State of the Union by Carl Moore

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  1. mroberts88

    mroberts88 said, 2 months ago

    Hm….while he does have a point, the U.S. doesnt have an official language so…. Muy bueno y tu?

  2. Ronshua

    RonshuaGenius_badge said, 2 months ago

    Sounds like he’s got what it takes or at least a start .

  3. omQ R

    omQ RGenius_badge said, 2 months ago

    ^^Por lo menos usted es pragmático.

  4. dkram

    dkram said, 2 months ago

    LOL, for a change.

  5. HUMPHRIES

    HUMPHRIESGenius_badge said, 2 months ago

    It’s been a joke around the world that a person speaking three languages is tri-lingual and bi-lingual if that person only speaks two. So … what is a person who only speaks one language ? An American.

  6. Norman

    NormanGenius_badge said, 2 months ago

    And ENGLISH should be the only official language in the USA. You don’t like it go back to cuba or mexico or whereever.

  7. omQ R

    omQ RGenius_badge said, 2 months ago

    Aha, Norman raises his ugly head from under the rock he had crawled under and we see him for what he is after the small snide remarks all over the place recently.

  8. Lewreader

    LewreaderGenius_badge said, 2 months ago

    In school we had a choice of Latin, French, or Spanish. Wish they hadn’t taught us Castilian Spanish. About as helpful as Latin. Wish they had also taught mid East coast English instead of norther New England.

  9. LibrarianInTraining

    LibrarianInTraining said, 2 months ago

    Humphries, not so, amigo. iHablo espanol muy bien!

    Of course, living in Miami, you kinda have to.

    Not that I like it. I still say English should be the official language. But you have to do what you have to do to survive.

    And Lewreader, Latin is VERY helpful. Because I learned Latin in high school, I can understand rudimentary Spanish, Italian, Portugese, and even build my English vocabulary. Though I never took Latin as a proper class, I did take etymology, and it had a fundamentals of Latin division of the class. (This class also included fundamentals of Greek and the Germanic languages as well. Probably the best class I ever took.)

  10. Doctor Toon

    Doctor ToonGenius_badge said, 2 months ago

    When I sold used tires at a flea market in Denver, had to learn to give prices in Spanish.
    I really didn’t care where they were from or what color they were, their money was green and American.

  11. MJFinSC

    MJFinSC said, 2 months ago

    Ewscray ouyay! Earnlay ENGLISH DAMNIT!

  12. Buzzy-One

    Buzzy-One said, 2 months ago

    Let’s keep Mexico and Cuba then bundel uncle Dick with Norman and send them to the outer regions of Pakistan. Their “broadmindedness” would fit in very well.

  13. HUMPHRIES

    HUMPHRIESGenius_badge said, 2 months ago

    Librarian, “around the world” is the key here. Fluency in other languages is like having a whole new world open up to you. I’ll invite you to visit Neurnberg and play spot the American. Their prevailing mental is to repeat again LOUDER.

  14. mroberts88

    mroberts88 said, 2 months ago

    Humphries, alot of Americas are bilingual. I’d love to learn Russian, and German.

  15. Yukoneric

    Yukoneric said, 2 months ago

    Why English?????????? How about Arapaho, Sioux, Navaho, Cherokee, Seminole, Mohawk……………………..I know a little Taos, but they also speak Spanish and English. Most of our vocabulary is from foreign derivatives.

  16. Yukoneric

    Yukoneric said, 2 months ago

    ¿Qué hay de nuexo?

  17. Ronshua

    RonshuaGenius_badge said, 2 months ago

    To find out how well a Latino employ speaks English , short their paycheck .

    If all you hear is ..donde esta la dinero por favor..he’s not bi-lingual .

    (Where is the money please)

  18. mroberts88

    mroberts88 said, 2 months ago

    Yukon, why not German? That was going to be our official language anyway, until something, I’m not sure what, happened. My vote is either English, or German.

