There is a lipsticked anti-immigration..... woman on C-Span who is

[cali]

jaw droppingly stupid. First she says that the Irish- among other immigrant groups, didn't come here knowing English, and learned to speak it. Then she said that no other country but the U.S. requires people to learn another language.

Stupid pig.

[Virginia Dare]

1. I think the U.S. is one of the few countries that DOESN'T require it..

she does sound stupid. There are Amish and Mennonite communities in this country that still speak German after having been here for over a century. Why do they put such ignorant people on teevee?

[H2O Man]

2. She is right

that many of the Irish did not speak English when they arrived here.

[sinkingfeeling]

3. What language does she believe the Irish speak? I'm sure many spoke Gaelic during the massive

immigration of the 1840's, but I think most of them knew English as well.

[H2O Man]

4. Many spoke Gaelic

in the late 1800s and early 1900s, especially those coming from the southwest.