OT: USA



On Fri, 30 Sep 2005 08:08:14 -0400, "Nancy Young"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>One city here did that to cries of racism blah blah blah ... well, let the
>people who think that such a bad idea go over to city hall and pick up
>their CofO (don't ask) and other paperwork to sell a house and no one
>understands what the hell you're looking for. Not acceptable to me.
>I'm right behind the law that said, you want to work for the city, you
>have to be able to communicate in English.


My boss and I were talking about attempts at "politically correct,
inclusive" legislation in the US (he's a US citizen, but also holds
Israeli citizenship, where he was born) and he argued a pretty good
point - okay, he's a litigation lawyer and arguing is second nature:

Say, you're part of a large migration of, say, Christian USAians who
emigrate to, say, Pakistan. You demand that English speaking teachers
be on hand at your children's schools, voting initiatives also be in
English, drivers' instructions/tests be in English, governmental help
lines/offices offer a "press 2 to hear this message in English," your
girls and women not be forced to cover their hair, legs, arms...well,
you get my drift.

IMHO, if you emigrate to another country, you are assuming their
culture as yours. Otherwise, find a country more to your cultural
liking.

Terry "Squeaks" Pulliam Burd
AAC(F)BV66.0748.CA

"If the soup had been as hot as the claret, if the claret had been as
old as the bird, and if the bird's breasts had been as full as the
waitress's, it would have been a very good dinner."

-- Duncan Hines

To reply, replace "spaminator" with "cox"
 
On Sat, 1 Oct 2005 15:50:20 -0700, Ken Davey wrote:

> The USA would love for those wrong thinking individuals to attain power.
> This would make it much easier to subjugate the rest of Canada to their
> (USA) rule.


Ken, were you brought up in a cave? How could you get such a supid
idea any other way?
 
sf wrote:
> On Sat, 1 Oct 2005 15:50:20 -0700, Ken Davey wrote:
>
> > The USA would love for those wrong thinking individuals to attain power.
> > This would make it much easier to subjugate the rest of Canada to their
> > (USA) rule.

>
> Ken, were you brought up in a cave? How could you get such a supid
> idea any other way?


Then there are a lot of other Canadians who were also brought up in
caves. Many of the Canadians I know here in Central America harbor the
same feelings Ken does towards the US. Dislike and outright animosity
of the American government by Canadians is more widespread than many
Americans would like to admit.

SD
 
On 2 Oct 2005 06:48:04 -0700, SD wrote:

>
> sf wrote:
> > On Sat, 1 Oct 2005 15:50:20 -0700, Ken Davey wrote:
> >
> > > The USA would love for those wrong thinking individuals to attain power.
> > > This would make it much easier to subjugate the rest of Canada to their
> > > (USA) rule.

> >
> > Ken, were you brought up in a cave? How could you get such a supid
> > idea any other way?

>
> Then there are a lot of other Canadians who were also brought up in
> caves. Many of the Canadians I know here in Central America harbor the
> same feelings Ken does towards the US. Dislike and outright animosity
> of the American government by Canadians is more widespread than many
> Americans would like to admit.
>

How sad.
 
<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

As long as we're on the subject of speaking English in America:

> ASSMILATE and MELT in to the country.


"meld into the country" would be correct. Not melt. It has nothing to do
with "melting pot".



> mistake of stoping a non english speaking motorist


"stopping a non-English speaking motorist" would be the correct way to write
this.

Where were YOU in high school, when English was being taught? Jerking off in
the bathroom?
 
Doug Kanter wrote:

> In any big American city, you might be enlightened if you could walk into
> the kitchen of a restaurant and meet the soux chef or saucier - two


LOL...I had to read it twice to see if you really said, "Sioux chief."
That would be "sous." ;-)

N.
 