  19. DavidDow

    DavidDow said, 2 months ago

    Is Carl Moore’s joke that Hiroki Kuroda has learned Spanish? Why shouldn’t he? What’s the joke? I suspect that Vin Scully—and most of readers of STATE OF THE UNION—can understand what Kuroda says. Spanish is a beautiful language. There isn’t anyone who wouldn’t benefit from learning some.

    Norman, if English were America’s “official language”, then your language would be what? Your remark wasn’t quite English. Public middle schools & high schools should offer as many non-English languages as they can afford, with Spanish as the first choice.

    L.I.T., Miami does seem Spanish first, but it’s so charming, with so many great places to eat & so much opportunity. If only it weren’t so hot & so tacky.

    Well said, DocToon. A businessperson will learn what he needs.

  20. sablebrush5

    sablebrush5 said, 2 months ago

    Learning foreign languages is, of course, a good thing. But is a Quebec-type enclave in southern California a good thing?

    Many Spanish-speaking immigrants grow up in east L.A., live their whole lives in the U.S. and never learn to speak English. Why? Because they don’t have to. East L.A. is like a suburb of Mexico City.

    Canada has had to deal with the difficult problem of French-speaking Quebec for centuries and it still goes unresolved. Immigration is a good thing, but when 90% of our immigrants all are from Latin America, it sets up a Quebec-type situation - an enclave of people who don’t see themselves as Americans. They live like Mexicans, they speak Spanish all their lives, they don’t learn the culture, etc. When even their kids and their kids’ kids do the same, we are no longer dealing with immigration that leads to assimilation, we are dealing with a Spanish-speaking Quebec…. Not a good thing or a wise immigration policy.

  21. DavidDow

    DavidDow said, 2 months ago

    That Quebecois speak French is not the problem with their place in Canadian society. As to immigrants to America, today’s immigrants learn English more quickly than did immigrants a century ago. Furthermore, speaking Spanish hardly means that people don’t see themselves as Americans. In addition, American culture is a culture of immigrants while also being the most pervasive culture on the planet. No one can help learning it, and immigrants both learn it and contribute to it.

    Excepting what European Americans did to our Original Americans between the 16th to 19th centuries, immigration is a good thing. In the 20th & 21st centuries, native-born Americans have a lot for which to thank immigrants.

  22. Doctor Toon

    Doctor ToonGenius_badge said, 2 months ago

    My great grandparents moved to America from Norway.
    My grandfather, born in 1900, spoke no English until he started school.
    Don’t know what kind of bi-lingual education system they had in North Dakota in the early 1900s, but I do know the community he lived in was almost entirely Norwegian at the time.

  23. sherpafree

    sherpafree said, 2 months ago

    Grande! Mas, mas.

  24. GJ_Jehosaphat

    GJ_JehosaphatGenius_badge said, 2 months ago

    mroberts88 : Re: “Out of curiousity, how intellectually “fun” was I?(question posed on another comic strip). Not Much

    Simple answers like: “Yukon, why not German? That was going to be our official language anyway, until something, I’m not sure what, happened.”

    Not much thought went into that comment. I’ve mentioned before that it seems U want to be ” spoon-fed” information. Well, look it up if U don’t know Why German didn’t become our official language (never heard that one myself).

  25. Dypak

    DypakGenius_badge said, 2 months ago

    @ DavidDow - I did a military partnership exercise with the Canadians about 15 years ago. The guys I spoke with told me that if they couldn’t speak both English and French their chances of promotion were severely limited. I know that we definitely need to have a military where everyone speaks the same language.

    I hate to agree with some of the above ignorant comments but I think an official language, for schools and government functions is a good thing. Can anyone tell me what the official language in India and many African nations is? That’s right, English. Even though most of the citizens speak it as a second language. It keeps the arguments between all the different tribal languages and dialects down.

    And before you lynch me as being an ignorant ‘speak english or die’ knucklehead Ich kann sehr gut Deutsch und Russiche sprechen. And can understand most Spanish I read and hear.

    I agree with Robert Heinlein, if you only speak one language you’re only partially literate, no matter how well you speak that one. But it only makes sense that we agree on one common language to be the language for our governmental functions. So, speak English or walk around not knowing what is going on.

