The Eurinal resoning has always escaped me because it means the same kind of melting pot that we have. The first major step was the money, abandoning national currencies for some currency that will make bribery easier. The greeks abandoned money mentioned in the bible for Euros. The Germans have planned this to take over Europe without a shot being fired this time.
Yes, I agree. And it doesn't hurt for us to speak a little Espanol with those still assimilating.
I had similar experiences when working for an oil company. Out of 23 guys on the team, there were only three of us who were native born, with a majority of Hispanics from Peru, Argentina, Honduras and Mexico.
I'd overhear them rattling off in Spanish and then of a sudden there would be an American word. If you ever heard the old Cid Ceasar quasi-German routines you'd know what I mean.
I asked one of the girls why they did that and her reply was illuminating. It seems that all South American languages, while basically European Spanish, had varying degrees of local Indian languages mixed in. In one particular instance there was no common word for "turkey" so they lapsed in American since everybody knew that word.
It seems there is a hierarchy of who is "most Spanish" with the Ecuadorians being closest to the "pure" Castillian Spanish. At the opposite end were the Mexicans who spoke "dirty Spanish" since their language had the most Indian words.
When I tried chatting up the chicks in pre-Castro Cuba with my high school Spanish, they'd throw up their hands and say "Hablan Castillano". YEARS later I had a Helluva time in Venezuela asking for "cigaros" and nobody knew what I meant until I spoke to some guy who beamed and said, "Ah, TABAC!".