F7. F7. For the love of Gawd, F7.

Which America? North or South?

Every damn time they mizpell something. You'd think they'd lern to find someone to proof read these little rallys.

I wish they'd make Engrish the official language. Would make my life a hell of a lot easier.

@spinachdip: And it would add to the daily hilarity, too!

Priceless!

Make English America's Offal Language

Ahh, this is so very reminiscent from that sweet lady who wrote a sign for Mitt Romney that stated, "No to Obama Osama and Chelsea's Moma."

Where would we send her? Fuck, where would we send Brooklyn?

@Lizawithazee: Like I always say, there's no "I see!" in offal.

Women who look like men who look like old lesbians.

/Nick Nolte

This woman is a guideline, at least, for how to avoid falling victim to campus violence.

I'll bet she's a Jezebel commenter.

@rightbrain: a.k.a. Women who look like Clay Aiken in sunglasses, shouting at God.

I completely agree that anyone who wants to come to this country should be able to (as long as they have not committed a serious crime), and have the chance to work hard and make a better life for themselves. However, why should immigrants not have to learn English as part of the naturalization process? Isn't language a major part of a nation's identity? In all other western countries, there is not a bilingual infrastructure. In France, for example, corporations, government, and private businesses do not make doing business any easier by offering English translations and services. There is no press 1 for English, or 2 to continue in French.

I remember about a year ago, Nancy Pelosi tried to push through a bill forcing businesses to hire an applicant even if they can't speak any English after an immigrant filed a lawsuit against the public library system when he wasn't hired because he could not speak the language. The job entailed direct costumer interaction, which would make it difficult for the person to fully perform the required duties.

Asking that people who want to become American citizens learn the common national language is not discriminatory, it is common sense.

Aww, at least she underlined her idiotic mistake. And she did put the apostrophe in the right place!

Oh man. Good one. I love it!

@the cajun boy: how original. you should go on the road with that shtick.

@notthatpopular: i agree.

A member of the Sisterhood of the Driveling Rants, perhaps?

@notthatpopular: At what point in their twelve hour workdays and caring for their families are these English lessons supposed to occur? Are they free? And how will they be tested?

@notthatpopular: And the person promoting that cause should at the very least be able to spell.

P.S. I thought our offical language was Lolcat.

@notthatpopular: English *is* a requirement for naturalization, dipshit: [www.uscis.gov]

@notthatpopular: I agree, and I don't care if others think that's being uncompashionate.

That woman makes me want to hold up a finger and yell "FIC YOU!"

While they're at it, maybe they could get the MTA to start hiring some P.A. announcers that can speak in a somewhat audible accent.

@notthatpopular: Canada's not a Western country any more?

@spinachdip: Ha! I missed that bleedingly obvious point. Good work.

Silly lady. It's supposed to be, "Make English America's Of Fecal Language"

@notthatpopular: @BeRightBack: And what about Switzerland? A quadrilingual system trumps a bilingual system any day.

@spinachdip:

Actually no.

"Applicants for naturalization must be able to read, write, speak, and understand words in ordinary usage in the English language."

They have to no everyday usage much like one might learn a little Italian for a visit to Italy. There is no requirement for fluency, or even conversational knowledge. I know this because my girlfriend was recently naturalized and was astounded at how lax the language requirement was.

Dipshit.

@Tammany_Fall:I Dont think that argument holds water. Of course I realize their life is very difficult, but tens of millions of immigrants before today's have managed to learn English under equally difficult circumstances.

The problem is not with first generation immigrants not understanding English, it is the passing on, and acceptance of the second generation's use of another language as primary communication outside the home. Do you not think that the added barrier of language would not further segregate American racial groups?

It's an infallible law of nature that whenever someone criticizes someone else's language skills, they will inevitably make a linguistic mistake of their own.

@Colonel Mustard: Switzerland's multilingual identity results from their geographical position. Not immigration. Switzerland did not adopt French of German due to a wave of immigration, but rather the make up of past geographical borders.

@BeRightBack: Are you referring to French and English? Thank you for proving my point. I wonder if the differences and turmoil between Quebec and the rest of Canada is influenced somewhat by language...hmmmm...

@rightbrain: I agree, but just because a position is taken to the extreme by some right wing moron does not make it invalid.

My take, being an immigrant from Europe myself: Between myself, my friends and family we can speak whatever language we choose.

When speaking to others, I always use English first and another language if that person requests it so (and if I happen to know that language).

Also, you know the only reason people have trouble learning English? Accommodations are provided in the first place. Stop catering to them and they will feel more obligated to learn. It doesn't take a genius to figure that out.