  26. mroberts88

    mroberts88 said, 2 months ago

    GJ, I googled it, and it appears I was wrong. Its just an urban legend. Oh well, you live and learn. The House debated translating federal statutes into German,as well as English, but they decided on keeping it in English.

    http://www.snopes.com/language/apocryph/german.asp
    there is the link in case anyone is interested. So there is an interesting fact in case anyone is interested.

  27. Ronshua

    RonshuaGenius_badge said, 2 months ago

    Doctor Toon–Sounded like you were describing my linage . Heard of Larimore just out side Grand Forks ? Both sides of my family homesteaded there . I missed being born there by 6 days in 1942 . My dad got a job in Washington state .

  28. DavidDow

    DavidDow said, 2 months ago

    Dypak, whether we need a monolingual military is an interesting debate. The Canadians do fine bi-lingually. We should hardly use the military paradigm, however, for the rest of society.

    Where do India & these African nations state that English is their “official language”? What is your evidence that a common second language “keeps the arguments between all the different tribal languages and dialects down”? The U.S. has English as its common first or second language. It is the default language in all U.S. states & territories.

  29. cmacdoughtry

    cmacdoughtry said, 2 months ago

    Even if English was the official language of America Norman, which English would it be? The English that those whom in England speak? Or how about the dialect in Ireland or Scotland, or maybe just the butchered slang version that most American speak?

  30. big G 3469

    big G 3469Genius_badge said, 2 months ago

    NORMAN YOU PATHEIC NOOB! Spanish was spoken years before the first English settlers arrived in Johnstown by the Spanish explorers who arrived which is now The Southern U.S. & the Southwestern U.S.!

  31. omQ R

    omQ RGenius_badge said, 2 months ago

    Dypak: I’m not sure why bringing up the fact that India and many African countries speak English as their lingua Franca is relevant to this debate since it is so because of past colonial impositions. After independence it was already entrenched. India has several hundred mother tongues so naturally the imposed language turned out to be handy.
    Many countries in Africa also speak French and 5 African countries speak Portuguese as their lingua Franca simply because of colonial rule. The colonial borders drawn up arbitrarily meant that many tribes with no kinship were often in the same country, or even split across into two countries. The previously oppressive colonial language became a handy common element. Mozambique has spoken of exchanging Portuguese with English as their neighbours all use English as the lingua franca since it might be more practical. Which is, I’m sure, what you are really trying to say, not that English is a “better” language as a lingua franca by using India et al in your example. Spanish itself is a lingua franca spoken across most of South & Central America so it too should have merit.
    If not the colonial language, another lingua Franca would have sprung up. Necessity is the mother of invention. Swahili is spoken across a few countries in East Africa.
    In South Africa, with 11 official languages, while English has risen up with the demise of Afrikaans (but still very prevalent in rural areas) as the lingua franca, isiZulu is spoken and understood by over half the population while its native speakers are less than a quarter of the total.
    My point being: the chosen lingua franca is what it is by circumstance & necessity. By 2050 I understand that up to a third of the US population will have Spanish as their mother tongue. I imagine you’ll want to ensure English remains the US lingua franca but perhaps it won’t be up to you.

  32. rricchhterr

    rricchhterr said, 2 months ago

    hey satipera, why don’t you change your latest like you did friday?

    and while you are at it get rid of yourself, and bring in your other ego, jack.

    go ahead, make my day…

  33. farren

    farrenGenius_badge said, 2 months ago

    Boston and its suburbs are pretty amazing. There are more little linguistic enclaves there then I’ve ever seen anyplace else, even here in California, where I’m within a short drive of Little Kabul, Little Saigon, an entire street filled with Latino stores whose marquees are in Spanish, and, I’m sure, many more. I’ve visited many of those neighborhoods, here and in Boston (and in New York), and while you hear a lot of talk in (choose your language here), that doesn’t mean either that they can’t speak English or that they aren’t Americans. Which they’ll mostly tell you, if you ask, in pretty good English. But if you have your choice, at home or wherever you live, of speaking your native language or having to struggle to say the same things in English, which would you choose?

