Can you be pro-English and pro-Spanish?

((On second thought ... apparently you can't be both pro-life and pro-choice either.))

This is one of the most hilarious contortions you've yet posted here.

Thanks Set (from you that is a high compliment).

You're a real weiner, Brown. If someone doesn't absolutely suck up to you on your opinions, and has the honesty to point out what a fool you commonly make of yourself, that someone becomes your enemy, n'est-ce pas? Your personal obsession is immigration and all things to do with Spanish-speakers. It wouldn't matter if we agreed on all other political topics (though that ain't bloody likely), you'd still view me with contempt because i don't buy your witless party line on immigration and Spanish speakers. You're a sad case, Bubba . . .

LOL

You bet, Bubba . . . you are hilarious, as i've already pointed out . . .

I am raising a very simple question here...

Is there any evidence of a difference between "pro-English" and "anti-Spanish"?

This term popped up in the news this morning in the context of communities specifically targeting Hispanics. The way this is brushed over with a such an innocent sounding term bothers me.

This thread gets the Dr Anne Elk award for incredible bleedin obviousness.

It's been crackin' me up from the get-go . . .



I read that and let out a very loud guffaw . . .

For the record, i'm opposed to English and Spanish . . . if you encourage those people, they'll take over. Soon we'll be overrun by Saxons and Latinos . . .

Pro-English is really just another name for Nationalism. The purpose of language is to communicate. If people are successfully communicating, who cares what language they use. "Pro-English" seems to imply that English should be used universally because it is somehow superior to other forms of communication. This is not something that is specific to the US. There is a big pro-French movement in France and Quebec for example. If I'm a business owner, I'm going to try to communicate in whatever way gets my message out to my targeted customer group. If that means I have to advertise in three languages, no problem.

This was pretty f*ckin' hilarious, too. The only basis upon which to allege a "pro-French" movement in France would be the complaints against franglais, which surfaced about 40 years ago. (Parlez-vous franglais? was published in 1968.) It was never really an issue, but in 1992, it was formally made the official language. But people still aller faire du skiing over le weekend, and if they're driving, they certainly have to chercher du parking. It's not a big deal.

French is also the official language of Québec. Of the Canadian provinces, New Brunswick is the only province which is officially bi-lingual. But in Canada, not only is almost every product labelled in French and English, a great many of them are also labelled in Spanish. This is because there is a respectably large Spanish-speaking community there, but more importantly, the United States is Canada's largest trading partner, and, of course, as participants in NAFTA, they also hope to sell their products in Mexico. Many American businesses (probably most) are savvy enough to cater to Spanish-speakers, and governments, both Federal and state, provide their print documents in Spanish, as well as their electronic media, and their telecommunications services almost always provide an option for Spanish. When the Spanish-speaking population of the Columbus, Ohio area grew large, local dairies and food producers quickly began using labels in English and Spanish, and supermarkets quickly began offering products targeting the Latin American community.

There is no official language in the United States. But if Brown wants to make this a PC issue, i have no doubt that he will argue long, passionately and irrationally for his case.

In my opinion, when you do not care for a poster's question, or position, you do not even give it credence, as though you are presupposing your unique set of experiences from birth are objectively the set of experiences all should have. This reminds me of some prior mayor of NYC saying, tongue in cheek on Saint Patrick's Day, that the world is made up of those that are Irish and those that would like to be. Horse ****!

If continental Europeans speak multiple languages, why should we not support the two main languages in this hemisphere? Go on and retort with your usual ad-hominems.

If we should value languages based on the "culture" the respective language reflects, we should all be speaking Italian, in my opinion.

Let us not forget that the one advantage of the Irish, in coming to the U.S. was they spoke English, thanks to the Brits outlawing Gaelic in Ireland. Most others gave up a mother tongue; however, since Spanish is spoken in so many countries in this hemisphere, it does make sense to support two languages in this country. The unspoken problem might be that then nice guys, of mediocre intellect, will not get a promotion in a civil service job, and will lose out to the bi-lingual competition. Tough noogies.

I'm Pro-Pig-Latin.

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No, Foofie . . . you see, an argumentum ad hominem would entail simply calling you names, without pointing out that that post was sarcastic, and never intended to be taken seriously. I am not surprised that you failed to understand that. So, when someone has a logical response to your criticism, and provides it, it is not argumentum ad hominem to subsequently point out that you are a f*ckin' doofus--that's just a side a gravy.

For Deist

LOL. So win.

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I'm pro spinach, I think I've always been pro spinach unless it's over-cooked like the Irish and the English do.

There really really aren't many who can make claim to surpass your level of hypocrisy, Setanta.