HowManyOfMe.com There are: 6,644 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name? That’s using “David.” Add in another 149 that have “Dave” as the given…
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That’s using “David.” Add in another 149 that have “Dave” as the given name. Hmmmm … no wonder my International Man of Mystery status is so pervasive (if you leave my middle name out).
Ostensibly this is based on US Census data (1990). I’ve seen some folks be less than sanguine about the quality of the results, at any rate.
(via Doyce)
Yahoo! provides the list of the most common typos in their search box: Rachel Ray (Rachael Ray) Tatoos (Tattoos) Scarlett Johanson (Scarlett Johansson) Wierd Al Yankovic (Weird Al Yankovic) Evanesence…
Yahoo! provides the list of the most common typos in their search box:
- Rachel Ray (Rachael Ray)
- Tatoos (Tattoos)
- Scarlett Johanson (Scarlett Johansson)
- Wierd Al Yankovic (Weird Al Yankovic)
- Evanesence (Evanescence)
- Soduku (Sudoku)
- Barbara Streisand (Barbra Streisand)
- Louis Vitton (Louis Vuitton)
- Jamie Presley (Jaime Pressly)
- Jimmy Buffet (Jimmy Buffett)
- Brittany Spears (Britney Spears)
- Brittney Spears (ibid)
- Anna Nichole Smith (Anna Nicole Smith)
- Eva Mendez (Eva Mendes)
- Jessica Beil (Jessica Biel)
- The Biggest Looser (The Biggest Loser)
- Jennifer Anniston (Jennifer Aniston)
- Marie Antionette (Marie Antoinette)
- Mercedez Benz (Mercedes Benz)
- Micheal Jordan (Michael Jordan)
And now you know.
(via Google Blogscoped)
Yummy … but do you know where the word comes from? Here’s the tale of the OED researcher who tracked it down. (via GeekPress)…
Yummy … but do you know where the word comes from? Here’s the tale of the OED researcher who tracked it down.
(via GeekPress)
Is handwriting — cursive — going the way of the do-do and elocution lessons? Maybe so. The computer keyboard helped kill shorthand, and now it’s threatening to finish off longhand….
Is handwriting — cursive — going the way of the do-do and elocution lessons? Maybe so.
The computer keyboard helped kill shorthand, and now it’s threatening to finish off longhand.
When handwritten essays were introduced on the SAT exams for the class of 2006, just 15 percent of the almost 1.5 million students wrote their answers in cursive. The rest? They printed. Block letters.
And those college hopefuls are just the first edge of a wave of U.S. students who no longer get much handwriting instruction in the primary grades, frequently 10 minutes a day or less. As a result, more and more students struggle to read and write cursive.
To be honest, it’s hard to get too worked up about it. I have never used cursive writing on a regular basis, except in my signature (and, as a result, can still do flawless textbook cursive if I need to). With keyboarding taking up more of our written output, especially outside of school, it just doesn’t seem nearly as important.
That said, clarity of whatever form of writing is used is important — keyboards are not and never will be everywhere. Just as it’s important to be able to do math without a calculator in hand, it’s important to be able to write clearly by hand, too. But is cursive essential for that? I suspect not.
Interestingly enough, I was just talking with one of Katherine’s friends the other day, a grade or so higher than her. The friend was very proud that she was learning to write in cursive. She may be among the last generation that does so.
Remarkable article on Language Log about how everyday Turkish is being changed by the media. It’s not any sort of intentional change, but it has to do with English-language movies…
Remarkable article on Language Log about how everyday Turkish is being changed by the media. It’s not any sort of intentional change, but it has to do with English-language movies being imported into Turkey.
Well, you say, that’s not unusual. Picking up foreign words and incorporating them into your language is how languages stay healthy and evolve. Heck, English is a great example of this.
But it’s not English, but how English is being dubbed into Turkish, that’s causing the change. When dubbing, translators come up with words and phrases to lip-sync as close as possible to what’s on the screen. As a result, “Hello” gets translated to Selâm, rather than the more traditional Turkish Merhaba. And exclamations of surprise (“Wow!”) are being translated Vavvvv! rather than the more traditional Vay anasımı!
And as things become standards in the media, they become standards in common speech.
Fascinating.