@notthatpopular: May I remind you of the past largely Spanish history of the Southern USA. I'm just saying, Hispanics in the South aren't always recent immigrants. Many of them have been there for a long time, as evidenced by the largely Spanish names that most Southern towns have. San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Antonio, El Paso, Nogales, San Diego, San Bernardino, Nevada, Las Vegas, Arizona...you get the point.

If you're going to argue that Switzerland's multilingual identity resulted from its geography, we can also argue the prevalence of Spanish speakers Down South and West results from the US's own geographical history. I'm just sayin'.

Parents: take note, your kid may have a shot in the Annual Lou Dobbs Tonight Spelling Bee after all.

@notthatpopular: Okay. By that logic, as Ryan points out, we should deport her. And by the way, fluency in English is not just a problem for immigrants. I have corrected some atrocious under grad papers. And it would have been worse if not for MS Word.

@notthatpopular: I think many of us (wait a minute....) well, some of us would agree that Nancy Pelosi is a commie.

@notthatpopular: Whoa, holy moving goalposts, Batman!!

As for your misguided worries about the second generation and beyond, if you look at the immigration history of this country, as a whole, the first generations all stuck to their native tongues and never learned English (unless they came from English-speaking countries, of course). The second generations tend to be bilingual, but by the third generation, almost without fail, they manage language assimilation.

@iAlreadyHateYou: Or all the Swedish town names in Minnesota. Really, expecting immig'unts to learn English shows a remarkable ignorance of the nation's history.

@bess marvin, girl detective: the sarcasm inherent in that comment was obviously lost on you.

This lady is so stupid. Everyone should learn to speak AMERICAN! English is what the Queen speaks.

@iAlreadyHateYou: I like it. And from an immigrant. My folks were immigrants, and you best believe they knew the language when they got naturalized.

@iAlreadyHateYou: Amen! My "Mexican" family has been in Texas for 300 years. None of us has any ties to Mexico.

@notthatpopular:Do they have to "no" how to spell "know?"

@spinachdip: That's not what I said, smartass. I was implying that it's foolish and possibly even stupid to try to exclude other languages on a purely xenophobic basis, especially when some of those languages (Spanish is one that was ALREADY HERE when the US bought its southern territories) are part of the land's history.

I think this is the right forum to share the words of former Texas Governor "Ma" Ferguson (originally from Bell County!) in response to a movement to teach Spanish in state schools: "If the King's English is good enough for Jesus Christ, it's good enough for the schoolchildren of Texas!"

@Bell County: Yes, because we all know the Bible was originally written in English. *snark*

@contradicto: Typo. I knew someone was going to catch that.

@spinachdip:
"
Really, expecting immig'unts to learn English shows a remarkable ignorance of the nation's history."

Care to explain?

@iAlreadyHateYou: Yes. I strongly disagree with the position of Governor Ferguson partially because it's an infamously stupid quote and partially for the reasons being hashed out in this thread.

@notthatpopular: In your initial argument you said "In all other western countries, there is not a bilingual infrastructure." This is wrong, which was the point of my post.

Yes, Switzerland has four national languages due largely to its history and geography, but the point still stands that it is a Western nation (and a small one at that) with a multilingual infrastructure (many cities have different names in the various languages) that functions quite nicely. The same could be said for Belgium, where some streets have names in more than one language. The European Union functions as a whole on an entirely multilingual infrastructure.

Most nations have a declared national language -- or more than one (see above) -- but the move to declare English as such for America rises not out of national pride, but out of jingoism.

I would like to bring to everyone's attention that she's a texan. They get very bitter and cling to their guns and their language.

Go back to Maxico you satin-worshippers!

maybe it should be the officious language?

@iAlreadyHateYou: I was kinda agreeing with you, actually. But you already hate me.

@notthatpopular: Sure, I'd love to. In fact, I already explained in an earlier comment. No immigrant group has escaped the clenching jaws of language assimilation. But going back to your original comment, I think it's funny that you picked, as an example for ALL Western nations, a country that's notorious for its comical paranoia about the effect of the English language on its culture. And really, you want to ape the French approach to immigrants and minorities? You might want to ask how the Paris suburbs how well that works out.

@notthatpopular: Our forefathers specifically didn't want an official language, in part to welcome all the various languages that were already here and in part to thumb their nose at the Brits. They seriously debated German. There is no official language. It's part of what makes us unique and seems to have served us well for several centuries. My own German family settled in the midwest, went to german schools and had german church services. It was a couple generations before they could speak English. Which is generally exactly what happens today. Fancy that.

Based on my email, some people think the typo is too subtle, so I added an explicit reference to it... well, semi-explicit...

@notthatpopular: Y