OMG Get a load of the guy's reason for wanting English as the official language

[arely staircase]

the guy Perry agreed with"

"I don’t know how the rest of the conservatives in the room feel, but personally, I’m fed up with seeing the directions on every single product on every single shelf of every single store written in four languages,” said the man, who didn’t give his name.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/perry-endorses-english-agrees-with-voter-who-expresses-frustration-over-multiple-languages/2011/12/30/gIQAdPIPRP_story.html?tid=pm_pop


I don't even know where to begin with that one.

[cthulu2016]

1. Then cancel NAFTA

Of course our products have English, Spanish and French (quebec)!

[arely staircase]

4. I'd be fine with that, but instructions on shit have come in multiple languages since

way before NAFTA. I can remember all my Xmas presents that needed assembling coming with them in multiple languages and that was the early 70s.

[cthulu2016]

7. Certainly. I'm just noting that

an American manufacturer would be a fool to not have multilingual packing. Same for anyone exporting to North America. It's business.

[arely staircase]

8. gotcha nt

[Scuba]

2. How do you say "dumbass" in Tagalog?

[11 Bravo]

52. Michelle Malkin

[truebrit71]

53. Nice one!!! Well played!!!

[quinn-the-innuit]

60. Well...

The Brits' humor has always escaped me so I can see how that would have amused you...

[Control-Z]

3. An avid reader, of course!

Where was my head?

[SomethingFishy]

5. "Yeah... I mean, it's so fucking hard not to read all those

other languages. All that writing, and then having to speak four languages. It's a fucking Anti-American Liberal plot to make me more worldly! Fuck dem liberals!"




Man, you'd think they could find something useful to be pissed off about.

[arely staircase]

10. I know, right?

How much time is the dumb fucker spending trying to get through the portuguese part of his kid's bike assembly manual?

[arely staircase]

11. but the real punchline?

Perry replied, “That is a statement, that’s not a question, and I can agree with it.”

[WillyT]

6. I've Always Had This Comeback...

"So are you saying that their election ballot guides, the ballots themselves, and their tax forms should not be printed in their native languages? And if so, wouldn't that, by definition, be taxation without representation? Because you know, our Founding Fathers were very much against that."

[Ron Obvious]

16. I disagree

So the election ballot guides should be published in every language on earth to prevent this possibility then? Think of the expense. Taxation without representation hardly applies as an argument since the option to learn English is always available, and I'd say learning English should absolutely be a requirement for living in this country to prevent Balkanisation. I'd even say it's vital in order to inform oneself sufficiently to be able to cast an intelligent vote in any case. "Community Leaders" for various immigrant groups are against it, at least in part I suspect, because they prefer their people not to be able to educate themselves from other sources and to retain victim status.

Sorry, but this opposition to English as the national language has always puzzled me. I say this as an immigrant from a non-English speaking country who votes Democrat and who is fluent in multiple languages. Virtually all other immigrants from similar backgrounds that I have spoken with have agreed with me.

Making English the national language would only apply to transactions between the government and the people. I don't think anyone wants to criminalise people speaking to each other in any language other than English. That would be fascist.

[arely staircase]

17. well, i disagree right back at you. you have just made some logical (though I believe wrong)

arguments for English as a national language - making the crap Perry agreed with look even more stupid. You did read what is pissing the guy off, right? And that he thinks an official status for English would remove this thorn from his side? And that Perry had a knee-jerk reaction to agree with him?

[Ron Obvious]

22. Sure

Sure, that guy was a loon, a xenophobe, and quite probably a racist, but that doesn't mean every supporter of English as the official language is.

I've lived in various parts of the world, and have seen first-hand that the lack of common language often leads to tensions between populations. Often the last thing the self-appointed spokesmen for the groups want would be for people to be able to communicate directly with one another.

[arely staircase]

25. while you are undoubtedly correct to say "that doesn't mean every supporter of English as the

official language is (a loon, xenophobe, or racist)" I think one could wager the ranks of its supporters probably boast a higher percentage of those three groups than the population as a whole - and certainly more so than of those who oppose the adoption of an "official" language.

The fact that a lack of a common language "often leads to tensions" is, while true, irrelevant to the debate in the US. To suggest the US lacks a common language is absurd.

[Ron Obvious]

27. Common language

If the US didn't lack a common language, I don't think there'd be much opposition to printing ballots only in English. One of the problems with e.g translated ballot forms is that no translation is ever 100% faithful -- subtle differences may change the meaning considerably.