… in order to get these new “How to Remember the Order of the Planets” mnemonics, now that “My Very Elegant Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas.” The winner…
… in order to get these new “How to Remember the Order of the Planets” mnemonics, now that “My Very Elegant Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas.” The winner is marvelously topical, by Josh Mishell, even if it’s one of the ones offered up as a protest (and so keeping
the nine-count):
My! Very Educated Morons Just Screwed Up Numerous Planetariums.
Though, being a pedant, I’d probably say “Planetaria.”
For those who want a mnemonic that works with the new arrangement (while it lasts), there’s Bart Baxter, who nicely paralleled the original:
Most Vexing Experience, Mother Just Served Us Nothing!
Honestly speaking, I never needed the mnemonic for this — a plenitude of old astronomy books when I was growing up had me visually aware of the Solar System’s order, except for those two dumb green gas giants at the outside — and then it was a matter of remembering that, just like the two bracketing summer holidays, they come in reverse alphabetical order.
(via BoingBoing)
For those concerned that the potential redefinition of the roster of planets in Prague this week will completely mess up their mnemonic for remembering the list in the first place,…
For those concerned that the potential redefinition of the roster of planets in Prague this week will completely mess up their mnemonic for remembering the list in the first place, here’s a revised suggestion.
Ran across this article in a few-weeks-old Newsweek, and had to look it up online. It’s all about how hip-hop church services are all the rage in some congregations. The…
Ran across this article in a few-weeks-old Newsweek, and had to look it up online. It’s all about how hip-hop church services are all the rage in some congregations.
The white, middle-aged Rev. Timothy (Poppa T) Holder doesn’t look like someone who would shout “Holla back!” in his priestly blessing. But, noticing the power and ubiquity of rap in his South Bronx neighborhood, Holder created a hip-hop mass in his Trinity Episcopal Church of Morrisania. Now he wants to help other churches get in the act, and has devised a hip-hop service for the more buttoned-up St. Paul’s Chapel of Trinity Church.
Hip-hop services are popping up all over. Lawndale Community Church in Chicago packs the house with its rap-inspired version. The leaders of Minneapolis’s Sanctuary Covenant Church do hip-hop services six times a year to boost youth attendance. In Tampa, the Rev. Tommy Kyllonen’s Crossover Community Church gained 10 times as many congregants when it started using hip-hop in youth outreach programs. Holder has developed “The Hip Hop Prayer Book,” inspired by the Book of Common Prayer, which he wrote with help
from dozens of rappers, musicians and poets.
On the one hand, so not my bag, baby. But, then, if someone finds it inspirational, no accounting for tastes (especially mine). Of course, the problem with being so “hip” is that it’s easy to get very dated very fast.
So, for example, take this “hip-hop” rendition of the 23rd Psalm from the above-referenced Prayer Book.
The Lord is all that, I need for nothing.
He allows me to chill.
He keeps me from being heated and allows me to breathe easy.
He guides my life so that I can represent and give shout outs in His name.
And even though I walk through the hood of death,
I don’t back down, for You have my back.
The fact that He has me covered allows me to chill.
He provides me with back-up
In front of player-haters, and I know that I am a baller and life will be phat.
I fall back in the Lord’s crib for the rest of my life.
(“Stewardess, I speak Jive …”)
(And for those of you wondering what a “baller” is …)
I don’t object to the above based on some bizarro sense of the inerrancy of the English Bible translation of your choice, like some do …
Eric Turner, the assistant pastor at Bible Baptist Church in Creedmoor, N.C., says that when you alter Biblical passages, “you take the author of those writings down. God is completely different from us, and trying to make him like us is incorrect … Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”
(Which is, of course, why Rev. Turner will, this Sunday, be reading Scripture in Aramaic.)
No, my objection is that it just feels … stupid. Artificially hip and trendy, adults trying to sound “hep,” in a way that the youth they are seeking to reach this way will find goofy and unrealistic. I may well be wrong — it’s not my idiom or age bracket — but I find it more aesthetically and liturgically unpleasant than theologically so.
To each, though, their own.
Whilst looking up info on Colorado’s flag, I found this interesting page at the Colorado Dept. of Personal & Administration (DPA) Division of IT site, full of state trivia…
Whilst looking up info on Colorado’s flag, I found this interesting page at the Colorado Dept. of Personal & Administration (DPA) Division of IT site, full of state trivia (state gemstone, state song, etc.). There’s a noteworthy note about our state motto, which is Nil Sine Numine.
