LEADING BY EXAMPLE
LEADING BY EXAMPLE
Let’s make broken English America’s official language, or else the
Mexicans will invade us with proper spelling.
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Sadly, the same can’t be said of this lol.
People paint fast and leave off a lettr.
We get it.
If you’re gonna preach about English being the official language of the USA, it helps if you can write it correctly. It adds a bit to your argument.
Not really, it only matters if the observer is either :
(1) Unduly obsessed with the trivial
(2) Already looking for a way to find fault.
I don’t think that either group is a particularly significant audience, though for different reasons.
I disagree. I think proper spelling and grammar go a long way in any given argument. Who wants to listen to someone who can’t bother to spell correctly?
Amen! Bad spelling and bad grammar leave the almost inevitable impression of a job that wasn’t worth doing since it wasn’t worth doing well. I’m old, and I will never forget the sign created during the school-integration riots in Arkansas. At one point the schools were closed as a last ditch effort to turn back time. There was a gang of at least 10 police in formal uniform with “Cool Hand Luke” glasses on surrounding a *professionally printed sign* that read “schools closed by order of the goverment.” If that doesn’t personify dumb, I don’t know what does. But then, back in my caseworker days, we got a new Food Stamps handbook meant to explain the program to clients. Alexander Hamilton’s picture was on the front and it was captioned “President Hamilton.” Dumb is not a limited commodity.
In no sense is dumb limited. Dumb propagates and fills the earth faster than wise can stop it.
Actually and I’ll have to put my serious head on here. Rando and Lucy have it right. If you’re going to start preaching to people that English should be made America’s official language, it does not help your case if your sign is spelt wrong. Spelling things wrong is bad english. Imagine the looks of immigrants who see this sign proclaiming that English must be made the official language when they making spelling mistakes like that. The immigrants would be wondering “Why bother if the native speakers can be bothered to write it properly”. Any spelling mistake in a sign about using English, weakens the case.
He who breaks the law shall be punished: Back to the house of pain!
Yes, you got it right.. but anyway, why are the Americans even bothering with trying to make English the USA’s official language, if they not only can’t write but even SPEAK it properly?
If I listen to Americans speaking, first of all they usually sound like they are chewing something while speaking AND talk about some God-Bless-America nonsense… I sincerely apologize for the generalization and hope not to offend anybody but seriously, that’s the impression that America gives the rest of the world (which for many of the Americans does not exist) and, seriously, America really is NOT the centre of the world!
You can’t offended us. We don’t value the opinions of others because we think America is the center of the world.
Ok…sad but true, some people do think that way. I agree with you, many, many Americans are idiots, but unfortunately it’s illegal to throw them all in a deep hole.
Now that’s an election platform that’d buy votes in just about every country around the world!
(Especially since a majority of people place themselves well above the average intelligence when asked to estimate how smart they … is.)
I agree there are many Americans who behave as you describe, but I would also add that there are over 300 million of us, so you’d have to meet an awful lot of Americans in order to get a representative sample.
Sadly, what the rest of the world pictures when they think “Americans”.
I’m a Brit, thank you so much for that insite, made me laugh, thing is, we have a supermarket chain in the UK called ASDA, which is part of Walmart, and the customers look very much the same, astounding
Quite right, old bean. The clue is in the word ‘English’. England is the centre of the world. Anyone who says otherwise is a cad, a boundah and a demmed bed het. No offence intended.
Well, as much as I like England, I’d have to object that there is no centre of the world…
And bloody hell, if there was it’d be England!
Although I’m not English, so spare me.
I heard some kooks think that the earth is round and there’s this “core” in the middle. what morons!
It sometimes gets annoying when people think ALL Americans are like that. Mostly the east and mid southern states are the people everyone thinks are the average American.
It’s pretty sad because most normal Americans dismiss them as religious loonies.
And we dismissed you as a bigoted idiot.
Why thank you, I enjoy a hardy dose of irony. Keeps me healthy.
Indeed. It’s typically the northeast that is the worst of the US.
I’ve been to a bunch of the north-eastern states (NY’er here) and yeah, the people pretty much are average Americans. Hell, not even just the people but things like the community. The only place I’ve been where I can really say that we’re not COMPLETELY “average American” is, yeah……the five boroughs of NY. That’s not bias, I swear, you go down to like, Delaware, and you see three different fast food restaurants all right next to each other, and then you pass three or four Wal-Marts and a Target going down the highway. The CITY (NY) isn’t even like that. In fact I don’t even think we have Wal-Marts…..I’VE never seen one.
i agree with this in theory… BUT this same attitude is why my dyslexic boyfriend is having an even harder time than most getting and keeping work (over the last 7 years).
That’s a shame. In my experience dyslectics are raher reliable for writing unusually well. Probably because the ones I have communicated most with, are aware of having issues and therefore take that extra time to proof read, look things up and get help – time which people who consider themselves “normal” re writing don’t spend on it.
I suppose there are jobs where there are tools to help make the effects of dyslexia less noticeable, and jobs where being able to produce lots of correct text (with or without substance) quickly isn’t so important.
I am dyslexic and it can be hard getting people to accept that sometimes it takes a little longer to write or type things out.
Spell checking software helps, but if the word you’ve got wrong comes out as another correctly spelled word you can end up with problems. A woman I know who has the same problem typed out a note the girls in the Brownie pack she helped with had to give to their parents. It was about an upcoming outdoor carol singing the pack was attending. She ended the note by reminding the parents that they should remember to RAPE their girls warmly, instead of wrap. Her spellchecker saw nothing wrong, so the note went out. It caused a huge row, and she ended up leaving the pack.