I've found that there are many parts of this country where people live in linguistic ghettos for generations.

[arely staircase]

28. what is a "linguistic ghetto?"

[Mopar151]

29. West Manchester, NH

Canadian French is the first language of a lot of the older residents - one of my former co-workers went to French-language Catholic (elementary) school there. I hear that Lutheran Social Services tries to place french-speaking refugees there because of that.

[arely staircase]

31. and how is this problematic? nt

[Mopar151]

32. Not my inference

The problems may be subtle, but they are there. In the case of my pal, His basic English was quite good - but his vocabulary was quite limited, and a lot of his local colliquisims were indecipherable to anyone unfamiliar with them. Try explaining "side by each" to a Swiss engineer - a native french speaker with good, if halting English. - My boss then (nicest guy in the world) standing between them, with a French-English dictionary and his head on a swivel.

[tpsbmam]

35. I've lived all over the country and

I've come across A LOT of people with very limited vocabularies & indecipherable colloquialisms.......and they were born & bred Americans! Seriously. I'm a northerner who moved to the South 7 years ago.....I do not understand some of the folks I encounter, those with heavy accents. And some of the expressions......sheesh!

[arely staircase]

43. ah indeed there is nothing more fun for a lover of irony

than the accents and tortured syntax by which some call for English as an official language.

[Mopar151]

46. You have that right!

In the case of my pal Emile, a lot of the local expressions make more sense, especially if you understand the "Franglish" syntax. Cuts 2 ways, tho - My MIL is Canadian French, and she gets upset when the Haitian aides in her nursing home gossip in Creole French, and they don't know that she can understand some of what she overhears......

[arely staircase]

44. ok, i got confused. the other poster used the term ghetto (which to me has

quite a negative meaning, implies something bad that needs addressing.) Some obscure cluster of New Hampshire Francophones just doesn't get me riled up - sounds like a kinda interesting place to visit though, for those like me who celebrate diversity.

[Mopar151]

47. Stop by next Christmas

the Christmas lights in "Pinardville" are spectacular, make sure you get some "toutiere" (meat pie)

[MattBaggins]

49. There are no linguistic ghettos

complete nonsense

[MattBaggins]

48. Complete nonsense.

RW talking points and nothing more.

I also have been around the world including the Balkans. People retaining their native tongues as their children and grand children acculturate into American society is a boogeyman that is only a problem for RWers.

English Only is a made up issue right up there with the war on Christmas.

[nadinbrzezinski]

56. We need to have GERMAN as the official language

as the FOUNDERS almost voted.. yup, that's the ticket.

The US cannot do this not just for historic reasons, but treaty reasons.

There is more, tell me how far the country has balkanized? I mean it's not like immigration from German lands, for example, is a new thing.

Also as an immigrant I am assuming you did have to take that citizenship test which is in ENGLISH. The reason for that is not nationalism, but the fact that you need it to function in society. There are exceptions of course... senior citizens.

[Warpy]

9. Aw, poor baby

but since most products are sold internationally, he's stuck with seeing Spanish and probably French on most of them.

I strongly suggest he work on sucking it up.

[Mz Pip]

12. If the worst thing that happens to him

in any given day is to see directions in languages other than English, I'd say he lives a pretty charmed life.

On a scale of 1 - 10 in annoying things I have to deal with everyday, I'd rank that as about a -200 - way below cleaning out the cat box, not having change for a parking meter, getting stuck in traffic, not having milk for my coffee, not having coffee, getting an attack of acid reflux, having to take out the garbage, the list is very very long.

Seeing a sign in Spanish doesn't even register on my outrage meter.

[Frank Cannon]

42. I actually sigh with relief when I encounter the foreign-language sections.

It means I don't have to read any of the rest of the damn manual.

[athenasatanjesus]

13. Still not as bad as their "real" reason for wanting this.

Such as looking for a scape goat for all of Americas problems that does not have to do with the massive wealth disparities that should be expected by not putting limits on how much wealth can be amassed.

[arely staircase]

24. without a doubt what the guy was saying was "i hate furners." and perry's

knee-jerk reaction was to agree with him. the hatefulness implied within in it is obvious, but not unexpected. the dumbassedness of it is the astounding part. this guy makes the morans who complain about having to "press one for english" look smart.

[MattBaggins]

50. exactly

No one gets upset about seeing something in a foreign language unless they hate others.

How hard is it to read the English part and ignore the rest?