The Latin phrase “Nil Sine Numine”, was adopted as part of the Territorial Seal. At recurring intervals, discussion has ensued concerning interpretation of this Latin phrase which commonly translated is “Nothing without Providence”. Others say it is “Nothing without God”. In the early mining days of the State, the unregenerate said it meant “nothing without a new mine”.
In a strict sense, one cannot possibly get “God” from “numine”, God being a purely Anglo-Saxon word. The word “numine” means any divinity, god or goddess. The best evidence of intent of Colorado’s official designers and framers of the resolution for adoption of the seal is contained in the committee report wherein clear distinction was made between “numine” and “Deo” and it is specifically states that the committee’s interpretative translation was “Nothing without the Deity”.
Which is kind of neat. While probably more religious than some would prefer, it’s a bit more Deistic and non-denominational than some would prefer, too.
The phraseoriginates in Virgil’s Aeneid,Book 2, line 777: “… non haec sine numine devûm Eveniunt.” (translated “these things do not come to pass without the will of the gods”). So it does have a nice classical (and non-Biblical) slant.
Interestingly, there are (only) four state mottos that directly reference God or Deus (Arizonia, Florida, Ohio, South Dakota; American Samoa would be a fifth); three others (including Colorado, and Connecticut and Maine) indirectly reference God or divine forces.
Despite those who are willing to believe (or spread the tale) that the word picnic comes from an old Southern (or Oklahoman) white term for “Pick a Nigger” — an outing where…
Despite those who are willing to believe (or spread the tale) that the word picnic comes from an old Southern (or Oklahoman) white term for “Pick a Nigger” — an outing where white families would bring a lunch and, for entertainment, lynch a black man — the word’s origin is nothing like that, at all. Really. Truly. Honestly. Stop it.
This particular post doesn’t come out of the blue. This was, evidently, a very real objection raised by someone at Margie’s office to a departmental picnic.
The question that Margie raised over dinner was, even if such a myth is debunked, should one avoid the word anyway because it is considered offensive by those who either haven’t heard the truth or who believe it’s all a sinister conspiracy of racists making up 17th Century French and 19th Century English sources?
Nonsense.
Sensitivity is one thing. Bowing to irrationality is another. Not using the word “picnic” around someone who associates it with the runaway fuel truck that plowed in the park when he was a child and killed his parents in a horrible, grisly accident and therefore bursts into tears whenever the word is used, is being polite, if indulgent. Kow-towing to folk etymology, easily debunked, is not.
I’ll even go a step further: even if that’s what the origin of the word really was, I’d say use it anyway. I mean, how wonderful that a word that once meant such an awful, reprehensible, terrible thing is now associated, by the vast majority, with something pleasant and positive and grand, something that has no relation in mindset to lynching parties and racial oppression.
But regardless, that’s not its origin. So there.
Everyone has heard the old Chinese phrase/curse, “May you live in interesting times.” Interestingly enough, it may not actually be an old Chinese phrase/curse. Nor is the ideogram for “crisis”…
Everyone has heard the old Chinese phrase/curse, “May you live in interesting times.” Interestingly enough, it may not actually be an old Chinese phrase/curse. Nor is the ideogram for “crisis” actually made up of the symbols for “danger” and “opportunity.”
Meanwhile, old Chinese phrases (curses or not) are the New Hot Meme at management conferences and the like. Part of it’s the growing influence of the Chinese arena for doing business. Part of it seems to be the need to move on to the next trend (and to sell next set of management books). And part of it (my thought) is that the old standard of using English or Biblical passages is not only seen as old hat, but as divisive or parochial.
On the other hand, how do the Chinese feel about all this?
In Aspen, there was one session that was entirely free of Chinese proverbs: a panel at which Chinese, Japanese, and Western experts talked about China’s economy and global imbalances. When I asked David Li if Chinese businesspeople use Chinese proverbs at meetings, he chuckled. “No. If they did it too much, it would seem like a cliché.”
(via GeekPress)
Merriam-Webster’s 11th Ed. Collegiate Dictionary has its new word list out. Some of the highlights: Technology and Computers: mouse potato, ringtone, spyware Science and Medicine: avian influenza, biodiesel, gastric bypass…
Merriam-Webster’s 11th Ed. Collegiate Dictionary has its new word list out. Some of the highlights:
Had to look a couple of them up, I’ll confess.
Another word added: google, as a verb (though the definition still capitalizes the firm it’s associated with).