My wife is dyslexic and struggles with the same thing. And people all her life have mistreated her because of it. She struggles with it, and even mixes up whole words. She joking calls herself a blonde, and I just smile and tell her I always wanted to marry a blonde. (She’s half Japanese, and has the atypical asian hair)
Ummm…
Main Entry: atyp·i·cal
Pronunciation: \(ˌ)ā-ˈti-pi-kəl\
Function: adjective
Date: 1885
: not typical : irregular, unusual <an atypical form of a disease
I guess I left out the part where mentioning that while it is the normal asian coloring, it is not the usual thin. Picture Cousin It with a much darker tone.
It is a standing rule in my house, that before she can buy shampoo, I have to taste it first. Because eventually, she will roll over in the middle of the night, and I get a face/mouth full.
My girl has long hair, and I have experienced an unusual phenomenon. I…I wake up in the morning with loose strands of her hair wrapped around…around my *whisper* penis.
Ha. Yeah, I get that too. Or I get to work, or somewhere in my day, and go to pee, unzip and pull out a 4ft long hair.
My hair is between 3 and 4 feet, my fiancee’s hair is around two feet long and we have four cats. I don’t want o see any one else complaining about hair:P
just kidding. Ya’ll can complain if ya want. We do. it can get quite annoying sometimes but I would rather cut off a hand than cut off my hair.
Reminds me of another Scout caroling typo (less offensive!); when my son was in Cub Scouts, we used to go caroling at a retirement home, and the sheet with the lyrics included the classic Away In a Manager.
Is she doing time now?
just as an fyi… girl scouts (above the level of daisy) have troops. so it would have been a brownie troop. the only real place where there is a “pack” is in the cub scout and webelos divisions of boy scouts.
/nit-picking
i agree with your overall sentiment. i have a few dyslexic friends and sometimes i have to ask what they were meaning, but for the most part… you learn that it’s a little slower for them and to be patient. not the end of the world.
I hardly consider it obsessing with the trivial, in this case, the picket sign undermines itself. In order to argue for an official language, I think that requires that one must demonstrate a working proficiency in said language first. Misspelling an easy word shows otherwise.
though i’m amazed they managed to get the apostrophe in the right place. it’s more than most people seem to be able to do.
Stephen Robert Holm (born October 21, 1979 in Sacramento, California) is a Major League Baseball catcher for the San Francisco Giants organization. Holm attended Sacramento’s McClatchy High School, where he played shortstop. He earned 3rd Team All-American honors as a shortstop for Oral Roberts University in 2000.
Holm was drafted by the Giants in the 17th round in 2001. He beat Eliezer Alfonzo and Guillermo Rodríguez to earn a position on the major-league roster in 2008 spring training, but got sent down for Eliezer Alfonzo on July 1, 2008. He got re-called on July 23, 2008.
After playing for a short period of time on the Giants in 2009 he was sent back to Triple-A Fresno. Eli Whiteside then became the back-up catcher when steve holm was unable to be re-called. Steve holm was taken off the 40 man roster to clear room for Matt Downs who replaced 2nd baseman Emmanuel Burriss.
OK. I give up. I’m guessing that you do this because you have been convicted of some minor crime and this is your community service. Is that right?
you must be new. That’s the unrelated response to a “first” post.
Thanks, Care Troll. It is a magnificent example of a non-sequitur. I came over from the dark side where “eberybuddy talks sorrta funneh”
Would’ve been easier to understand if it was nested correctly, but still, a good ordinal-post response.
Iz okai; AH iz frawm ICHC 2. KTHXBAI!
For that, thou must be punished. I will set Bitter Troll on thee forthwith.
The law has been broken! Back to the house of pain!
Sorry that it falls upon you, but for a nice pun, you should call yourself “Ivan the ho”
They can’t spell correctly until the take those weird squiggly lines off their letters.
People need to stop making captions for these signs. They’re better without any caption.
At least she used the apostrophe correctly. *sigh*
Seriously, if you’re going to make a sign to try to get some type of point across to the public, why would you not proofread the damn thing?
…and let someone do the writing who can handle a pen and doesn’t make it look as if they’ve painstakingly copied the letters off of someone else’s sign. :p
and underlining it to make more notice to it … LOL
“make more notice”?
“broken english”?
“casting the first stone”?
hmm…
dhydar seems to be especially butthurt about making fun of the spelling. I’m guessing you got your ass handed to you at the spelling bee, huh?
LOL!! Imagine losing because you couldn’t spell there, their, or they’re in the right context.
“May I hear the word in a sentence please”
“Of course! ‘They’re all very displeased that their belongings had been moved over there…’”
“Oh…. f*ck”
BZZZZZT!
“I’m sorry, that’s incorrect.”
Damn! Another Sham-wow moment, brought to you by Maxwell the Beatle-ist!
I have SUCH a man crush!
That’s the best thing I’ve heard (read) all day.
DAMMIT MAX! sloppy joe out the nose is A LOT worse than coffee/tea/water.
*cringe* Ooooo.
*tap,tap,tap* Is this mike on? Hello? *squeal*
Hello? Thank you.
Will people please stop making dumb a$$ lolz out of this picture? It speaks for itself. And was used already. Thank you.
Network execs in training, I guess.
I like that.
Or film company execs! It’s the stupid English language picket sign REIMAGINED!
“Now, let’s get Megan Fox to carry it….and add some explosions! Yeah!”
Sounds like Michael Bay’s thoughts…
bitter troll hears they are reimagining friday the 13th:VII the new blood.
or rebooted…
or 2.0…
gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!
It needs a flashy Jonas Brothers intro song, and maybe a scene with a topless Zac Efrom full of sexual innuendo. That way we can still rate it “G” and have the parents pay for their kids to watch it!
Lol! Silly Disney and its marketing of sex to pre-teens.
Link for you LG!
cheezburger.com/view.aspx?ciid=5309974
You shouldn’t intentionally create a feedback loop on the sound system, it injures people’s cochlea, not to mention the damage it does to the tweeters.
Is it true that offical means dying out?
Which part of America does she refer to, North or South America?
