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#11
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"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
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"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
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"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
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"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
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"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
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"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
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"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
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"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. |
#19
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Don't you live in North America?
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#20
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"I Am Not American" Web Site Adds Designs, Languages, Merchandise
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