The English-only movement

[seamusTX]

The following words that came directly from languages other than English will be banned:

• Alamo
• Amarillo
• Bexar (these are county names)
• Blanco
• Bolivar
• Bosque
• bronco
• Brazos
• burrito
• camino
• Castro (county - French, believe it or not)
• Cherokee
• Colorado
• Comal
• Comanche
• Concho
• Corpus Christi (Latin)
• corral
• El Paso
• enchilada
• fajitas
• Frio
• Garza
• Goliad
• Gonzalez
• Guadalupe
• gumbo (African)
• Hidalgo
• jambalaya (African)
• Lamar (French)
• Lampasas
• Laredo
• La Salle
• lasso
• Lavaca (the cow in Spanish)
• Leon
• Llano
• Matagorda
• Medina
• mesa
• Missouri
• Nacogdoches (Indian)
• Navarro
• Nueces (means nuts in Spanish)
• okra (African)
• palo (occurring in many place names)
• Panola (Indian)
• Paris (French)
• Pecos
• Presidio
• Refugio
• rio
• rodeo
• Sabine
• salsa
• San Antonio
• San Jacinto and every other name that begins with San or Santa
• Seguin (French by way of Mexico)
• taco
• tamale
• tequila
• tortilla
• Uvalde
• Waxahachie (Indian)
• Wichita
• Zapata (county - Spanish for shoe)
• Zavala (county)
• Texas

- Jim

[psijac]

deja vu!

[WildBill]

The following words that came directly from languages other than English will be banned:
[*]burrito
[*]enchilada
[*]fajitas
[*]jambalaya (African)
[*]okra (African)
[*]taco
[*]tamale
[*]tequila
[*]tortilla
- Jim

From now on, I guess I will be eating only "American Food."

[jimlongley]

Schenectady, Scotia, Schenevus, Syracuse, Utica . . .

[jester]

"English not only borrows words from other languages; it has on occasion chased other languages down dark alley-ways, clubbed them unconscious and rifled their pockets for new vocabulary."

[WildBill]

I live in ҖдΣΦφώ, the state formerly known as Texas.

[OldCannon]

"English not only borrows words from other languages; it has on occasion chased other languages down dark alley-ways, clubbed them unconscious and rifled their pockets for new vocabulary."

OMG, who said that? I love it!

English isn't the only language to "borrow", and as globalization continues, it will merely increase. In Japanese, the word 電子メール means email and is pronounced almost exactly the same way (i-me-ru, or me-ru).

It is not words that people seek to ban, it is culture. A language creates (or carries) a very specific cultural identification. Even dialects have strong cultural identities (Scottish English vs British English is one example). Conforming to a single language in a place that has (relatively) uniform cultural consistency not only makes sense, it prevents the necessary avalanche of cultural inclusion that other languages would require. You can't say Spanish is an acceptable language just to appease one minority that has a bigger minority than other languages. Pretty soon you have Russian, Vietnamese, Ukrainian, Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese), German, Yiddish, etc. (but NEVER French ).

"Borrowing" words is normal for any healthy language, but to require recognition of other languages means that you must also absorb that culture as well. It's one thing to be an observer of other cultures, choosing to participate or not, it's another thing entirely to be required to assimilate it.

[chartreuse]

"English not only borrows words from other languages; it has on occasion chased other languages down dark alley-ways, clubbed them unconscious and rifled their pockets for new vocabulary."

OMG, who said that? I love it!

Sounds like something Terry Pratchett might say.

Off the top of my head, we could add pyjamas (Indian) and Admiral (Arabic) to the list.

Anyway - if we're going to be English-only, then I'll be OK, 'cos I'm English, but what will the rest of y'all do?

[WildBill]

"English not only borrows words from other languages; it has on occasion chased other languages down dark alley-ways, clubbed them unconscious and rifled their pockets for new vocabulary."

OMG, who said that? I love it!

Sounds like something Terry Pratchett might say.

Off the top of my head, we could add pyjamas (Indian) and Admiral (Arabic) to the list.

Anyway - if we're going to be English-only, then I'll be OK, 'cos I'm English, but what will the rest of y'all do?

With the name "chartreuse" who are you to talk?

"The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that the English language is as pure as a crib-house whore. It not only borrows words from other languages; it has on occasion chased other languages down dark alley-ways, clubbed them unconscious and rifled their pockets for new vocabulary."
-- James Davis Nicoll

[tacticool]

Don't forget the technology words that come from ancient Greek and Latin roots.