[Erose999]

55. They should just be thankful they're pressing 1 for English. There may come a day when Americans

will be asked to press "1" for Mandarin, "2" for Wu, "3" for Ye, "4" for Jin, and "5" for English.

[zappaman]

14. "My directions should be in the Amurican language!" n/t

[Mopar151]

30. They do'nt like being reminded of their equalty to others n/t

[onehandle]

15. What's the fourth language?

English, Spanish, French and what?... Idiot?

[alfredo]

19. Pig Latin

[tammywammy]

18. He should never buy a Bialetti product

My moka pot came with instructions in 8 languages: Italian, English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian and Japanese.

[arely staircase]

20. not much danger of that, i suspect.

[Gold Metal Flake]

21. "It's freedom of speech not freedom from speech."

Hey, when they blow unintelligible bullshit at you, respond in kind. Nothing else has worked, anyways.

[RKP5637]

23. Yeah, I'm beginning to think that's what's left, blow their unintelligible bullshit back

at them. Many of them can't even understand English. Talk in gibberish and if writing be sure to misspell just about every word.

[treestar]

26. As long as English is included, what does he care if

it's in 40 other languages?

[Zalatix]

33. Not that I agree with this ignoramus, but I always imagined this happening (Warning: HUMOR)

Since McDonald's got sued for not including a hot coffee warning for its customers, I thought of getting into law and encouraging someone who only speaks Spanish to get burned, and then suing.

Then when McConald's added a warning in Spanish, I'd repeat with a Vietnamese customer... then a Russian... then someone who speaks Swahili... eventually McDonald's would need something like 100 languages inscribed on their cups!!!

Again, it's just a joke. I get a big laugh out of this bunch, they couldn't even pinpoint Idaho on a map, much less Mexico or Canada.

[airplaneman]

37. But I thought the plural of ignoramus was ignorami n/t.

[ieoeja]

57. That would only work if you discovered a trail of documents showing McDonald's nefarious actions.

In the case of the woman who sued McDonald's, her lawyers discovered that McDonald's calculated the cost of paying off people hospitalized with burns by coffee super-heated beyond the recommended safety standards versus the cost of more coffee going bad. Having concluded that they would make more profit by hospitalizing customers, they knowingly chose to injure people.

And did so. To thousands of people. Before this policy was uncovered.

Were McDonald's a single privately owned entity, and not a limited liability corporation, the owner would go to jail for willfully injuring others. Since they are a corporation money is used as the incentive to change bad behaviour.

So for your plan to work, you will have to discover that McDonald's calculated that the cost of paying off injured Spanish speaking people was cheaper than printing the warning in Spanish. Without the conspiracy to knowingly injure people, there is no major lawsuit.


Compare this to how the local franchise owner of a Dairy Queen handled my elderly aunt. Finding herself short of money in retirement, she took a job cooking at the restaurant. The owner realized that he could take advantage of the stove tops to keep the water for gravy -- water for gravy? shudder! -- hot. My aunt pointed out that someone was going to drop that water on themselves trying to take the pan down. As coincidence would have it, it was my aunt herself who dropped the water on herself.

The owner admitted his fault and paid her medical bills and paid her for the time she missed off while recovering. And most importantly ... he changed the unsafe practice! He did the responsible thing. He was not punished. He should not have been punished.

McDonald's, on the other hand, coldly and cruely determined that there was money to be made off of hospitalizing people and chose to do the wrong thing. And for that they should have been punished.

[sakabatou]

34. Sono waru rokudenashi.

That evil bastard.

[EC]

36. Products are made for worldwide distribution

Do people want the prices to go up because the manufacturer will have to make different labels for different places for the same product.

[DCKit]

38. Sad thing is, he was looking at the nutritional information and ingredients.

That counts for two fer'in languages.

One of the others was probably instructions on how to open the box/bag.

[mmonk]

39. You can't fix stupid.

[Creepy-Crust]

40. Anglophiles

[JustAnotherGen]

41. That's just dumb

Seriously dumb. I'll be marrying an Immigrant from Europe in April - his reason for English being the only language required has nothing to do with being lazy, closed off, and inconvenienced. In short - he's not a dumb dumb.

[valerief]

45. Atwhy a ickheadday. nt

[Erose999]

51. SO he's opposed to exporting American made products to other countries. Allllllrighty then.........

[JoePhilly]

54. Probably confuses him ... because it takes him a long time to realize that its not English.

[NYC Liberal]

59. He does realize they all say the same thing, right?

He doesn't actually have to read them....

[Xicano]

61. Canadian Bacon In English and in French.