[AGL] Why 'merkins don't vote

[Harry Edwards]

au contraire, Injuh is developing at an astronomical rate.  and it's 
because most of them speak English.                     twisty

On May 6, 2006, at 11:18 PM, Frances Morey wrote:

> An Indian friend of mine told me that in India over 4,000 languages 
> were spoken and he also said that this accounts for why that country 
> hasn't developed.
> Frances
>
> Wayne Johnson <cadaobh at shentel.net> wrote:
>> There is Mandarin which the "upper classes" or maybe "northern 
>> Chinese"
>> spoke, very beautiful to listen to, like silk sliding on silk, subtle
>> harmonies, lilting phrases. There is Cantonese which is more
>> "guttural"...at least to my uneducated ear and, I think, more 
>> Southern.
>> (Gung hay fat choy you all?) Somewhat singy-songy to me. What do I 
>> know. I
>> do know, on the other hand, there are dozens, hundreds, maybe 
>> thousands of
>> dialects and sub-linguistic groups in what we now call "China". Being 
>> a
>> linguist there, must require astounding feats of hearing and memory. 
>> Hats
>> off to 'em, says I.
>>
>> What can one say of a nation of that size wherein almost everyone 
>> seems to
>> be a really good cook?
>>
>> wgJ
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Harry Edwards"
>> To: "survivors' reminiscences about Austin Ghetto Daze in the 60s"
>>
>> Sent: Saturday, May 06, 2006 9:45 AM
>> Subject: Re: [AGL] Why 'merkans vote for the GOP
>>
>>
>> > technically there IS no Chinese as a language. There are several 
>> forms of
>> > Chinese, including Mandarin etc. Can't remember the others. In 
>> India it's
>> > Hindi, Bengali, Tamil etc. These 2 countries account for a mere 2 
>> and a
>> > half billion people. twisty
>> >
>> > On May 6, 2006, at 8:10 AM, Frances Morey wrote:
>> >
>> >> Okay, I'm guessing that Chinese is the most widely spoken native
>> >> language. Is it measured by the size of the population that speaks 
>> it?
>> >> English is mightly widespread because of our exported entertainment
>> >> production--one German told me that his mastery of English came 
>> from
>> >> listening to rock 'n' roll.
>> >>
>> >> G'morning, Wayne,
>> >> Austin has seen two stormy days, trees blown over, limbs down all 
>> over
>> >> town, and it is lightening again this morning. My little garden 
>> plants
>> >> survived and all the rain relieves me of having to water.
>> >> Hope you are good. Keep on working to counter the ignorance 
>> penumbra
>> >> through teaching.
>> >> Best,
>> >> Frances
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> Wayne Johnson wrote:
>> >>> Dumb people do dumb things.
>> >>>
>> >>> Add Geography to the growing list of major intellectual 
>> non-events in
>> >>> the life of Young Americans. [Critical thinking? I didn't know 
>> criticals
>> >>> could think? Aren't criticals just black grasshoppers?]
>> >>>
>> >>> How can there be truly "free" elections when the voters don't 
>> know their
>> >>> ass from a hot rock. Geography? D'oh! History? D'oh! Politics? 
>> D'oh,
>> >>> D'oh! [Hey, he sounds like my old man, I will vote for him. Oh, 
>> wasn't
>> >>> she on ER? I will vote for her.]
>> >>>
>> >>> I mean like the really Important Things are like in the Mall, 
>> dude.
>> >>> Chill out.
>> >>>
>> >>> ------------------------------------------
>> >>>
>> >>> Thirty-three percent of respondents couldn't pinpoint Louisiana 
>> on a
>> >>> map. [I wonder how many people in LA can find their own state on 
>> the
>> >>> map. Or for that matter Texas.]
>> >>> Fewer than three in 10 think it important to know the locations of
>> >>> countries in the news and just 14 percent believe speaking another
>> >>> language is a necessary skill. [No wonder some people thought the
>> >>> Sandanistas were going to invade El Paso.]
>> >>> Two-thirds didn't know that the earthquake that killed 70,000 
>> people in
>> >>> October 2005 occurred in Pakistan.
>> >>> Six in 10 could not find Iraq on a map of the Middle East. [My 
>> brother
>> >>> just got killed somewhere, dude. Hey, is that an Xbox?]
>> >>> Forty-seven percent could not find the Indian subcontinent on a 
>> map of
>> >>> Asia. [Bombay isn't if Florida?]
>> >>> Seventy-five percent were unable to locate Israel on a map of the 
>> Middle
>> >>> East. [Drive due East from Gibraltar. Oh, where is Gibraltar?]
>> >>> Nearly three-quarters incorrectly named English as the most widely
>> >>> spoken native language. [Spanglish?]
>> >>> Six in 10 did not know the border between North and South Korea 
>> is the
>> >>> most heavily fortified in the world. [Korea? Isn't that in South 
>> America
>> >>> somewhere? Oh, cool shoes, bro'!]
>> >>> Thirty percent thought the most heavily fortified border was 
>> between the
>> >>> United States and Mexico. [Well, this will likely happen soon if 
>> the
>> >>> Minutemen and other patriotic racists get their way.]
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> Source: The Associated
>> >
>> >
>>
>>