It's funny though. If an America goes to a foreign country and expects them to speak English, he's called the ugly American. However, when a foreigner comes to America and expects us to speak his language, it's racist to call him ugly _____ican. Why the double standard?

[Mando'a]

Don't forget the technology words that come from ancient Greek and Latin roots.

It's funny though. If an America goes to a foreign country and expects them to speak English, he's called the ugly American. However, when a foreigner comes to America and expects us to speak his language, it's racist to call him ugly _____ican. Why the double standard?

I've always wondered the same.

I've lived in Italy and Germany.

My Italian was good enough to get around. My German was conversational (but far from fluent).

Learn your host language, the natives will respect you more.

[OldCannon]

Don't forget the technology words that come from ancient Greek and Latin roots.

It's funny though. If an America goes to a foreign country and expects them to speak English, he's called the ugly American. However, when a foreigner comes to America and expects us to speak his language, it's racist to call him ugly _____ican. Why the double standard?

It's an interesting point, but 200 years ago, the same could be said of French (although mastery in other languages was a diplomatic necessity before one undertook perilous trips across the Atlantic). Historically, the language of the dominant economic power has played a significant role in communication. This is raised another order of magnitude with the prevalence of English on the Internet. Some countries/locales aggressively prevent English (or the more culturally-neutral term, "Western influence") from being used in various areas (Quebec is a great example, actually). It's all about walling off the culture, or projecting it, as it were.

The other problem is that most Americans aren't raised in a multi-linguistic "world", as those in Europe, India, or Asia might be. Our history is far shorter and much more benign than most countries. That and our global isolation lends to the strong perception that learning other languages isn't necessary (and it really isn't -- there is more to see and do in a lifetime for most people without ever straying beyond our borders).

Having spent time in other countries, the "ugly American" is definitely one of cultural sensitivity. Not just in language, but in manners and general behavior. Nobody should go to another foreign country and expect them to conform to your culture, but Americans are not the only ones to behave in such a manner, I assure you.

[Hoi Polloi]

Here are a few more that reflect the melting pot of American history. We've always had a nationality of people we looked down upon, haven't we? The Irish and Africans as slaves, the Russian Communists, and now the Mexicans. Nothing under the sun is new, neither is any man able to say: Behold this is new: for it hath already gone before in the ages that were before us. -Ecclesiastes 1:10