*click*
while the sign needed to be proofread, I’m inclined to agree. I live less then 5 minutes from Canada. Why are all my ATM’s in English/Spanish instead of English/French? Why does Spanish get priority? If we cater to more than one language we should cater to all. So let’s pick one and stick with it. We can use foreign language machines at tourist spots like Vegas and Disney world.
….for that matter, why is there braille on my drive-up ATM?
[suspects there is a comedian who needs to be credited for that observation, but can't remember who.]
that one I can kinda understand. It’s probably just cheaper to manufacture one type of key for atms.
Because it costs less to standardize all ATM interfaces to Braille than to make an exception for drive-up ATMs?
The not-so-funny explanation.
Not so funny. Considerably less SCARY, though!
Why do we park on driveways and drive on parkways? Inquiring minds want to know!
Just to mess with YOU!
How do you nail Jell-O to a wall?
Is Spam really meat?
Why do shipments go by car, and cargoes go on ships?
If nothing sticks to teflon, how do they get teflon to stick to the pan?
My teflon doesn’t stick to the pan. :-\ Stupid cheap Wal-mart skillet.
That’s what you get for shopping at Wal-mart.
Rando old buddy. The best thing I ever did was buy a set of Circulon pans. They’re nonstick, and they can take abuse. 2 years (and I keep telling my girl to NOT use metal utensils. Does she listen? Noooo) and there’s not a scratch on them. This is the set we have.
{http://www.circulon.com/cs/Satellite/mArticle/1162475169828/circulon/1163100357621/Page/CollectionName/Circulon%2520Elite/en_US/FullPage.htm}
I swear by the Calphalon hard-anodized pots and pans. There’s no coating to get fu(ked up, and stuff still doesn’t stick to them. Plus, heavy enough that things cook well at high temperatures without scorching. Downside, expensive enough that I have a very limited selection of cookware purchased one piece at a time (supplemented by the last of the cheap crap that I hate to use).
Getting that far off the topic in so few posts. That takes skillet!
There’s a topic?
Yeah, we do that.
There are tiny grooves in the metal of the pan. Teflon is a plastic, so it is applied in a liquid state and it seeps into the grooves before solidifying, giving it an air-tight friction fit.
Neither is exclusive of the other, they work both ways. (Giggity)
Spam is Soylent green
No, Soylent Green is people. Duh.
Yes, it is. It’s mostly pork.
Very carefully.
Is Soylent Green that is made from Jewish People kosher??
Hmmm…interesting question but the answer is no. Humans, Jewish or not, are not considered kosher. Humans are mammals, land beasts, and mammals, in order to be considered “clean” and acceptable for consumption, must have cloven hooves AND chew the cud.
Because if they didn’t do it someone would sue them for it.
… and what is the DEAL with airline peanuts? Am I right?
Dude! I totally miss the peanuts! Pretzels just don’t do it for me.
What are you talking about? Last time I was on a plane I got a cheeseburger! I’m serious!
4 diss – i think it was george carlin that pointed out the braille on drive-up atm’s, and if it wasn’t, it should have been
He also did the driveway/parkway joke, and Is it true clowns taste funny? joke… why are there locks on 24 hour stores? …… Why do Kamikaze pilots wear helmets…
*keeps rattling on and on and on…*
One of my favorites (unrelated of course) is the different types of farts. I personally go for the ‘Controlled Emission Fart’…. pfffftt.. pffftt.. pfft.. pfffffffffft..
Does it spin clockwise or counter clockwise in Aussie land?
LOL, I like that one a lot too. Why did Ol’ George have to go and die on us like that?!
…why do they call them apartments when they’re so close together…
why do you need a drivers license to buy alcohol if they don’t want you to drink and drive….
RIP George Carlin…still making me laugh…and you’re f*cking dead. I didn’t care when MJ died, but I cried when GC died.
Because Spanish speaking people tend to be genetically stupid and are lucky if they can speak THAT language, much less English, which explains why after being here for generations, many STILL can’t speak the language. Why is it people came here from Russia and learn English in a few years? They don’t even have the same alphabet. Same with most Asians, funny how that works. It’s called pollution of the gene pool.
Welcome to the turd world.
-whaps cuz theyre stupid with a wiffle bat-
Someone break out the D-con.
I think we should all remind cuz theyre stupid that the turd world is the one he chooses to live in. The rest of us live in what’s called the REAL World.
Wow, you’re a racist worthless swollen pimple on the nutsack of society, aren’t you?
GO DIE NOW YOU WORTHLESS WASTE OF CARBON!!
Speaking of “pollution of the gene pool”…You’re from a very shallow one, aren’t you.
Wow. The rest of the country moved past that load of ‘inferior genes’ crap a long time ago. Nice to see you haven’t.
I’d like to introduce you to three billy goats.
His mom, dad and sister??
Thank you for joining us, Mr. Dobbs.
Actually, we have a large Russian/Ukrainian population in the area, and they refuse to learn english, for the most part, especially the women. This allows the men to marry sixteen year old girls and control their lives effectively.
*moves to Portland for hot 16 year old Russian and Ukrainian chicks*
*mental picture of Mermaid Charro and her girly harem*
/homer drool
there are whole areas of cleveland where if you don’t speak russian or italian you don’t go there… you’ll end up shot. what’s the worst is the crazy russian ladies then come to the suburbs to do their shopping and they’re mean as hell. in the grocery store i’ve literally seen them (multiples of them) hit little kids with their cart rather than asking them to move.
Your response would look better if you knew how to compose a sentence. Sadly, even you, racist American, have not mastered this skill. How many languages do you speak? And don’t try and count English as one – because you’re not quite there yet.
Cheers,
Grammar Overlord Prime
Racism can be taken seriously when it starts to make any kind of sense.
Back in our pro-eugenics period (prior to WW2) we had Italians down as a low IQ ‘race’ and wanted to restrict immigration.
Whereas today in “IQ and the wealth of nations” (the modern equivalent) it’s pointed out that Italy has the highest average IQ in Europe.