    I’ve never seen a sign in a Mexican store here, of any variety, that says “Se Habla Ingles”. It’s just assumed that you do, and that’s as good a definition of “official language” as I can think of.

  34. GJ_Jehosaphat

    GJ_JehosaphatGenius_badge said, 2 months ago

    mroberts88 - Thanks for the link. I found some funny stuff while looking around the site.

    I’ve tried to learn several languages - French, German in HS & Spanish in Adult Ed (local Jr College). I’m challenged to try to understand conversational speakers but know enough to be able to order food, beer & find a restroom;-))

  35. DavidDow

    DavidDow said, 2 months ago

    Farren, that was beautifully said.

  36. rricchhterr

    rricchhterr said, 2 months ago

    hmmm, he disappeared entirely

  37. HUMPHRIES

    HUMPHRIESGenius_badge said, 2 months ago

    GJ-Jehosa, small tip, try to think in the language you want to learn, simple phrases, a little joke or so and build up but… just keep trying. - PS forget the PC speak “challenged”. Just mind your manners and be willing to correct a mistake.

  38. DavidDow

    DavidDow said, 2 months ago

    Good tip, Humphries.

  39. Kees

    KeesGenius_badge said, 2 months ago

    Hey (wo)men,
    5 november 1626
    Peter Minuit kocht Manhattan voor de Republiek der Verenigde Nederlanden van indianen voor fl 60 (zie de brief hiernaast). De prijs komt neer op 680 euro (prijspeil 2006; ongeveer $1000). Als oppervlak van “‘t eylant Manhettes” wordt gemeld 11000 morgen, wat neerkomt op 94 km², groter dan de huidige deelgemeente Manhattan. De vestiging in 1625 was het begin van Nieuw-Amsterdam, waaruit New York voortkwam.

    Freely translated:
    Holland purchased November 5, 1626, the island Manhattan, four the fabulous amount of 60 dutch guilders, nowadays, it would be roughly $1000. (this translation is far from complete, but it will do)
    This after a stay of 7 years.

    So if there is an argument about the first language in the US —>, IT IS DUTCH!!!! (or at least it should be :-)))) )

    By the way, does anybody knows where the name Manhattan originated?

    “Manna-ha-ta” is a indian Mahican word and means roughly, Place where one is drunk. Henry Hudson, supposedly gave as well the Mohican’s as the Delaware chiefs to much Rum. After they sobered up, the 2 tribes called the place: Manahachtanienk: the island where we became drunk.

  40. Ronshua

    RonshuaGenius_badge said, 2 months ago

    This is a very very old contention .
    Gen 11:6 And יהוה said, “Look, they are one people and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do! And now, they are not going to be withheld from doing whatever they plan to do.

    Can’t a wise populace learn from the past ? ( Even those that think these words are boloney)

  41. mroberts88

    mroberts88 said, 2 months ago

    Jehosaphat, no problem, I looked around that site myself for about an hour. Alot of cool things on that site. I learned basic spanish in HS, and I still remember enough to ask where I am, where the restroom is, and amongst other things.

    Satiperac, maybe they just dont care.

  42. mroberts88

    mroberts88 said, 2 months ago

    Its kind of sad that they have nothing better to do. Lego, i’m not really positive who that is.

  43. omQ R

    omQ RGenius_badge said, 2 months ago

    Kees:
    So if there is an argument about the first language in the US —>, IT IS DUTCH!

    Als Nederlands de eerste taal van de huidige VSA was, welke taal spraken de Lenape Indianen?

    It would seem they were speechless when selling off Manhattan. :-|

  44. Kees

    KeesGenius_badge said, 2 months ago

    Your absolutely right omQ R

    Ik denk dat Algonquin niet echt een wereld taal zou zijn geworden.

    I think they were even more flabbergasted when they saw the dutch simply passing over ownership to the english.

  45. Norman

    NormanGenius_badge said, 2 months ago

    To all of you nice people who don’t care for my opinions, remember, it used to be a REQUIREMENT that you learn to speak, read and write ENGLISH. (American) to become a citizen, not to totally diversify this country.

    I’m glad some of you think only your viewpoints are valid.