Text 20264, 139 rader
Skriven 2011-06-29 22:57:18 av Lee Lofaso (2:203/2)
  Kommentar till text 20123 av Björn Felten (2:203/2)
Ärende: Standard English
========================
Hello Björn,

 RB>> You appear, once again, to have some strange misconceptions
 RB>> about the USA.

BF>You appear, once again, to have severe problems understanding what
BF>you write yourself:

You have to forgive Bob.  He speaks (and writes) Texan.

 RB>> For reasons best known to you, you still appear to believe that
 RB>> everyone can live together like brothers and sisters, regardless of
 RB>> their cultures, attitudes and religions.

Remember, Texans have their six-shooters with them at all times.
They truly do know how to keep the peace between their brothers and
their sisters.

BF>WTF has this to do with:

 RB>> No. _That_ was about everyone, regardless of background and beliefs,
 RB>> becoming AMERICANS and living together as such. And about all them
 RB>> having an equal start (but no guarantee for equal success). The old
 RB>> "bottle washer to millionaire" mantra, which actually still exists if
 RB>> you look at various success stories.

BF>For some strange reason you seem to think that "living together like
BF>brothers and sisters..." equals "becoming Americans" and even
BF>becoming millionaires? Jeepers Creepers... You obviously haven't
BF>studied the US history especially well.

America is an idea, not a people.  Marlon Brando played the part of
being an "ugly American" - but that was only in the movies.  I doubt
you know the meaning of the term - "ugly American" - but it is a
truism in the sense that the USA is a very young country and
Americans are very na‹ve when it comes to politics (and other things).

 RB>> It was NEVER about everyone doing their own thing

BF>Says you. The immigrants of those days surely had a different
BF>perception of what the new country would have in store for them.
BF>After all, it was mostly the people that had no place in their
BF>old countries that took the trip -- hoping they would find a piece
BF>of land where they could "live together like brothers and sisters,
BF>regardless of their cultures, attitudes and religions".

The land of North America (and South America) was occupied long
before white Europeans landed on those shores.  And what did those
white Europeans do when they got here?  They got rid of the original
inhabitants.  Or as many as they could.  We would call such a thing
"genocide" today.  But that was then, long before such a term was
ever thought up by man.

 RB>> Realism is not cynicism except to a starry-eyed idealist with RB>his head
 BF> in the clouds and feet well off the ground.

BF>So says the cynic. The true realist says otherwise.

Come on people now
Smile on your brother
Everybody get together
Try to love one another right now.
--from "Get Together" by the Youngbloods

I call it wishful thinking.  We all know it is not going to happen.
Even though we all wish it would or could come true.

 RB>> The letter with the umlaut (or in this case, more correctly, the
 RB>> dieresis) is not a part of the standard English alphabet,

BF>Yes it is. It *‹s* a part of English Proper. But obviously not
BF>a part of US English.

US English?  C'mon.  Get real.  There is nothing "standard" about
English, much less "US English".  Don't believe me?  Here are some
variations of English, and how many folks speak that variation -

72% speak American English
16% speak British English
6% speak Canadian English
5% speak Australian English
1% speak New Zealand English

Those figures are approximate, as there are other variations -

Caribbean English
South African English
Asian/Indian English
Irish
Scottish
Welsh

There are other variations that I can name.
And then there are subdivisions.  Such as
within American English -

Boston English
Chicago English
Atlanta English
Who Dat (New Orleans) English

And then there is Texan, which a language all unto itself.
Let's see how fluent you are in Texan.  Translate the following
into English -

catty whompus
fixin' to
lit out
Norther
Nu-uh
ridin' high
rode hard and put up wet
Ah'mo
chester drawers
tump

Bob can tell you all the answers, as he is fluent in both languages.
Heck, he can probably also give you a translation in German, if you
ask him nicely.  :)

 RB>> and is not commonly used.

BF>If you ever would happen to visit a British web site, such as
BF>bbc.co.uk I bet you'd be surprised then.

I had to learn American English as a second language.  And the
version I did learn can hardly be called "American English", as
it is spoken here with a Cajun accent.  For example, a common
expression around here is "toe da ta" - which, translated into
English, is "Throw out the trash."

"You want me to toe da ta?"
"Where you at?"
"I'm makin' groceries."

--Lee

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