Frank Nelson was the best. "Yeeeesss?"Big Blue Owl wrote:"My father owns the store." Good stuffElfDude wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JA_r1Ynl4LsBig Blue Owl wrote:OK, boss! I got your violin! I'm bringinitin! Oops!

Moderator: Priests of Syrinx
Frank Nelson was the best. "Yeeeesss?"Big Blue Owl wrote:"My father owns the store." Good stuffElfDude wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JA_r1Ynl4LsBig Blue Owl wrote:OK, boss! I got your violin! I'm bringinitin! Oops!
The person or persons doing is more than likely running from something or up to no good.CygnusX1 wrote:Yeah. On the Northern Border, If you're a gringo.....ElfDude wrote:What happens on the Mexican border when people try to sneak into Mexico?
you GO TO JAIL. YOU GO DIRECTLY TO JAIL.
YOU "DO NOT PASS GO", and YOU "DO NOT COLLECT $200."
ElfDude wrote:Read my statement again. Though I could have worded it better, I never used the term "official language". The source you used to debunk my statement pretty much confirmed it (though I should have said "Senate did vote" instead of "congress did vote"):DoctorX wrote:http://www.snopes.com/language/apocryph/german.aspElfDude wrote: Many years ago our congress did vote on whether our nation should function in English or German. English won.
The United States has no official language, and never has. I hope it won't either.
The House debated translating federal statutes into German again on 16 February 1795, but the final result was the approval of a bill to publish existing and future federal statutes in English only. This bill was approved by the Senate as well and signed into law by President George Washington a month later.
I agree DocX and when the whole world turns into a salad bowl peace is going to be the dressingDoctorX wrote:ElfDude wrote:Read my statement again. Though I could have worded it better, I never used the term "official language". The source you used to debunk my statement pretty much confirmed it (though I should have said "Senate did vote" instead of "congress did vote"):DoctorX wrote: http://www.snopes.com/language/apocryph/german.asp
The United States has no official language, and never has. I hope it won't either.
The House debated translating federal statutes into German again on 16 February 1795, but the final result was the approval of a bill to publish existing and future federal statutes in English only. This bill was approved by the Senate as well and signed into law by President George Washington a month later.
There remains a distinct difference between having the laws printed in a single language, and having the country "function" under said language. A nation is composed of its people, not the government they elect to represent them.
awip: My apologies. I was unaware that you had Native American heritage. I was merely attempting to make a broader point about language, culture, and national identity.
As recently as the 19th century, persons commonly believed that each culture deserved its own nation, and this community should be united under a state: the nation-state concept.
Thus, all Italians should be united into one Italy (Garibaldi in 1867), Poles should have a Poland, Germany should be unified under a single German state (boy, did that one get out of hand)....
I lean strongly toward the multicultural model of politics. I believe national identities (which overlap closely with one's mother tongue) are, to a large extent, what give the world its color and depth. The American melting pot model has its advantages in expecting the gradual assimilation of everyone around a uniform Homo Americanus, but it's doubtful how many Americans today still prefer conceiving of their country as a melting pot and not a salad bowl.
And thus we enter into the issue of national identity. Does each cultural and linguistic group deserve its own nation via popular sovereignty, or ought diverse populations be expected to respect their differences in polyglot societies?
A nation is the embodiment of its people, but this concept becomes more complex with cultural plurality (and language IS the basic unit of culture). Many modern nations (especially those with open pro-immigration policies) contain a multitude of peoples, and have thus come to question their national identity. I welcome such questions.