Why isnt English the official language of the USA?

Presley.   Mon May 08, 2006 2:43 am GMT
The United States is a land of immigrants. English-speaking people, thought they have lived in the land for barely hundreds of years, are immigrants too. Logically, a true "American" would be of Native American descent. It just happened that the founding fathers were English speakers. In America, we are given the freedom and right to speak any language of our choice.
Jake   Mon May 08, 2006 4:07 am GMT
This is awsome,
we have so many wars going on all around the world right now,
so many people sleeping in the streets because they don't have a house like probably you do Markus ,
so much HIV infecting thousands everyday,
so many young people that can't afford to go to college,
so many people that can't even afford to eat,
global warming,
and so many other issues that need to be addressed, that
are yelling out "solve me" and still somebody dares to propose a debate about something like this,

does it really matter?
and if it does? what do you care?
see, I don't know how to tell you this, but,
this is america,
now it's too late and you know it


please, find something better to do,
Guest   Mon May 08, 2006 4:39 am GMT
<<Also can some one explain why there is a rift between Spanish speaking/"Hispanic" people and "white" people in America. In Europe there is not that attitude of Spain being ethnicly different?>>

The is rift is not exactly between Hispanic people and "white" people in America per se. The rift is between the undocumented immigrants, who happen to be mostly Spanish-speaking, and the largely white, English-speaking middle class who fear that the rising population of poor, non-English speaking immigrants is changing the cultural and economic landscape of the country (for the worse, in their opinion). Americans of Hispanic descent (i.e. those who were educated in the US and raised as Americans) are regarded no differently than other Americans, at least in the big cities. I can't tell you how they're treated elsewhere in the country.
BNP   Mon May 08, 2006 9:04 am GMT
Every country has the right to defend its borders and these spics should be dealt with accordingly.
Kick out those that decended from paddies.
Uriel   Mon May 08, 2006 9:36 am GMT
<<Also can some one explain why there is a rift between Spanish speaking/"Hispanic" people and "white" people in America. In Europe there is not that attitude of Spain being ethnicly different?>>

Well, there's actually an economic theory of ethnicity that says that ethnic groups are defined when two groups different in some way (social, linguistic, national origin, etc) begin to compete for the same resources or opportunities. With hispanics now surpassing blacks in numbers, they are becoming a very major minority.

("Hispanic" in the US just means that you come from a Spanish-speaking heritage; you can be of any color. Carribbean hispanics are often black, European hispanics white, and those from south of the border often have a high percentage of Indian ancestry. It's hard to generalize, though, because people from all those regions vary so much! The difference between "hispanic" and "white" in the US is often more cultural than physical.)
Jim C, Jorvikskyr   Mon May 08, 2006 1:52 pm GMT
Ahhh, I was watching a stand up called Pablo Francisco the other day (so funny I couldn't breath) thats what got me thinking about it. I asumed it was purley cultural differences (yet there are so many cultural differences in Europe) but then he said "I don't even look Latino", and a previous programme I had watched about the USA, interviewed some "hispanic" kids, who were seriusly disadvanteged compared to other kids, just because of what language they spoke...all very confusing.
lu   Mon May 08, 2006 2:09 pm GMT
Pardon me, but what does "stand up" mean??
Uriel   Mon May 08, 2006 3:44 pm GMT
<<Pardon me, but what does "stand up" mean??>>

Short for "stand-up comedian". So named because they literally stand up on an empty stage and do their act in front of you, rather than as part of a show or movie.

<<Ahhh, I was watching a stand up called Pablo Francisco the other day (so funny I couldn't breath) thats what got me thinking about it. I asumed it was purley cultural differences (yet there are so many cultural differences in Europe) but then he said "I don't even look Latino">>

Most of the hispanics around here are brown-skinned and black-haired (the stereotype), and those of us of more "European" (white) looks get no credit for being hispanic, even from our own! So it is a complicated situation sometimes.

The thing about having so many cultural differences, as you mention, is that if there are a bewildering array, you pay no attention to them. This happens in the US, too. If your neighbors are Armenian, Italian, Polish, Chinese, etc., you make no distinction between them. It's when they start forming a single distinctive bloc (all Polish, all Chinese, all hispanic), complete with culture, language, and social differences, that you start treating them as an entity unto themselves. This happened with the Irish, the Italians, Eastern European immigrants, etc. back in the day, and it happens to be happening with hispanics today. Tomorrow it may be a totally different group.
Jim C, York   Mon May 08, 2006 4:24 pm GMT
At least I'm not the only one that gets bewildered by all this race nonsence. Very interesting how it all works in America, I saw a Daily Show which was all about race, very funny. One of the correspondents started using paint colour charts to describe different people. My family and I had no idea that you Americans could be so ironic and scaithing about your own country.
Jonsie   Tue May 09, 2006 5:39 am GMT
Can the administrator of the website or whoever controls this forum cancel this nonsensical thread, pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease!!!
Jim C, York   Tue May 09, 2006 5:44 am GMT
Why is it nonsence? Its interesting to discuss things like this.
Damian in Edinburgh   Tue May 09, 2006 7:57 am GMT
*** My family and I had no idea that you Americans could be so ironic and scaithing about your own country***

It's so funny you should mention that. As part of the Fringe during the Edinburgh International Festival last year I went to see a show called "My America", which was basically a satirical show all about life in America today, and it was organised and performed by a large group of students from a school in St Louis, Missouri, USA. (The American Students' Theatre Group). It was brilliant, and it literally made fun of the many bizarre things about American puritanism and hypocrisy and public attitudes to sex while at the same time producing the world's most lurid porn, suing for millions over spilt hot cups of coffee, money rules America, advertising and rampant over commercialism and all the rest of it that much of the rest of the world thinks is oddly but "ever so American" (but not all that different from other countries in some respects).

The amazing thing was that it was Americans themselves doing the whole show. When we Brits said that we never thought Americans would ever take the piss out of themselves, as the impression we have is that they are mostly an anally retentive lot and hate seeing their country in any sort of negative light, the general reacion from the students was "Well, we all know what America is like!"

The students were a great bunch of girls and guys and it was great fun chatting with them at the Pleasance courtyard after the show and we got the story through and through.

http://www.edfringe.com/shows/detail.php?action=shows&id=MYAME
Guest   Tue May 09, 2006 8:25 am GMT
According to Wikipedia, only 2% of the population of the UK in 2001 was Black British and 4% British Asian (official census descriptions).

As one who watches a lot of UK television, I was surprised at these figures, as the representation of these groups of the population seems so much higher than those percentages would suggest.

Is this because of some legal requirement?
Uriel   Tue May 09, 2006 9:11 am GMT
*** My family and I had no idea that you Americans could be so ironic and scaithing about your own country***

That's because you're foreigners and you gullibly believe the hype! ;p And the Daily Show is frickin' hysterical.
Uriel   Tue May 09, 2006 9:21 am GMT
<<At least I'm not the only one that gets bewildered by all this race nonsence. Very interesting how it all works in America, I saw a Daily Show which was all about race, very funny. >>

If you're reeeeeeeeally interested in how race and ethnicity works in the US vs Europe, Jim, you can catch yours truly and some of the rest of the Antimoon gang discussing it in more depth here:

http://www.langcafe.net/viewtopic.php?t=796&postorder=asc&start=15