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  #11  
Old December 11th, 2003, 06:56 PM
Geoff Miller
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Default "I Am Not American" Web Site Adds Designs, Languages, Merchandise



Schultz writes:

And since Americans seem to be too lazy to study
foreign languages, they'll have to believe you.



Americans aren't "too lazy" to study foreign languages.
We simply have no practical need to do so. This is
because of the sheer size of our country and the cor-
responding lack of proximity to peoples nattering in
other tongues. Hell, we have mere *counties* that are
bigger than a lot of those cute little European nations.

ObTopical: English is the international language of
aviation. I bet that ****es off the fashionable
America-haters something fierce, and particularly
galls (heh) the French.

"Frere ZHOCK-uh, frere ZHOCK-uh
Dormay voo? Dormay voo?
Sonny LeMattina, Sonny LeMattina
He's nice, too. He's nice, too."

See? I speak that ****. Haw!



Geoff

--
If God were a liberal, we'd
have the Ten Suggestions.

  #12  
Old December 11th, 2003, 08:39 PM
mrtrav
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Default "I Am Not American" Web Site Adds Designs, Languages, Merchandise

Geoff Miller wrote:


Americans aren't "too lazy" to study foreign languages.
We simply have no practical need to do so. This is
because of the sheer size of our country and the cor-
responding lack of proximity to peoples nattering in
other tongues. Hell, we have mere *counties* that are
bigger than a lot of those cute little European nations.


Which counties are bigger than "a lot" of European Nations?
Your definition of "a lot" differs from mine.

  #13  
Old December 11th, 2003, 09:39 PM
Geoff Miller
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Default "I Am Not American" Web Site Adds Designs, Languages, Merchandise



mrtrav writes:

Which counties are bigger than "a lot" of European Nations?


You're trying to get me to jump through hoops, and I don't
do hoops. But being in a magnanimous mood, I'll get you
pointed in the right direction. Hint: break out a map of
the United States, one that shows counties, and look out
West. (If the map is right-side up, that will be to your
left...which is probably intuitive, in your case.)


Your definition of "a lot" differs from mine.


Well now, that strikes me as a bit odd, seeing as how you
hadn't even given me a chance to respond to your question
yet.



Geoff

--
If God were a liberal, we'd
have the Ten Suggestions.

  #14  
Old December 11th, 2003, 11:19 PM
Turby
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Default "I Am Not American" Web Site Adds Designs, Languages, Merchandise

On Thu, 11 Dec 2003 19:39:00 GMT, mrtrav wrote:

Geoff Miller wrote:


Americans aren't "too lazy" to study foreign languages.
We simply have no practical need to do so. This is
because of the sheer size of our country and the cor-
responding lack of proximity to peoples nattering in
other tongues. Hell, we have mere *counties* that are
bigger than a lot of those cute little European nations.


Which counties are bigger than "a lot" of European Nations?
Your definition of "a lot" differs from mine.


The geographical pedant in me demanded an answer, so...

San Bernardino County in California (AFAIK, America's largest,) is
20,106 sq miles (52,072 sq kilometers,) which makes it bigger than:

Albania
Andorra
Belgium
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Denmark
Estonia
Liechtenstein
Luxembourg
Macedonia
Malta
Moldova
Monaco
Netherlands
San Marino
Slovenia
Switzerland
and the Vatican

That's 17 nations. There are only 25 European nations that are larger,
and some not by much. So, what would you consider "a lot?"

Turby the Turbosurfer
  #15  
Old December 11th, 2003, 11:35 PM
mrtrav
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Default "I Am Not American" Web Site Adds Designs, Languages, Merchandise

Turby wrote:

That's 17 nations. There are only 25 European nations that are larger,
and some not by much. So, what would you consider "a lot?"


Yes, but you named one county.

  #16  
Old December 12th, 2003, 01:35 AM
claudel
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Default "I Am Not American" Web Site Adds Designs, Languages, Merchandise

In article ,
mrtrav wrote:
Turby wrote:

That's 17 nations. There are only 25 European nations that are larger,
and some not by much. So, what would you consider "a lot?"


Yes, but you named one county.


Have a look for one of my personal favorite counties.

Nye County, Nevada. Third largest in US.

I forget which is 2nd. Inyo, Ca. (?)


Claude
  #17  
Old December 12th, 2003, 10:18 AM
Turby
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Default "I Am Not American" Web Site Adds Designs, Languages, Merchandise

On Thu, 11 Dec 2003 22:35:30 GMT, mrtrav wrote:

Turby wrote:

That's 17 nations. There are only 25 European nations that are larger,
and some not by much. So, what would you consider "a lot?"


Yes, but you named one county.


Wow. you're even more pedantic than I am. OK. He did say "There are
counties" - plural. So, Inyo county is bigger than a quarter of the
European nations. Is that enough for you? Or will you define what "a
lot" is so we can determine exactly how many counties are bigger than
a lot of European nations?

From my home I can drive the equivalent distance of Scotland to Iraq
and never hear any language but English. I've studied 4 foreign
languages, but fluency disappears rapidly if the opportunity to use
the language isn't there.

Turby the Turbosurfer
  #18  
Old December 12th, 2003, 05:28 PM
me
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Default "I Am Not American" Web Site Adds Designs, Languages, Merchandise

Turby wrote in message
[snip]
From my home I can drive the equivalent distance of Scotland to Iraq
and never hear any language but English. I've studied 4 foreign
languages, but fluency disappears rapidly if the opportunity to use
the language isn't there.


It gets even worse than that. You can drive from Alaska to
Florida, get on a boat and head towards both the British and
American Virgin Islands, as well as take in Jamacia and conduct
your daily business in english. Business and commerce around
the world is quite often transacted in english. That's not the
doing of the US, although they've had their influence. It's
predominately the British Empires lasting legacy. The end result
is that the combination of virtually an entire continent speaking
one language, and that language being THE international language
of commerce, makes for a situation in which there is little
incentive, opportunity, or advantage to speaking any other
ONE language. A european can study english and it will take
them far, and they will find many opportunities to practice and
use it. What foreign language could an english speaker study which
would give them anywhere near the world wide usefulness? With
India being a major speaker of the english language, english is
THE dominate language of the worlds population. I'd hazard a
guess that english is the first language of more people than
any other SINGLE language. China would have one of the next
best chances, except that they have easily 5 languages in
that region in use. Variations of spanish would cover a
large portion of one hemisphere, but you could only barely
consider them a single language.
 




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