You know, I think “Uh…Roman Empire?” would effectively counter that accusation.
If I’m following your line of reasoning correctly, the obvious repudiation would be “lead-lined water system”.
actually the cool part about that is they let the water run and minerals and shit add up, so when they actually drank the water there wasn’t enough water to cause serious effects.
I have an engineer friend that went on for ages about how the roman empire skirted disaster with their pipes and how cool it is that they found a way to stop it without realizing.
Ahaa, so that’s why Rudy made it to mayor!
when my ancestors came to America, they came to escape their homeland for a better life. They came to be americans. If its so great in mexico that you have mexican pride. Go back.
we can find someone to pick fruit, wash dishes, and landscape.
This is such an asshat reasoning – that you must forget all about your homeland and any pride in that to be NewLandian enough to stay in the New Land.
I guess thats why no one celebrates St Patricks day in the US.
Wait a minute!
All those Shamrocks in the US, they should bow before the true american wops!
Here in California everything is in English, Spanish and
Chinese.
I think we get more Japanese than Chinese, but it proly depends on where you are.
Maybe Tucker is posting from Chinatown?
I don’t think that there should be an official language. Whenever anyone gets into this debate, they forget that American Sign Language is NOT English. Where does that leave anyone who uses ASL as a first language?
That’s just silly. It obviously applies to spoken and read languages.
Are you implying deaf people can’t read?
I think Nancy is a master at stupidese..
*claps for charro*
That was a funny…I snickered!
One word – Ebonics..
Quote from a 9-10 year old on the news recently regarding a public transportation strike:
“I’m sad because they be the ones that transpertates me to school.”
Another word – Calories..
Another word – Margin
Theremin!
I like Margin. It’s good on toast.
Aluminium
I learned in history that English became the official language of the USA by one vote – if not for that one vote, the government language would have been German. Is that true?
(asks a Canadian who CAN speak English and French, unlike most of the population)
It is. Aren’t you glad you don’t have to learn to spell farfig…fragfig…VW?
aw we could had umlauts on our keyboards
You’d still not have the åÅåååÅÅåÅÅå though! (We win!)
So you can put a silly circle over your vowels. Big deal.
I gather that in a couple counties in Wisconsin, all of the public schools were teaching in German in the 1940’s or there abouts!
During WWII the suppression of German-American culture kinda put a stop to that. I saw a documentary on it, it made me unhappy.
Actually this happened in Britain during the first World War. Thousands of German businesses were smashed by rioters. Other German Businesses changed their name. The biggest German Business in Britain changed it’s name. The Royal Family’s original name was “Saxe-Coburg Gotha” but when it found out that Germans were being targetted, they changed it to “Windsor” in order to avoid being persecuted.
Probably more of a good taste thing, really. Nobody was going to persecute the King…. course the Kaiser was Queen Victoria’s grandson.
I had to read that like 4 times before I saw “counties” not “countRies”..
We have two countries here in Wisconsin.
1. The Country
2. The City
The only difference is that cities have bars, and the cop cars are painted a different color.
(It’s not really that hickish up here, but if you can’t make fun of yourself then what…)
No. We don’t have an official language.
Well, it IS true that German was close to becoming our official language. It was hotly debated and the loudest opponent to the idea was Ben Franklin. So it’s not exactly a new issue.
That would have made WWI and WWI more interesting.
Yes, both of the WWI’s.
Not to mention the following WWI!
Not true. The vote in question was a local election, held in Pennsylvania, I believe, and not a national election.
You’re right, Hissy. Sorry. I fell for that story but it turns out that it’s mostly concocted and became an issue in 1850 !? What goes around, comes around. I’m still glad that I don’t have to spell…ah the heck with it.
I think it’s common courtesy to speak the language of the country you’re living in. I don’t know about making it the official language, but I’m not a big fan of language barriers. I can barely understand people who speak my own language, much less another one.
Agreed. I will not enter a foreign country without at least a rudimentary understanding of their language. I think not to do so is extremely disrespectful. And I certainly do not expect people to speak English simply because I happen to exist.
Anyone speak Samoan? Malo le soifua!
Things to know how to ask in a foreign language:
1. Where’s the bathroom?
2. Where’s the bar?
3. One glass of *insert favorite alcoholic drink here* please!
Not necessarily in that order.
From my time in Costa Rica:
“Bavaria Negro y una Cacique con limon y sal” …
The word (in Spanish) for room is quarto, and the word for body is quarpo. I found that out pretty quick when I was checking into a hotel in Spain. I imagine the staff is still laughing about it. *sigh*
Ahahahaha! They were also probably thinking you were trying to be coy about ordering a “working” girl/boy.
Cuerpo, actually!
Yeah, what she said. I can speak it, not write it. The point being they SOUND alike.
Yes.
Two years of Spanish in college and I’m pretty much limited to ordering a beer and asking where the bathroom is.
I’ve never taken any Spanish classes at all. However, I’ve been in the restaurant industry most of my life; as long as I’m speaking of restaurant related things, people think I speak Spanish like a native. Then, of course, they ask me about a movie, or the soccer game on tv last night, and suddenly I’m all “Umm, lo siento. No comprende palabra; otro ves por favor? Y mas despacio… me hablo espanol un pocito y muy mal.”
Also, “How do I say” (point at object) “in” (language you are learning)
I certainly took some lessons for the time I went and visited Japan. I didn’t become fluent, but I didn’t want to be entirely clueless either. My thinking on the US is, even though it’s not official, the language of the country IS English. And if you come here to live, you ought to learn the language. Especially if you are going to work anywhere in retail or customer service. I don’t think it’s right to expect others to learn other languages to speak to people not from your own country. Now if I was to move to Japan, or any other country, it would be my responsibility to learn theirs. Not the other way around. (Nevermind the fact that English has become the language of business)
It would be one thing if it were just one language, like the obvious Spanish. We could easily teach both languages to kids at an early age (which I don’t get why we don’t anyway, foreign languages are easy). But in St. Louis we have a large population of Bosnians and other Eastern Europeans in addition to Latinos and Asians. I don’t have a problem with that at all, but I’m not learning all of their languages. One language we could all speak to help break the language barrier would be nice.