ad absurdum
(ad ab-sir'dum) [Lat.]: to the point of absurdity. “He tediously repeated his argument ad absurdum.”
ad infinitum
(ad in-fun-eye'tum) [Lat.]: to infinity. “The lecture seemed to drone on ad infinitum.”
ad nauseam
(ad noz'ee-um) [Lat.]: to a sickening degree. “The politician uttered one platitude after another ad nauseam.”
aficionado
(uh-fish'ya-nah'doh) [Span.]: an ardent devotee. “I was surprised at what a baseball aficionado she had become.”
angst
(angkst) [Ger.]: dread and anxiety. “Sylvia's teenage angst was nothing compared to the parental angst experienced by the two individuals whose duty it was to raise her.”
bona fide
(boh'na fide) [Lat.]: in good faith; genuine. “For all her reticence and modesty, it was clear that she was a bona fide expert in her field.”
carpe diem
(kar'pay dee'um) [Lat.]: seize the day. “So what if you have an 8:00 a.m. meeting tomorrow and various appointments? Carpe diem!”
carte blanche
(kart blonsh') [Fr.]: unrestricted power to act on one's own. “I may have carte blanche around the office, but at home I'm a slave to my family's demands.”
caveat emptor
(kav'ee-ot emp'tor) [Lat.]: let the buyer beware. “Before you leap at that real estate deal, caveat emptor!”
comme ci comme ça
(kom see' kom sah') [Fr.]: so-so. “The plans for the party strike me as comme ci comme ça.”
coup de grâce
(koo de grahss') [Fr.]: finishing blow. “After an already wildly successful day, the coup de grâce came when she won best all-around athlete.”
de rigueur
(duh ree-gur') [Fr.]: strictly required, as by etiquette, usage, or fashion. “Loudly proclaiming one's support for radical causes had become de rigueur among her crowd.”
dolce vita
(dole'chay vee'tuh) [Ital.]: sweet life; the good life perceived as one of physical pleasure and self-indulgence. “My vacation this year is going to be two uninterrupted weeks of dolce vita.”
doppelgänger
(dop'pul-gang-ur) [Ger.]: a ghostly double or counterpart of a living person. “I could not shake the sense that some shadowy doppelgänger echoed my every move.”
ex cathedra
(ex kuh-thee'druh) [Lat.]: with authority; used especially of those pronouncements of the pope that are considered infallible. “I resigned myself to obeying; my father's opinions were ex cathedra in our household.”
ex post facto
(ex' post fak'toh) [Lat.]: retroactively. “I certainly hope that the change in policy will be honored ex post facto.”
fait accompli
(fate ah-kom-plee') [Fr.]: an accomplished fact, presumably irreversible. “There's no use protesting—it's a fait accompli.”>
faux pas
(foh pah') [Fr.]: a social blunder. “Suddenly, she realized she had unwittingly committed yet another faux pas.”
hoi polloi
(hoy' puh-loy') [Gk.]: the common people. “Marie Antoinette recommended cake to the hoi polloi.”
in loco parentis
(in loh'koh pa-ren'tiss) [Lat.]: in the place of a parent. “The court appointed a guardian for the children, to serve in loco parentis.”
in medias res
(in me'-dee-as rays) [Lat.]: in the middle of a sequence of occurences. “The film begins in medias res, with a panting, terrified man running through the night.”
in situ
(in sit'too) [Lat.]: situated in the original or natural position. “I prefer seeing statues in situ rather than in the confines of a museum.”
in vino veritas
(in vee'no vare'i-toss) [Lat.]: in wine there is truth. “By the end of the party, several of the guests had made a good deal of their private lives public, prompting the host to murmur to his wife, ‘in vino veritas.’”
ipso facto
(ip'soh fak'toh) [Lat.]: by the fact itself. “An extremist, ipso facto, cannot become part of a coalition.”
je ne sais quoi
(zheh neh say kwah') [Fr.]: I know not what; an elusive quality. “She couldn't explain it, but there was something je ne sais quoi about him that she found devastatingly attractive.”
mano a mano
(mah'no ah mah'no) [Span.]: directly or face-to-face in a confrontation or conflict. “‘Stay out of it,’ he admonished his friends, ‘I want to handle this guy mano a mano.’”
mea culpa
(may'uh kul'puh) [Lat.]: I am to blame. “His mea culpa was so offhand that I hardly think he meant it.”
memento mori
(muh-men'toh more'ee) [Lat.]: a reminder that you must die. “The skull rested on the mantlepiece as a memento mori.”
nom de plume
(nom duh ploom') [Fr.]: pen name. “Deciding it was time to sit down and begin a novel, the would-be writer spent the first several hours deciding upon a suitable nom de plume.”
nota bene
(noh'tuh ben'nee) [Ital.]: note well; take notice. “Her postcard included a reminder: nota bene, I'll be returning on the 11 o'clock train.”
persona non grata
(per-soh'nuh non grah'tuh) [Lat.]: unacceptable or unwelcome person. “Once I was cut out of the will, I became persona non grata among my relatives.”
prima facie
(pry'ma fay'she) [Lat.]: at first sight, clear and evident. “Although her husband implored, ‘I can explain!’ the sight of another woman wrapped in his arms was prima facie evidence that he was a deceitful lout.”
pro bono
(pro boh'noh) [Lat.]: done or donated without charge; free. “The lawyer's pro bono work gave him a sense of value that his work on behalf of the corporation could not.”
quid pro quo
(kwid' pro kwoh') [Lat.]: something for something; an equal exchange. “She vowed that when she had the means, she would return his favors quid pro quo.”
schadenfreude
(shah den froy'deh) [Ger.]: pleasure at someone else's misfortunes. “Schadenfreude suffused the classroom after the insufferably supercilious class pet was caught cheating by the teacher.”
veni, vidi, vici
(ven'ee vee'dee vee'chee) [Lat.]: I came, I saw, I conquered. “After the takeover the business mogul gloated, ‘veni, vidi, vici.’”
verboten
(fer-boh'ten) [Ger.]: forbidden, as by law; prohibited. “That topic, I am afraid, is verboten in this household.”
Zeitgeist
(zite'guyst) [Ger.]: the thought or sensibility characteristic of a particular period of time. “She blamed it on the Zeitgeist, which encouraged hedonistic excess.”

[WildBill]

The following words that came directly from languages other than English will be banned: - Jim

See what you started?

[megs]

An interesting timeline here. http://www.danshort.com/ie/timeline.htm