Air France? Ptui!

On 18 Oct 2006 17:51:38 -0700, "Tchiowa" wrote:

Normally a "comparison" offers two or more scenarios for contrast.
Other than boasting of all your travels, did you have a point?

Yes, that the French treat English speakers more rudely than people do
in any other country. Try reading the post in context.

I responded to a post where I was asked to compare with "what other
country" so I listed the countries I'm comparing with based on personal
experience. If you consider travelling a lot to be "boasting" perhaps
you shouldn't be on a "travel" group in Usenet.

Perhaps you shouldn't have cross-posted to a consumer group.

Magda wrote:

On Fri, 20 Oct 2006 22:45:39 GMT, in rec.travel.europe, arranged some
electrons, so they looked like this:

...
... "EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote in message
... ...
...
... (snip)
...
... Aka "too stupid to learn more than one language" - and that one poorly, in
... many cases! As to "linguistically homogeneous", where do you live? (In
... some parts of the country Spanish is more frequently spoken than English.)
...
... Not a matter of stupidity- most people have trouble learning other languages
... as an adult.

I wonder why you call it "trouble". I have an American 63-year old friend who decided to
learn French some three or four years ago. She is meeting people, discovering another
culture (read "universe") and having lots of fun. Between classes they meet and each
brings a French dish; they chat, exchange recipes and have a great time. Where the hell is
the "trouble"??

I think he simply meant that acquiring a foreign language as
an adult is difficult. (And few become fluent in one,
unless they live in that country.) It is certainly true
that language aptitudes vary - even among siblings. I once
worked with a woman from Hungary who had two daughters.
They had come to American when one was in her late teens,
the other about thirteen. The older girl spoke English with
almost no trace of an accent. Her younger sister (who might
be expected to be the better able to learn English) retained
an accent that rivaled ZsaZsa Gabor!

EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) wrote:



Geoff Miller wrote:

EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) writes:


Whereas I'm ashamed to acknowledge you as a fellow-countryman!




Likewise, you can be sure. I take it, then, that you didn't vote
for Bush?


Damned right! The man should be impeached, and if he hadn't stacked
Congress and the Supreme Court with his cronies, he would be!

How many Supremes have been appointed by our current president?
2
How is this "stacking"?
I will admit that only 2 of the current members were appointed by a
Democrat president, but I don't think Bush's 2 appointments can be
considered stacking.

On Fri, 20 Oct 2006 22:22:18 -0700, "EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)"
wrote:



Geoff Miller wrote:
EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) writes:


"Need"? Perhaps not, but it might enlarge your view of the
world considerably, if you did!


My view of the world is adequately large as-is, but thanks for
your concern.



Aka "too stupid to learn more than one language" - and that
one poorly, in many cases!


That's a hell of a thing to say about the citizens of the country
who liberated France from the Knotsies. What's the French word
for "ingrate?"

I'm an American, too, you idiot!

This Geoff guy isn't proving to be the freshest cracker...
--
---
DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com
---
--

On 20 Oct 2006 12:19:15 -0700, (Geoff Miller)
wrote:



EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) writes:

Whereas I'm ashamed to acknowledge you as a fellow-countryman!


Likewise, you can be sure. I take it, then, that you didn't vote
for Bush?

Did you vote for the pedophile protectors?
--
---
DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com
---
--

Alan wrote in message
...
On 20 Oct 2006 05:59:35 -0700, (Geoff Miller)
wrote:



Sovereign writes:

: Why is it always we Americans who are expected to adjust, and never
: people of other nationalities? What's up with that?

What is your proficiency in French ? Spanish, ? German ? Are you
even able to speak another foreign language properly ?


I speak English, and English only. I'm an American; I don't _need_
to speak any other languages.

That's not arrogance, but a reflection of the fact that we're a large
country, a nation with *counties* that are bigger than entire nations
elsewhere in the world. If the people a hundred miles away spoke a
different language, we'd all have an incentive to learn other tongues.
But that isn't the case, and the result is that America is linguistic-
ally homogeneous.

("I'm a member of San Francisco MENSA," Tom said homogeneously.)

But what does my personal linguistic proficiency have to do with the
validity of what I said above, about Americans seemingly always being
expected to be the ones to adjust? I doubt that such adjustment was
expected of the Romans in their time...



Geoff

Duh. It has to do with the traveler, regardless of their
nationality, being polite enough to make a good stab at the language
in a foreign country they're visiting.

Ever heard of The Ugly American? Your comments just made yourself
one of those.

Alan

==

It's not that I think stupidity should be punishable by death.
I just think we should take the warning labels off of everything
and let the problem take care of itself.