I think the U.S. just has too many languages from its diverse historical backgrounds and a history of frequent immigration to be able to adopt any one secondary language to teach everyone. It really is easier to teach immigrants english, I think the government should provide assistance to immigrants who want to learn english, it just makes sense.
Hence the English as a Second Language classes. They have them for adults too. Last I saw (admittedly a few years ago) it was pretty cheap to enroll in those classes as an adult. And for children learning english, it’s free in public schools.
Not all foriegn languages are easy for everyone. I have no aptitude for Spanish. Japanese however I took too quite well. However I do agree that perhaps we ought to encourage a second language starting in elementary school for a broader education. Other countries encourage their children to learn English. In some, like Japan, it’s now mandatory to learn it. Not all speak it well, but most can read and write it. I think there ought to be a variety for kids to choose from to be able to learn.
But that being said, I think people who move here ought to learn the language that we speak, and not us learn their language to accomidate them.
As a kid in Germany, I spoke it like a native. A native with a southern accent, something that gave the neighbors a chuckle.
But that has been since 1981, and I don’t remember more than 10 words, outside of food.
*sigh*
I may be slipping a little out of liberal territory here, but I see no reason why learning English can’t be part of the becoming a citizen process. Make those classes mandatory. At least so they have a basic functional English vocabulary.
I would actually like to see that happen. I’m sure a lot of the immigrants coming in would probably see the wisdom of such things. What I don’t get is those crying out how it’s unfair people should be expected to learn English in the US. I mean, wouldn’t it be easier on said immigrants to get work (especially in the recession) and live decently without having a language barrier to deal with?
I also think if you’re going to drive in the country, you should know the language so you can understand the signs, and rules of the road!
Big hint – the USA is one of the few nations that still uses text rather than pictograms for warning and prohibition signs.
Is it wrong to expect our citizens to be literate?
dead wrong!
I’m not sure what you’re talking about in this. I know in the case of yield and stop signs you’re associating the symbols, not the words. That’s why you can write different things on it without people being confused. it’s a big red octogon, stop!
crossing signs have pictograms. any warning sign i’ve seen like “danger electrocution” has that guy getting electrocuted. do you have some sort of example?
This is the best I can do, and it means downloading a pile of PDFs.
{http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/Highwaycode/Signsandmarkings/index.htm}
For people born in the US to American citizens too?
Yes! You should have to “earn” your citizenship when you turn 18.
While I actually like the idea, but much more based on general knowledge issues than language – how would you deal with various handicaps? A sliding scale with different demands depending on what you “should” be able to handle?
That’s an excellent point and a difficult one to address. How are various handicaps handled in terms of high school graduation requirements? I guess my comment was very off-the-cuff because I’m constantly amazed by natural-born U.S. citizens don’t know their civics and are near illiterate.
Yeah. I might have responded a bit too seriously.
But really, it is a very interesting question. I myself am from an immigrant family, “2nd and 3rd generation”, and have seen how my grandparents have handled adopting the Swedish language. Some of them died speaking Swedish on a pre-high school level, while still loving the New Country and its opportunities, and working a full life time for it, being model citizens in everything but language proficiency. They’d have faired well on knowledge tests about politics and suchlike in Sweden, if they’d been allowed to take the tests in their primary language. In my opinion, they had more right to citizenship than some “inborn Swedes” who just don’t give a fvck about politics and never even go to vote.
So, yeah, this (there are some movements here to start smacking down on immigrants language-wise too) is an issue that I have some emotions about, and therefore like to discuss.
Oh bugger, I mean “fared well”, don’t I? Proof reading – my arse. :p
But I then may add what I meant to add in the first post too – that I think, while mandatory language tests for citizenship just isn’t fair, enclaves of immigrants who never get in touch with The Language of the Country do cause an integration, and therefore a democracy, issue in the long run. I am afraid I don’t have any excellent solution at hand. :p
” I’m constantly amazed by natural-born U.S. citizens don’t know their civics and are near illiterate.”
True story: since public schools now have to teach specifically to pass No Child Left Behind or lose their funding, and since civics wasn’t considered important by Bush-era politicians, most schools have sidelined civics classes.
It’s actually a very good idea. In Norway, learning Norwegian and taking classes about Norwegian society is mandated for permanent residency or citizenship. Not only does it make the transition into Norwegian society easier, but there was a large problem with many Muslim immigrant women not knowing their rights within their new country. Rights such as divorce, suitable marriage practices (age, one spouse, etc.), and working opportunities. Previously, one paid for Norwegian classes. Now that 250 hours of Norwegian instruction is necessary, classes are free (well beyond the necessitated 250 hours). Of course, there’s a different argument for whether or not the graduates of these classes are fully able to communicate effectively. But it’s a good start.
For the record, I’d like to add that just because a language is official, doesn’t mean it is the ONLY official language. Many countries have more than one official language. Norway, for instance, has two official spoken forms of Norwegian, and recently made Sami–the indigenous people’s language–official. So you could reasonably have English and Spanish as official American languages. And why not? Spanish/Latino influence is so old and heavy in a great portion of the U.S. that to ignore it would be to ignore a major area of the U.S.’s heritage.
On the other hand, Sweden has four official languages; Sami, Romani, Älvdalska (local isolated language) and yiddisch. Swedish doesnt need government approval to be the first language of the country, it is naturally, and if it ceases to be because English, German or Arabian ends up being more useful for its citizens I really dont know why we shouldnt change.
We also learn English from second grade and a third language from sixth. Its helpful when being abroad:)
Six “official minority languages” or whatever the translation would be. Tornedalsfinska and finska as well.