You can also see the new words in 1806 (which is interesting if, for nothing else, to see what words have since vanished or changed their meanings).
Evidently some folks are up in arms over how more people are referring to “the Fourth of July” instead of “Independence Day.” Said protest seems to stem from the idea that date…
Evidently some folks are up in arms over how more people are referring to “the Fourth of July” instead of “Independence Day.” Said protest seems to stem from the idea that date nomenclature somehow assaults our national heritage and the principles for which the date is celebrated. (I leave it to someone else to determine if these are the same folks who protest
about the “Assault on Christmas”).
Coincidentally, I was thinking about this the other day, and considering how positive a thing it was, as it prevented the government from turning the holiday into “the First Monday in July” or something. I go back and forth on the weekday alignment of holidays — it’s a lot more convenient, both as an employer and as an employee (this past four days was very weird, as I was one of the people working on Monday), but it also removes some of the historical charm of the holiday. As it stands,
only Independence Day, Christmas, and New Years still align to dates, rather than to weekdays.
But I digress. Language Log (Geoff Nunberg) notes that, actually, references to the date as Independence Day, vs. the Fourth of July are on the upswing, not the other way around (based on text in the New York Times), which makes me think it’s more a matter of (over)sensitivity than anything empirical. Nunberg also notes that the US, unlike many other countries, tends to eschew
“date” holidays as such. If you think of it, all we have is “the Fourth of July” — we never talk about “the Twelfth of February” or “the Eleventh of November” or “the Twenty-Fifth of December.” Granted, as noted, many of these are no longer date-based, but even while they were, we still talked about Veterans Day or Lincoln’s Birthday (and still refer to Christmas). The closest thing we still have, other than “the Fourth of July,” is the recent “9-11,” which may be just as date-oriented because
of its parallel association with emergency calls.
Finally, Nunberg also observes that this seems to tie in (see “Assault on Christmas,” above) to the culture-war tendency toward being somethinger-than-thou in our society. One cannot be “just” patriotic — one has to be more patriotic than those you traitorous folks over there.
But as trivial as the issue is — for now, anyway — it reflects a new, strategically divisive sense of the significance of patriotic symbols. The point of symbols nowadays is not simply to declare one’s devotion to one’s country, but to insist that one loves it more than others did — and hence to turn once universally sanctioned symbols into contested ones. Since the Vietnam era, Peggy Noonan wrote approvingly
a few years ago, wearing a flag in one’s lapel has been “a sign that said ‘I support my country, and if you don’t like it, that’s too bad.'”Hence the curious Lake Woebegon effect in American patriotism: in polls, around 60 percent of Americans describe themselves as more patriotic than the average American, while fewer than 10 percent consider themselves to be less patriotic. Or in other words, most people think that other Americans are less patriotic than they. And what better way to signal one’s own superior patriotism and disparage the patriotism of others than to contest the way
we refer to the Fourth of July — in modern times, the one patriotic symbol that has never been controversial. As one Doc Farmer puts it on the right-wing ChronWatch site:The date of America’s anniversary may occur on July 4th, but to me, it’s never the Fourth of July. It’s Independence Day… Independence Day is more important to Americans–REAL Americans–than any other “National” holidays…. Independence Day probably means more to me than most “average” Americans.
Which is ironic, given that patriotism would, one think, include love and support of one’s fellow citizens, not a competition to determine who are better nation-loving citizens than others.
UPDATE: BD links to this post, and to an interesting, semi-tangential Billmon article.
One hundred fifty turns of phrase and cliches that were coined by (or have been first found in) Shakespeare. Yikes. (Part of a broader set of lists regarding Shakespeare.)…
One hundred fifty turns of phrase and cliches that were coined by (or have been first found in) Shakespeare. Yikes.
(Part of a broader set of lists regarding Shakespeare.)
A very nice list of fictional expletives from science fiction and fantasy (mostly). Includes the perennial favorites frak, shazbot, grife, felgercarb, and (cross-linked to a Farscape vocabulary) frell. Posted by…
A very nice list of fictional expletives from science fiction and fantasy (mostly). Includes the perennial favorites frak, shazbot, grife, felgercarb, and (cross-linked to a Farscape vocabulary) frell.