--------------------------------------------------------


You need to either read the book or see the movie. The Ugly American was
the good guy. The best advice I ever heard about traveling in foreign lands
was to learn your manners. The please, thank you, your welcome, etc in the
local language. While in Peru in 2000 at Machu Picchu, the local hotel
staff was carrying a woman who had fallen and twisted an ankle up to the
train in a heavy wooden chair. He companion, another elderly women, said
she did not even know how to say thank you. I wanted to tell her, next time
spend $10-15 for a phrase book or two. But holding my advice, just taught
her a few niceties to say. I do speak some Spanish. People like it when
you make an effort. I took a year of French in high school, a long time
ago, but while working in the French speaking region of Switzerland I
figured out how to ask for a ham and cheese omelet for breakfast at the
hotel. You can only eat so many cold cuts and boiled eggs before you get
bored. I did a good job on the ordering, but then she went beyond my
limited French. But another person there translated. She just wanted to
know what kind of Fromage. Best omelet I ever had. Great ham, and Gruyere
cheese. So learn your manners.

"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote in message
...


Geoff Miller wrote:
EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) writes:


"Need"? Perhaps not, but it might enlarge your view of the world
considerably, if you did!


My view of the world is adequately large as-is, but thanks for
your concern.



Aka "too stupid to learn more than one language" - and that one poorly,
in many cases!


That's a hell of a thing to say about the citizens of the country
who liberated France from the Knotsies. What's the French word for
"ingrate?"

I'm an American, too, you idiot! (Fortunately not all of us are redneck
chauvinists.) As to "liberating" France, it took us long enough to get
involved, and France and Britain were doing quite well despite the Nazi's
superior forces. Also, without Russia, even the addition of American
military forces might not have turned the tide.

Actually tiny Holland stood up longer to the Germans than France. The
French lasted about 2 weeks. They were not doing well against the Germans.
What made the war winnable was Hitler. Even with a non agression pact with
Stalin, he opened up the Russian Front, took too many of his forces and
supplies away from the Battle of Britain. Plus the fine German engineering,
that made precision weapons that could not fire when it got real cold in
Russia. And do not knock redneck chauvinists. They have a right to
opinions also. And a lot of those rednecks are the the ones who went to war
to liberate France. You seem to be a chauvinist in your way also. You
should get an education before making so many wrong statements. And it was
the leaders of the US that kept us out of another European war for a while.
They believed that it was both bad for business and maybe there were some
Chamberlains among them. And it was Democrats in power at the time.

Calif Bill wrote:

You need to either read the book or see the movie. The Ugly American was
the good guy. The best advice I ever heard about traveling in foreign lands
was to learn your manners. The please, thank you, your welcome, etc in the
local language. While in Peru in 2000 at Machu Picchu, the local hotel
staff was carrying a woman who had fallen and twisted an ankle up to the
train in a heavy wooden chair. He companion, another elderly women, said
she did not even know how to say thank you. I wanted to tell her, next time
spend $10-15 for a phrase book or two.

It doesn't take a phrase book to know how to say "Thank you" in Spanish.

Perhaps you and that other creature will have this babble some place else
from rec.travel.europe. crossposting is also very nasty. I have always
wondered why americans populate this group by unrelated filth and references
to alt.gossip.celebrities. one group is missing though: russ limpaukki.
Perhaps it is your drinking water. Perhaps it is genetically manipulated
corn. Anyways, your neural system is deteriorating fast.


"Calif Bill" kirjoitti
. earthlink.net...

"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote in message
...


Geoff Miller wrote:
EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) writes:


"Need"? Perhaps not, but it might enlarge your view of the world
considerably, if you did!


My view of the world is adequately large as-is, but thanks for
your concern.



Aka "too stupid to learn more than one language" - and that one poorly,
in many cases!


That's a hell of a thing to say about the citizens of the country
who liberated France from the Knotsies. What's the French word for
"ingrate?"

I'm an American, too, you idiot! (Fortunately not all of us are redneck
chauvinists.) As to "liberating" France, it took us long enough to get
involved, and France and Britain were doing quite well despite the Nazi's
superior forces. Also, without Russia, even the addition of American
military forces might not have turned the tide.

Actually tiny Holland stood up longer to the Germans than France. The
French lasted about 2 weeks. They were not doing well against the
Germans. What made the war winnable was Hitler. Even with a non agression
pact with Stalin, he opened up the Russian Front, took too many of his
forces and supplies away from the Battle of Britain. Plus the fine German
engineering, that made precision weapons that could not fire when it got
real cold in Russia. And do not knock redneck chauvinists. They have a
right to opinions also. And a lot of those rednecks are the the ones who
went to war to liberate France. You seem to be a chauvinist in your way
also. You should get an education before making so many wrong statements.
And it was the leaders of the US that kept us out of another European war
for a while. They believed that it was both bad for business and maybe
there were some Chamberlains among them. And it was Democrats in power at
the time.

EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) wrote:
Geoff Miller wrote:

Sovereign writes:

: Why is it always we Americans who are expected to adjust, and never
: people of other nationalities? What's up with that?


What is your proficiency in French ? Spanish, ? German ? Are you
even able to speak another foreign language properly ?



I speak English, and English only. I'm an American; I don't _need_
to speak any other languages.

"Need"? Perhaps not, but it might enlarge your view of the
world considerably, if you did!

Don't feed the troll.

B;