"Nancy1" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> Doug Kanter wrote:
>
>> In any big American city, you might be enlightened if you could walk into
>> the kitchen of a restaurant and meet the soux chef or saucier - two

>
> LOL...I had to read it twice to see if you really said, "Sioux chief."
> That would be "sous." ;-)
>
> N.
>


Damn....my weekly typo, and it was a real beauty. :)
 
<RJ> wrote:
> On Fri, 30 Sep 2005 14:38:59 GMT, "Dimitri" <[email protected]> wrote:
> >
> >I too am behind the laws that require English proficiency - However, many years
> >ago some of the immigrants wanted so desperately to "Americanize" that they
> >denied their American born children of their roots - and cultural heritage.
> >Also not a good thing. I would much rather have baklava as my roots than Oscar
> >Mayer. LOL.
> >
> >Dimitri
> >

>
> Roots and culture will only carry you so far.
> We see the ( extreme ) effect in Canada with Quebecois.
>
> "When in Rome, do as the Romans do"
>
> <rj>


Special cases make bad law. Most French-Candians outside of Quebec (and
most inside or else they would -be- separate) are happy to be both
French and Canadian.
 
Dave Smith wrote:
> "Dean G." wrote:
>
> > > Roots and culture will only carry you so far.
> > > We see the ( extreme ) effect in Canada with Quebecois.

> >
> > Actually the Quebecois and the original poster share much in common.
> > They want other people to learn their language and conform to their
> > culture. Odd, when Americans do it, we are criticized (rightly so in
> > this case), but the Quebecois are given far more lattitude. Both the
> > original poster and the Quebecois are insular, racist, and intolerant.
> > Both deserve criticism.

>
> The Quebecois should not be confused with the rest of French Canadians which make up a
> significant portion of the population of New Brunswick and pockets of French Canadian
> settlements across northern Ontario, and in most other other provinces. Most of them
> are bilingual or uniligual English speakers. I have a lot of French Canadian friends
> who are quite antagonistic toward Quebecers. I can't help but agree that Quebecois
> tend to be insular, racist and intolerant.



A good part of Southern Ontario, also.

My French-Canadian S.O. (res. Welland, ON) thinks that "Quebeckers"
"talk (French) too fast." and mostly uses English, though she does yell
at the kids in French.
 
alsandor wrote:
> Paul M. Cook a écrit :
>
> > Who says? Say whatever you want. Actually I believe it is the christian
> > extremists who were decrying the use of Happy Holidays. They insisted on
> > Merry Christmas. Despite the fact that Christmas and its traditions were
> > all borrowed from the Pagans.

>
> Actually, the Romans were not pagans. They believed in deities.
> Although commonly used to mean polytheistic religions of ancient
> Europe, paganism is originally a latin term referring to "paganus", an
> adjective originally meaning "rural", "rustic" or "of the country". In
> other words, not "ciuitatus" or "of the city". The Romans from whom we
> hold the dual feasts of Sol Indigetis and Saturnalia were residents of
> Rome. The feasts are found in the calendar of Numa Pompilius, second
> legendary king of Rome and successor to Romulus, who instituted a
> calendrical reform. So, the feasts in question are "ciuitati" and
> therefore cannot be "pagani".


First, Pagan != atheist, believing in dieties has everything to with
being a pagan in the current sense ( a non Christian believing in the
"old" gods).
The current usage comes from the early church when the old Roman
religion still survived outside of the city.
 
pavane wrote:
> "Dean G." <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> >

>
> > Actually the Quebecois and the original poster share much in common.
> > They want other people to learn their language and conform to their
> > culture. Odd, when Americans do it, we are criticized (rightly so in
> > this case), but the Quebecois are given far more lattitude. Both the
> > original poster and the Quebecois are insular, racist, and intolerant.
> > Both deserve criticism.
> >

>
> You must not forget that the original incorporating document
> of Canada, the British North America Act followed by all
> versions of Canadian constitutional documents have enshrined
> the biculturalism and bilingualism, not to mention differing legal
> and educational systems as part of basic Canadian law. This
> is definitely not the case in the US but is definitely the case
> in Canada. The Quebecois are literally guaranteed language,
> educational and legal rights in the Canadian constitution. Big
> difference from their Southerly neighbors.
>


Just because something is legal does not make it moral. In the US,
there were laws that supported slavery, and these laws were wrong.
Enshrining them in the law did nothing to change the fact that they
were morally wrong. If this is the only difference you can give between
the Quebecois and the Americans, then I was exactly right.

