Senate Votes to Call English 'Common Language' of U.S.

Fox News ^ | May 19, 2006 | AP

[stm]

WASHINGTON — The Senate voted Thursday to make English the national language of the United States. Sort of.

[MineralMan]

" it it really bad business for English speaking customers who are quite fed up with the catering to the Hispanics at the expense of OUR time wasted.
"

Fer shure, dude. I hate wasting half a second to press "1" to continue in English. Hurry up! I don't have all second, you know.

Seriously, there are some good reasons to be annoyed with multilingual phone systems, but time wasted wouldn't be among them.

[mnehring]

Out of curiosity I checked my own businesses' IVR and Spanish was the last option... Nice to know, especially because we have a huge presence in the Southwest where, illegal immigration aside, still has a very large native Spanish speaking population.

[savedbygrace]

No, TD, this forces Spanish language callers to do something (press 1) before they can get into the phone tree, while English language callers can begin hearing their options without pressing anything.

I prefer this to the other way that forced ME to press 1 before I could hear my options in English.

[MineralMan]

"Are "pelotas" the same as "cajones"?" ========================================

No. pelotas is a word in the Spanish language, meaning "balls." Cajones is not a word at all.

[mak5]

Is "Spanish" a race? Let Harry keep talking, he'll guarantee a Republican Senate majority again this fall.

[mewzilla]

Good point! I guess accusing folks of ethnocentrism was too big a mouthful for Dusty Harry. Or he just figgered the folks in Rio Linda wouldn't understand.

[HawaiianGecko]

While your argument that this might be "good business" in reaching the Hispanic customers, it it really bad business for English speaking customers who are quite fed up with the catering to the Hispanics at the expense of OUR time wasted.

Personally I don't care what number English is on the punch list. I simply advocate that it be the same number ALL of the time like '9'. Life would be much easier if a "standard" were established and people didn't have to wait to learn which number to press to select their language.

I must admit that I prefer web sites that place "United States" at the top of their drop down boxes with the rest of the planet alphabetical under it.

 

 

[chatham]

Yes but much smaller.

[King of Florida]

I must admit that I prefer web sites that place "United States" at the top of their drop down boxes with the rest of the planet alphabetical under it.

I prefer that, too. In fact, I get downright annoyed when I have to scroll down and fumble around Uruguay and Uzbekistan to select the US. When these sites start getting the same amount of traffic they get from Uzbekistan, well, okay, but until then . . . .

Meanwhile, the U.S. Senate has voted to call the dollar the common currency of the United States, the inch, foot, and pound the common units of measurement, and transparent pandering the common trait of the Senate itself.

[igor1]

"Lately, I have noticed that to select Spanish, you must dial '1'. It's as if English has already been demoted to #2 or #3 in some markets."

This is true. I have noticed the same!

[untrained skeptic]

Common language is not the same as official language.

Common is weaker than official, but neither means much unless Congress explicitly defines what having an official language means. Without a definition, the executive branch has broad authority to interpret it's meaning, and it wouldn't really change anything.

Even if Congress does define it well, there's still going to be a good chance of it being undermined through judicial review in the name of preventing racism.

It needs to be a made the official language through an Amendment to the US Constitution which defines the scope of the official language as well.

[GAB-1955]

What this means is that the business of the United States Government must be conducted in English. The several states can conduct their business in any language they choose; indeed, New Mexico, since statehood in 1912, has had two official languages, English and Spanish. It also does not mean the United States government can't provide translations as needed; but it does mean the official documentation, such as tax forms and Social Security applications, will be in English.

The First Amendment clearly states that private citizens may speak as they wish in whatever tongue they wish. I have no desire to repeat the folly of Quebec's Loi 101 and the volunteer "tongue troopers" who try to enforce its primacy despite the Canadian Supreme Court's rulings. Quebec has served us well as a Bad Example of Language Policy.

[GAB-1955]

What this means is that the business of the United States Government must be conducted in English. The several states can conduct their business in any language they choose; indeed, New Mexico, since statehood in 1912, has had two official languages, English and Spanish. It also does not mean the United States government can't provide translations as needed; but it does mean the official documentation, such as tax forms and Social Security applications, will be in English.

The First Amendment clearly states that private citizens may speak as they wish in whatever tongue they wish. I have no desire to repeat the folly of Quebec's Loi 101 and the volunteer "tongue troopers" who try to enforce its primacy despite the Canadian Supreme Court's rulings. Quebec has served us well as a Bad Example of Language Policy.

[Polybius]

"Are "pelotas" the same as "cajones"?" ======================================== No. pelotas is a word in the Spanish language, meaning "balls." Cajones is not a word at all.

"Pelotas" means balls but in the sense of a baseball or a basketball, etc. For example, "jugar pelota" means "play ball" in the baseball sense and not in the sense of something that gay people do.

"Cajones" is frequently used on the Internet by non-Spanish speakers as a mis-spelled version of "cojones" which means "balls" as in testicles.

"Cajones" means boxes. For example, "cajones de carton" means "cardboard boxes".

The guy with cajones always gets the girl

[Bikers4Bush]

I'd be all for an amendment.

[TommyDale]

I just learned something. For years we have all been misspelling the word. It is actually "Cojones".

[King of Florida]

indeed, New Mexico, since statehood in 1912, has had two official languages, English and Spanish.

There's a NEW Mexico?

[Buckeye McFrog]

I suppose they did this because they are not as good at nuanced equivocation in any other language?

[ichabod1]

It's BAIT. They figure if they throw this in there they might get some support from people who are very into the idea of English as a National Language. Meanwhile they continue to push the 'guest worker' shamnesty down our throats. Don't take the bait. Amnesty or legalization of any kind before enforcement just creates a new tidal wave of human refusgees.

[jordan8]

The whole language issue is phony, always has been, a substitute for those topics we can't talk about. It allows us to keep pretending to believe the PC myth is true that you can replace the population of a country with a new population and yet magically remain the same country.