Posted by Dave-o-tron
(via J-Walk)
Some interesting things to go look at: World Language Maps (via kottke) Tons of Historical Timelines, Coordinated (via kottke) Robots Controlled by Your Brain! (via GeekPress) Posted by AutoDave…
Some interesting things to go look at:
World Language Maps (via kottke)
Tons of Historical Timelines, Coordinated (via kottke)
Robots Controlled by Your Brain! (via GeekPress)
Posted by AutoDave
The advantage of having the Senate back on track viz immigration reform is that something might actually get done about it. The disadvantage is that it’s an opportunity for everyone…
The advantage of having the Senate back on track viz immigration reform is that something might actually get done about it. The disadvantage is that it’s an opportunity for everyone and their brother to toss in their own jingoistic amendments, whether out of personal conviction or the chance to earn votes.
So the Senate managed to pass this James Inolfe amendment ot the immigration bill yesterday:
The Government of the United States shall preserve and enhance the role of English as the national language of the United States of America. Unless specifically stated in applicable law, no person has a right, entitlement, or claim to have the Government of the United States or any of its officials or representatives act, communicate, perform or provide services, or provide materials in any language other than English. If exceptions are made, that does not create a legal entitlement to additional services in that language or any language other than English. If any forms are issued by the Federal Government in a language other than English (or such forms are completed in a language other than English), the English language version of the form is the sole authority for all legal purposes.
I am of mixed feelings here. On the one hand, I do believe that a common language for the land is a worthy goal, and that whatever we can do to encourage that is of value. I’ve been frustrated, at times, at seeing ballot measures being printed in fifty different languages, and at the attitude from some that it’s not just a service being provided, but a right to which a non-English speaker is entitled.
On the other hand, if this were just about being reasonable, I wouldn’t worry that much. Assuming it stays in its current form (I’m sure the House will jump all over this in conference committee and try to hammer out something even stronger), some folks will use this as a round-about way to deny services — sorry, lady, that form’s only in English, figure it out yourself — and to further separate, not unify, communities, to further establish non-English speakers as second-class residents, effectively if not statutorily cut off from government communication and services.
Now, the amendment, as it stands, does allow for translated services and communications (“unless specifically stated in applicable law”), and it doesn’t say that such translation cannot be done, only that someone doesn’t have legal grounding to demand it be done (which may face some court challenges of its own). But it still feels a hell of a lot like a Why don’t those damned furriners speak English? kind of bill.
I also worry a scosh about “preserve and enhance the role of English as the national language of the United States of America. ” That smacks a bit of “the Academy,” and conjures images of some well-meaning bureucrat trying to dictate how the language should be formed. Which never goes well.
Note that, after the Inolfe amendment was voted on, it was further amended (as proposed by Colorado’s Salazar) to change “national language” (which had read “official language” in Inolfe’s original proposal) to “common and unifying language.” Which is a subtle but distinct difference (and would be more welcome if the rest of the amendment weren’t so annoying).
Again, I think folks who come to this country should be encouraged to learn English. And most of them, in fact, strive to do so. This amendment will do little to change that, but it will give folks who don’t like immigrants in the first place a great way to say, “Non-Yankees, Go Home.”
… well, evidently, I am. At least, according to the “racism” guidelines of the Seattle public schools. Cultural Racism: Those aspects of society that overtly and covertly attribute value and…
… well, evidently, I am. At least, according to the “racism” guidelines of the Seattle public schools.
Cultural Racism:
Those aspects of society that overtly and covertly attribute value and normality to white people and Whiteness, and devalue, stereotype, and label people of color as “other”, different, less than, or render them invisible. Examples of these norms include defining white skin tones as nude or flesh colored, having a future time orientation, emphasizing individualism as opposed to a more collective ideology, defining one form of English as standard, and identifying only Whites as great writers or composers.
I remember having a Crayola crayon that was “flesh” colored. Yes, it was kind of Anglo pink. I can see where some folks might ahve felt left out.
I’m not sure what “having a future time orientation” means. I’m a sci-fi fan — does that count?
I’m a believer in individualism, vs. a “collective ideology.” Apparently that makes me a cultural racist.
And I’m a believer in orthography and standard pronounciation of English. I guess that makes me a cultural racist, too.
I don’t pay a lot of attention to the race of writers and composers. I know what I like, though. I suspect that makes me racist, too.
Institutional Racism:
The network of institutional structures, policies, and practices that create advantages and benefits for Whites, and discrimination, oppression, and disadvantages for people from targeted racial groups. The advantages created for Whites are often invisible to them, or are considered “rights” available to everyone as opposed to “privileges” awarded to only some individuals and groups.