And your "bilingualism" is red herring in the case of Quebec. Canada
may be officially bilingual, but Quebec is clearly not. French is the
official language of Quebec, not French and English. The Quebecois are
also quite ardent in their enforcement of their languge rules. It is
not a tolerant or sympathetic legal act by any stretch of the
imagination. Fortunately, the majority of Canadians are far more
tolerant than the Quebecois.

Dean G.
 
Bob Terwilliger wrote:
> Dean wrote:
>
> > I personally revel in the opportunity to be a heathen
> > running amok once a year, despite my advancing age.

>
> Same here, but I do it on Halloween.
>
> Bob


That's fine with me, but I'll just call it Samhain. Mostly, however, I
am relegated to the task of watching over the younger ones as they run
amok. They deserve a chance every now and then as well.

Dean G.
 
On 3 Oct 2005 07:27:39 -0700, "Seamus" <[email protected]> wrote:

>
><RJ> wrote:
>> On Fri, 30 Sep 2005 14:38:59 GMT, "Dimitri" <[email protected]> wrote:
>> >
>> >I too am behind the laws that require English proficiency - However, many years
>> >ago some of the immigrants wanted so desperately to "Americanize" that they
>> >denied their American born children of their roots - and cultural heritage.
>> >Also not a good thing. I would much rather have baklava as my roots than Oscar
>> >Mayer. LOL.
>> >
>> >Dimitri
>> >

>>
>> Roots and culture will only carry you so far.
>> We see the ( extreme ) effect in Canada with Quebecois.
>>
>> "When in Rome, do as the Romans do"
>>
>> <rj>

>
>Special cases make bad law. Most French-Candians outside of Quebec (and
>most inside or else they would -be- separate) are happy to be both
>French and Canadian.



Why not just "Canadian" ??

Must we all be hyphenated ?
<rj>
 
"" wrote:
>
> On 3 Oct 2005 07:27:39 -0700, "Seamus" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >
> ><RJ> wrote:
> >> On Fri, 30 Sep 2005 14:38:59 GMT, "Dimitri" <[email protected]> wrote:
> >> >
> >> >I too am behind the laws that require English proficiency - However, many years
> >> >ago some of the immigrants wanted so desperately to "Americanize" that they
> >> >denied their American born children of their roots - and cultural heritage.
> >> >Also not a good thing. I would much rather have baklava as my roots than Oscar
> >> >Mayer. LOL.
> >> >
> >> >Dimitri
> >> >
> >>
> >> Roots and culture will only carry you so far.
> >> We see the ( extreme ) effect in Canada with Quebecois.
> >>
> >> "When in Rome, do as the Romans do"
> >>
> >> <rj>

> >
> >Special cases make bad law. Most French-Candians outside of Quebec (and
> >most inside or else they would -be- separate) are happy to be both
> >French and Canadian.

>
> Why not just "Canadian" ??
>
> Must we all be hyphenated ?
> <rj>


We travelled through Quebec this summer on our way to Prince Edward
Island. It's bad politics that, across Canada, with the exception of
Quebec, our road signs and signs on Government buildings are
bi-lingual. In Quebec, French only. We didn't feel welcome in this
part of OUR country.
Sharon
 
"biig" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...

>
> We travelled through Quebec this summer on our way to Prince Edward
> Island. It's bad politics that, across Canada, with the exception of
> Quebec, our road signs and signs on Government buildings are
> bi-lingual. In Quebec, French only. We didn't feel welcome in this
> part of OUR country.
> Sharon


Now you know how WE feel, listening to the moron on the White House
attempting to speak without a script. :-(