go for it, don't listen to the minority come and show us that they are the minority. I for one look forward to having a beer with you and congratulating you on building the best damn aeroplanes in the world!!