It *is* interesting. English has become the de facto "Universal Language"... which is fine IMO. It's still kind of dumb bothering to declare an "official" language, though.
In Hong Kong, almost all signs (street signs, things like that) are in both English and Mandarin Chinese.
And of the major regional BBQ types, texas is the worst. Still damn good but only a bronze medal.
I mean, that kind of is like arguing about which supermodel is hottest, but I still agree with you there.
Well, at least it's beef. Pigs are for bacon, beef is for BBQ. I think I'll take a road trip to Lockhart next month and have lunch at Kreuz or Smitty's and dinner at Black's.
That is because when you are trying to land a 20 ton aluminum tube full of people, there can be no room for interpretation.
It mostly grew out of the fact that we had one of the earliest civil aviation programs and we were one of the first countries to send planes to other countries.
If china had been first, mandarin might have been the official language.
Quit acting like a fahkin' queaahh...
No....well, depends what part of the South.
You should hear the accents here in WI.
"OOOH MYeee GAD!"
Texas still sucks though & their BBQ as well.
That is because for 100 years they were occupied by the brits.
parts of the south lived in.....Louisiana, Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina....I don't notice southern accents anymore...Texas....lived there, wouldn't recognize the accent.No....well, depends what part of the South.
You should hear the accents here in WI.
"OOOH MYeee GAD!"
Texas still sucks though & their BBQ as well.
A friend of my brothers in Colorado was from Wisconsin...you would never know he was from there until you asked him to talk with the accent....jesus it was fvcking funny.
instantly reminded me of the warehouse workers at one of the distribution centers my dad ran in boston.
Up here it seems like you either have no accent or too much of one.
Nothing is better for ridiculously overzealous Boston accents than the movie 'The Departed.' I'm from Boston, and have a slight accent myself (I was able to get rid of it for the most part), but goddamn it makes me LOL whenever I watch that movie.
With all the whining about language, one would think we were French.
You think if we stop printing government signs in Spanish and Chinese, that's makes America strong?
Or by having documents in a few languages, then immigrants won't learn English?
Or the day comes when your kids might travel overseas for business or pleasure, and everyone feels sorry for them because they can only speak American?
Having an official language does not mean that you can not learn a second.
Spanish would be useful as a second language, unless you only travel to Quebec.
Spanish would be useful as a second language, unless you only travel to Quebec.
It's not so much a matter of the language, but the fact that we're catering to a portion of the population who, in substantial numbers, are in the country illegally. When there was an in-flux or European immigrants at the turn of the last century, were businesses or the government going significantly out of the way to accomodate them? So why start now? As I've stated before, I'm very much in favor of cultural heritage, but the line has to be drawn somewhere. There's a huge difference between being accomodating to those who are learning and letting yourself be a doormat to those who are too lazy to learn.
You mean like today? I've traveled abroad for both business and pleasure. While I wasn't fluent in the languages of the countries I was visiting, I had enough sense to try and learn some basic stuff to help myself get around (and keep a copy of common phrases/translations in case I wound up lost).
If I were moving to another country, or was going to be there for a long term stay on business, you can be damn sure I'd learn at least some of the language before I go. But that's just me. If you're too lazy to do at least that, then you deserve your ticket on the failboat.
What's wrong with that? You know I am....
The statement was tongue in cheek. Languages and culture evolve. As they do, people tend to carry on about it rather than to adapt gracefully.What's wrong with that? You know I am....
If I were to pick up a second language, I'd be torn between Spanish (now very useful in the United States) and French - it it were French, I would want to learn the Québécois flavor since I would mostly use it with my friends from the Montreal area.
I took 5 years of French, actually 3 years but 2 were "compressed". When I would go to Quebec I could never understand anything and figure my education was a failure, written words were fine. An ex-pat Quebecer friend who I can never understand had a friend from France visiting and I could pretty much understand everything she said. Go figure.
I guess the fact that your friends speak it, it makes it "useful", but apart from that, it's kinda useless outside of Quebec. I much prefer the Quebec accent too. France French irritates me more than the Quebec accent...fromage.
Kudos for making the effort to find the accents for your "e"s.
Why do you not like General Tso Chicken?
Everyone should start speaking in binary.
I took latin in high school...what waste of time!!!!
8 18 or 32 bit? How many parity bits?
I am a graphic artist & animator, i get paid to make pretty promos that make people want to stay on the couch & watch TV.
No way any of that crap applies to what I do.
PLUS it was a damn satellite course & our 'teacher' didn't know ****, so I ended up knowing more than her.
See....Westy is not always funny!
If only...
Like elf 232?
If English was declared the national language we could save a decent amount of money by only printing things in English. You walk in to the Secretary of States office and every sign is made twice once in English and once in Spanish. When you factor in the cost of translating everything, and printing everything there is some money to be saved.
Honestly if we do it for Spanish we should do it for every language. Why should the guy that came here from France need to learn English when the guy from Mexico does not?
The thing that pisses me off the most are the people that do know English but pretend they don't. They get absolutely no respect from me.
Honestly if we do it for Spanish we should do it for every language. Why should the guy that came here from France need to learn English when the guy from Mexico does not?
The thing that pisses me off the most are the people that do know English but pretend they don't. They get absolutely no respect from me.
Ding ding! we have a winner. Either do it for everyone, or do it for no one.
no but i can come up with a list of other reasons if you'd like
i'm fixin to learn english now that i'm in texas...which btw...i LOVE!!!
Yes, English is a fascinating language.no but i can come up with a list of other reasons if you'd like
i'm fixin to learn english now that i'm in texas...which btw...i LOVE!!!
No, we don't have a winner, we have another fool wearing black and white blinders. You do it where the demographics demonstrate that it makes sense. It'll make sense for about a generation, until assimilation completes, then you stop doing it.