Oh. My bad. Five. Älvdalska does not have that status. Sometimes teckenspråk is considered a sixth official minority language though. I had to look that up. :p
sry man, memory sometimes serves me not-quite-so-well
Aye… As I said, I had to look it up.
Speaking as a naturalized citizen and an English-as-a-second-language speaker I agree that basic, functional knowledge of English should be required for U.S. citizenship.
as a fellow lib, i see nothing wrong with mandating that immigrants learn at least some english – enough to get by with; especially for things like getting a drivers license…
Where I have a problem is people assume that someone who has only a little english knowledge isn’t learning. Sometimes (usually) immigrants arrive knowing very little english. They learn after they arrive. They may be hear several years before they speak english well. It’s wrong to assume that because their knowledge is low today that they aren’t learning it. I work with a lot of immigrants who are still taking classes while working two jobs and supporting a family, and it drives me almost to violence to hear a smug, sixth grade reading level American criticize these people as “dirty illegals… oughta ship the lot of them back where they f’ing came from”.
People of Samoan descent have tendency to get really big…I wouldn’t want to make them angry…
Wow. I’d find that very limiting to myself. But then, maybe we have different standards for “rudimentary knowledge”. I’d have hated to not be able to see Athens and surroundings just because my Greek was limited to one word at the time (and is around zero now).
I’d say it depends on where in a country you’re going, how long you’re staying, which country it is and … how hard the language is?
While I would agree, I am having problems pulling off a decent Aussie accent. I can use the slang well enough (I tend to say mate, cheers, and a few other words) I can’t do the right inflection. Most times I get a dirty look because the people think I’m absuing them.
GAH! absuing = abusing
Don’t be so abusingly absuing Eddie! Sheesh!
What?!
Yes?
This is just offal.
It’s tripe!
It is truly headcheese.
Now you manudo the truth..
In casing there was any queso-tion.
well, at least the lady with the sign has guts
I hear they make an excellent substitute for brains.
Zombies would disagree with you on that point.
It is too easy to mislead the uneducated. We must consider increasing skool funding.
Try telling that to the “governantor”…
Couldn’t you have at least spelled “school” correctly? Please?
Methinks you missed the joke.
Really? Wow.
Really? Wow.
Wow. Really?
WOW! REALLY!
REWOWLLY!
SHAMWOW!
He who says “shamwow”, shall be punished: Back to the FailBlog!
Wow. Really?
Yes, rally!
Nay, relay!
What gets me even more is the sign in the background which I am pretty sure reads “Texas is not a American colony.” >.<
I was sure it read “Texas is not a Mexican Colony”
That would make more sense, assuming it was supposed to make sense.
Ah, thanks for figuring that out! I read that as “American Colony” as well. It makes much more sense that way; in the sense that some literally feel that we are being “invaded by immigrants.” Theses people are obviously too dumb to be able to spell words like “official”, so they can be safely ignored.
Yes, people sound very dumb when misspelling words like, oh, “these.” Ahem.
Zing! Oh my, HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!
Glad I turned my head before I started laughing.
:-S
Aside from the fact that it’s already plural?
Nothing wrong with making your plurals more pluraler, or are they?
Well I made it extra-plural! So there!
Okies! =-D
them
I’m sorry, dude, but I just couldn’t let that one go. I just couldn’t. *snort*
THis is your error. The incredibly dumb can not be safely ignored. For one thing, the incredibly dumb living in a country where the incredibly dumb are allowed to purchase hand guns is totally NOT safe. Second, the incredibly dumb are still able to vote and can vote for whatever dumb idea somebody put in their head. This is, perhaps, even more dangerous than dumb people with guns because now, all you need to win an election is ad money. The issues don’t matter to these people. The merit of the arguments doesn’t matter to these people. All that matters is who brainwashed the dumb people better. So, while you are certainly free to ignore dumb people, doing so safely is a physical impossibility.
I mean, ehm, your too serious man. You should of writed something funny insdead of that serious bull** crap bunghole shit, you know?
When I was a kid we rented a farmhouse from a farmer who couldn’t read very well but he could shoot the Blue Ribbon on a can of Pabst from 100 yards with a .22 (even after a drinking the contents).
Are you saying he shouldn’t be allowed to own a gun but someone with a college education who’s never touched a firearm in his life should?
Accidental gun deaths are caused by people who don’t handle firearms correctly, not because they can’t solve complex algebra equations.
Stupid people make stupid mistakes.
So do the incredibly intelligent, on a very regular basis. That’s the problem when your head is working out the problems of the universe, but your body still needs to remember the keys.
I do so love to hang around professors for this reason (that and a genuine intelligent conversation is hard to come by)
Labelling half the world as incredibly dumb is an incredibly dumb thing to do. Next you’ll be saying that nobody with an IQ of less than 140 shouldn’t be allowed to vote.
You’re right, 75% of the world is remarkably dumb. Since IQ is an artificial unit of measure, it follows a perfect bell curve, with an IQ of 100 as average. Therefore, 75% of the population has an IQ of 100 or lower, and if you’ve ever met someone with an IQ of 100, you know that’s not very intelligent. In my opinion anyone with an IQ below 115-120 shouldn’t be allowed to vote.
“In my opinion anyone with an IQ below 115-120 shouldn’t be allowed to vote.”
I really hope you were being sarcastic.
Nope, I’m just that crazy. To me a government by the people isn’t viable when 75% of the voters’ votes can be bought with enough propaganda. Anyone who cannot comprehend the big picture should not have any say in the way a country is run. If that makes me a “bad” person, so be it.
Democracy is suboptimal. :p
My point exactly. I’m not a big fan of democracy, I don’t have any better ideas, but democracy just doesn’t seem to be working quite right. That said, it’s still the best system out there at the moment. (representative democracy is implied when I say “democracy”)
Yeah. I am torn between being a natural born elitist and being a raised humanist/liberal wossname. I can think a lot of very discriminating, condescending, loathing things about people, but I really, seriously, don’t want to see a society run by people who think and act like that. If people like me were allowed to run the show acting out on their base instincts, things would get very ugly.