Apparently it’s possible to be racist without being aware of it. I suspect the opposite is also believed to be true, i.e., that if you are not aware of being racist, you probably are.
Race
A pseudobiological category that distinguishes people based on physical characteristics (e.g., skin color, body shape/size, facial features, hair texture). People of one race can vary in terms of ethnicity and culture.Ethnicity
A group whose members share a common history and origin, as well as commonalities in terms of factors such as nationality, religion, and cultural activities.Culture
The way of life of a group of people including the shared values, beliefs, behaviors, family roles, social relationships, verbal and nonverbal communication styles, orientation to authority, as well as preferences and expressions (art, music, food). “What everybody knows that everybody else knows.”
I gather that racism is a pseudo-scientifically bogus belief system. Ethnicism and culturalism, though, sound like they are good, positive things.
Acculturation
A dynamic process that occurs when members of one culture (culture of origin) come into contact with another culture (host/dominant culture) over a long period of time. The process involves exposure to, reaction to, and possible adoptions of aspects of the other groups culture. Adapting to the characteristics of the larger or dominant culture, while retaining some of one’s unique cultural traits.Assimilation
The process of giving up connections to and aspects of one’s culture of origin and blending in with the host/dominant culture. Also, the wholesale adoption of the dominant culture at the expense of the original culture.
Acculturation = Good.
Assimilation = Bad.
Got it.
Equality
“In any given circumstances, people who are the same in those respects relevant to how they are treated in those circumstances should receive the same treatment” (p. 45). Equality defined in this way, looks at the individual and the circumstances surrounding him or her. It does not focus on group differences based on categories such as race, sex, social class, and ethnicity. This view is one of assimilation because it assumes that individuals, once socialized into society, have the right “to do anything they want, to choose their own lives and not be hampered by traditional expectations and stereotypes” (Young, 1990, p. 157).Equity
“…. deals with difference and takes into consideration the fact that this society has many groups in it who have not always been given equal treatment and/or have not had a level field on which to play. These groups have been frequently made to feel inferior to those in the mainstream and some have been oppressed. To achieve equity, according to Young (1990), “Social policy should sometimes accord special treatment to groups” (p. 158). Thus, the concept of equity provides a case for unequal treatment for those who have been disadvantaged over time. It can provide compensatory kinds of treatment, offering it in the form of special programs and benefits for those who have been discriminated against and are in need of opportunity.”
Equality = Assimilation and Individualism = Bad
Equity = Inequality = Good.
Got it.
Prejudice
An attitude or opinion that is held in the absence of (or despite) full information. Typically it is negative in nature and based on faulty, distorted or unsubstantiated information that is over generalized and relatively in-flexible. Prejudices can be conscious or relatively unconscious.
Whew! Prejudice = Bad. That one, I think I got. Holding opinions based in over-generalized and inflexible and unsubstantiated information is prejudice. Yikes. Sounds nasty.
Anyway, my apologies to everyone I’ve offended with my future-thinking, individualistic, crypto-racism. Clearly I should have gone to school in Seattle, and I’d be well and truly goodthinkful.
Oops. Damn. Just referenced another white, male author. My bad.
(via the Agitator)
What noise does a bee make in Japanese? (boon boon) What noise does bird make in Greek? (tsiou tsiou) Various animal noises, across langauges, plus animal commands, all listed here….
Regarding the singing of the National Anthem in languages other than English: I feel strongly that a strength of the US is e pluribus unum, out of many one. Call…
Regarding the singing of the National Anthem in languages other than English:
Which is a long-winded way of saying that, yes, I do think that folks who come here should learn English and should be both welcomed into the population and expected to be come a part of it.
Or, put another way, were I to emigrate to a non-English-speaking country, I would do my darnedest to learn the language. I might speak English at home, and I might appreciate folks outside the home who could speak to me in English, but I wouldn’t expect things to be in English. I might rely or associate more with the English-speaking community in that country, but, again, I would have a goal to learn the native language as soon and as well as possible.
But that’s just me.
BoingBoing notes a few interesting items, including the 1919 Spanish-language version of the Star Spangled Banner from the Library of Congress pictured above, and this US State Department rendition of four different Spanish versions.
Of course, it’s one thing to publish something for foreign consumption, vs. the idea, perhaps, of folks at Hispanic events in this country singing a Spanish SSB.
Still, goofiness.