So, rather than twits who think they’re so clever, deciding who gets to be a proper citizen and vote, it’s probably better to keep letting the plebs do it. ;p
(Yes, there is a bit of sarcasm and exaggeration in this post, but mostly it’s for real.)
*Plebes
Ah there’s the rub, we want the philosopher king for our republic, but anyone qualified wouldn’t want to job.
Because they’re smart enough to know running a country sucks.
Thanks, FaileV.
And yeah. Goes for most job – the person who’d want it is exactly the person who shouldn’t have it, and vice versa. ;p
Not a bad person. I guess I become concerned and think of the “competency” tests that were given to African-Americans in the South before they could register to vote. And what you’re suggesting is an oligarchy, which also makes me uncomfortable.
Yeah, I know what you mean. I’m well aware of the potential for abuse, but I can’t help but worry that idiots who cannot think ahead have a huge say in the way the government runs. It’s downright scary when you really think about it, I mean, these people actually thought Sarah Palin is smart and fair and that Obama is a muslim terrorist! What kind of moron actually believes that kind of stuff!? Why do they get to vote when they believe everything they hear?!
50% of the population has an IQ of less than 100, dumbass, by definition. Looks like you’re not going to get a vote in your own brave new world.
LOL, I think the point, stupid as it was, had to do with the idea that two thirds of the population theoretically have “average” IQs, according to the normal curve. That means people who fall within a standard deviation below *and* above the mean of 100. So the first mistake was to say that 2/3 fall at or below 100. The second mistake was to claim that all of those people are just too fukcing dumb to vote.
To clarify: the idea was that all “average” people (2/3 of the population), plus of course the 25 percent that fell below the average range, equals a total of 75 percent that are just too fukcing dumb to vote. There.
oof, I’m really mangling this. It’s about 16 percent that falls below the average *range*. About 68 percent fall within the average range. That leaves about 16 percent that are not too fukcing stupid to vote. (I know, I know, after this I probably shouldn’t vote either).
Then add all the ones that don’t care, quite a few in terms of the higher IQ deviations and you are going to have a very small voting pool deciding on what is good for a large group of people.
Or indeed ’should be allowed to vote’. I am a dumbass.
I suppose I was somewhat vauge. The dumb CAN be ignored. Dumb people in LARGE NUMBERS must be dealt with. When they begin to organize all hell breaks loose, if you need an example look up the French Revolution. The best way to deal with the “stupids”, as I call them, is to find who’s directing them and remove them from their position of authority. The “stupids” primarily operate under old “Alpha-Beta” social hierarchies held over from pre-sentience, remove the “Alpha” and they are rendered harmless. It is difficult to handle these leader figures, because the only legal option is to discredit them, but the “stupids” don’t understand reason or logic, so discrediting their leaders is pointless. I truly cannot think of a constitutional way to handle this situation. I can only hope the problem fixes its self before the situation becomes violent, as the “stupids” are practically feral in some aspects.
Basically, these right-wing nut-jobs are suddenly against capitalism, globalisation and the free market when it comes to companies expanding their customer base to non-English speakers and importing cheaper labour.
Maybe “offical” means “one of many”. Because I can’t find a definition for “offical” in any modern dictionary.
Lets make it mean “one of many”, thus, this lady isn’t so backwards and ignorant because she just wants English to be one of the many languages accepted and utilized in America.
She’s actually very open minded.
Let us congratulate her if we ever see her.
Maybe her paintbrush ran out of letters, like on those flashing roadside signs, and she hoped you would understand.
Sheesh, like you have never had a typo….. or would you call this a brusho?
Who keeps calling me?
youtube.com/watch?v=j5C6X9vOEkU
Her American flag shirt makes her argument stronger.
Honestly, we’re not allowed to let the flag touch the ground… but SHE can wear it. ::sigh::
Technically it’s not an American flag. It may have some stars, and it may have some stripes, but that doesn’t qualify it as a flag.
Funnier still, Abbie Hoffman went to jail for wearing an American Flag shirt on TV.
I think Engrish should be America’s offical language. Keep up the goo work, team!
Hmmm, maybe Lolspeak shood beecum teh Amerika’s langooaj?
You should be shot for that.
Yeah… I know, but I couldn’t resist.
Thet men is a bed het. A viddy bed het! See him awf!
Mistakes happens in life but when your supporting this kind of thing you have spell correct !!!!!
?????!!!!!. When your riting this kind of poast you shud also chek its spelt and grandma’d correkt. Els piopole think your a tit.
Awr U kood haz LOLSpeek az teh nu offishul langwidj?
Dat orlreddy bin menshuned. Never mined. Wher kin I getz uh dikshunnery? Such thing eggzist? Mi LOLspeek speling sux!
Mistakes happen in life, but when you’re supporting this kind of thing you have to spell correctly!
There, I fixed it for you.
I think roof insulation just owned you 2.
Ahem. It appears my irony detector wasn’t switched on. Apologies for the comment; hope RI wasn’t too insulated.
I was raised in a multilingual, multicultural household. While in college, I had to write a debate paper. At the time, English as “offical” language was a hot topic. In researching the subject, I gained some new ideas about whether or not it was important that a country to have an official language.
Particularly in a country like the US that is diverse ethnically, culturally and religiously, language is the hugely important unifying common denominator. It is a part of national identity. It’s also incredibly expensive to provide translators and produce documents in multiple languages.
Unfortunately for immigrants who wish to learn English, they are hampered both by the lack of available ESL classes and the fact that they often work low-paying jobs, and therefore have to work at two or three to sustain themselves, which means that they don’t have time to take a class. At work they’re often grouped with others who have limited English language skills. They’re maintained in this isolated position by the language barrier.
My suggestion to the sign-holder (and anyone else interested) is to volunteer to teach an ESL or mentor someone – try talking to the religious leaders in an ethnically diverse neighborhood. You can be part of the solution.
If she joined religious leaders to teach english, that would most definitely be the “final solution”!
hey heres a suggestion, why not make working pay more so that its enough with one job to live? huh? nice eh?
Because in some cases the job being done isn’t worth that much. It’s not our fault that grown adults with families to support are working fast food jobs meant for high school kids with no bills to pay.
If you can’t perform any work worth enough to pay the bills, you need to gain more skills/education. Of course this is easier said than done, but my point remains valid. Forcing employers to pay a certain amount for a job is rediculous. If the person working the job doesn’t feel they are making enough they are free to quit and seek employment elswhere.
*elsewhere
*sells bear*
sells care
*smells hare*
oh dear…
*smells Venison*
Or is it that the wages are made because there are high school kids available, undercutting the adult workers? who do you think the job market should be modelled for, people with families to support or high school kids looking to make an extra buck? cause not deciding obviously isnt working.
Why should your point remain valid? Obviously the system is broken, since so many are either working several jobs and are still poor or cant get a job at all. What really scares me is the fact that if youre born in a low-income family you have about 1 percents chance of getting into the top five percent whereas for rich children that number is 22. The classes arent just rigid, theyre buffed up with concrete and steel bars. So much for the American dream.
Haha, seek a job elsewhere, its funny because millions are unemployed.
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2006/04/b1579981.html
source for above
Both, actually. There’s a place in the job market for the young, entry-level employee, the part-time retiree, the student who needs extra money — but there’s no valid reason for the employer to have to pay more than the market will bear for their labor just because some people are unfortunate enough to be in a situation where they have to take that type of job to try to support their family. Working two jobs isn’t the end of the world, you know.
True, its not the end of the world, nor is it a necessity. Its not necessary for a country to force its workers to not be able to spend time with their families etc, i e most of western Europe.
The market is an excellent servant but a terrible master, it is the ultimate tool for distributing goods and services but it has shown itself to be terrible at properly valuing things like life, the environment and peoples health.
My point is that the student and the entry-level employee cant set the standard for wages supposed to feed a family, and that retired people should never have to work, thats just immoral.
All in all, yes there are plenty of reasons to force the employer to pay more than he absolutely has to, its called the value of life. Why liberty, rights and freedom only applies to political stuff in the US I’ll never understand.
Off to the wonderful land of beer and friends, tally-ho.
Most retired people who are still (or again) working are doing it because they find that being retired is boring, or because they want to have a few extra bucks every month, not out of any dire necessity. My mom’s 72, and still works because she enjoys her job; I think it would be more immoral to force her to stay at home!
How is that in any way a retort to what I said? I said they shouldnt have to work, does that exclude them from working? Nooo it doesnt. Im just saying that the labour market shouldnt be adjusted to fit them.
I alos love that you didnt answer to any of the other things:)
You forget yourself sir! Remember, the structure of a healthy labour society is like a pyramid, without the people doing the shit-jobs on the bottom all businesses would fail. However, here in America it would seem our goal is to reverse this, and that isn’t feasible! We need to pay people who do the monotonous stuff more so that they are willing to stay in those jobs. They don’t need to be paid the most, not at all, but they aren’t being paid enough right now, and that’s a problem.
There’s a book that touches on this subject you may find interesting, “Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America” by Barbara Ehrenreich. She’s a journalist (with a college degree). At about age 40, she’s challenged to try to live on minimum wage. Starting with $1000, she lives in different towns, working at minimum wage jobs (she denies most of her education and work history). She documents the experience in the book.
Take that with a grain of salt. She does some very dumb things with her money that skews the result in my mind. For instance i believe she rents a car at one point. I’m not saying minimum wage isn’t a big problem for some, just it could be handled better.
haven’t ya’ll heard? PHOTOSHOP ….the majority of mis-spelled protest signs are photoshopped, making them that way.
Do you have a cite for that?
I would be willing to bet that the majority of mispelled signs are not at all photoshopped, simply based on the number of e-mails I receive each day from “professionals” who can’t manage to spell correctly.
Or are you southerners just mad because this is a picture of ya’lls momma.
That’s out of line dude. That would be like saying “We can’t get a picture of The Steve’s Momma, she is still on shift in the whore house.”
Dude, I live in the south, and my mama’s dead. Not cool.
Even the “morans” who’ve been kept “infromed” by FOX News and don’t want “amnety” to go with their “pubic option?”
LOL typical american
Fu(k you, troll.
Think he knows Jose?
-jumps on pedro’s shoulder, ear humps him- your left ear is now my bitkch
can I borrow that?
*puts ear on di(k
and my co(klace, thank you
To “olla” is apparently only a known concept in Sweden, Finland and possibly Norway. (I honestly can’t remember if some other Nordic country was mentioned, but there was no one who could report its presence in other parts of the world.) This from a very unscientific survey from Lantz i P1. :p
Ivan The Floydist is troll’d hard, again !!!
Anyway, English is the unofficial language of the whole world. All those foreigners are falling over themselves to learn it, including the Americans. So there’s really no need to worry. The poor old French are sh*tting themselves about how English is invading their pure language. Of course English is the ultimate mongrel tongue anyway, because its entire vocabulary is imported from other languages. Which is nice.
not the entire vocabulary. There are a few words that have been around since old english…Hussy was one I think. Also boing was invented in the english language. We are a delightful mutt though ^.^ i love our non-academy language
Am I the only one that notices how ’shopped the sign is?
We don’t speak english in America…We speak American. The language here is a bit different than UK English.
Sigh, goes to show that what they’re not learning in school – or maybe it’s what’s not being taught in school these days
Hehehe, this is delightful. It’s almost as delicious as when we catch right wingers in crazy sex scandals.