Overheard at a grocery store...

[KamaAina]

"Mexican"? Was it Bush*?

[MADem]

1. Probably one of those "Cool story, bro!" efforts, but I like it anyway.... nt

[small D democrat]

14. I have to concur

Lost my login information and you may remember me as OccamsShaveCream; but this old chestnut gives proof to the proposition that the "walkin' tall in the supermarket line" posts here are way past the use by date.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

17. Interesting that's what motivated you to finally say something. nt

[small D democrat]

19. Yeah, a little regret

But this one, as trenchant as it is, is so hoary and contrived, I wanted to say something. Perhaps it is better to stay silent and be thought a fool...

[Enthusiast]

47. I'm glad that few here share your sentiments.......nt

[annabanana]

58. "hoary and contrived" maybe..

but I still laughed.

[Dawson Leery]

2. LOL!

:kick:

[efhmc]

3. Oldie but goodie.

[KentuckyWoman]

33. indeed

Red Skelton had a skit..... I think it was 2 Apaches in a bar,......

[efhmc]

67. Didn't see that but I know it's been around a while.

Still very timely and clever.

[icymist]

4. Reminds me of the story where some white guy told a Native American to go back where he came from!

He set up a teepee in the white guys back yard.

[mysuzuki2]

5. Good story, whether it's true or not!

[Cha]

6. Actually No. this is America so we can speak

any language we want to and not expect to be harassed by the language police.

This is a new flow of people coming to America than way back then when the English invaded and how many bothered to learn the Native language?..

[RC]

7. Which native language?

And you can't tell me Spanish either.

[merrily]

66. Depends on the part of what is now the US.

There was not only a single language.

[PatrynXX]

10. I'm kinda pro english only for business reasons

but no other reasons. This isn't quebec

so talking over the phone talking to someone else during lunch break in Bosnian (we have Bosnian's here very hard workers. )

No problem. I used to be a bit hardline on this but I've changed and the other thats not exactly important at the moment. we gotta fix the job situation first.

[LiberalElite]

22. Yeah I've mellowed too -

Now when I see signs in Spanish I take it as an opportunity to try to learn the language.

[tavalon]

52. I work in a hospital

Unfortunately, no longer in the south were I can practice my Spanish but it behooves me to get much better,very quickly.

[Amonester]

65. What's that broad-brushed prejudice against Québec?

What do you know about Québec?

Ever been here?

[Skittles]

8. my Brit mum, when Americans told her they loved her accent:

"I'm speaking English; YOU have an accent."

[DRoseDARs]

45. "[The English] don't so much speak the language as chew on it and spit it out."

--Stewie Griffin

[raging moderate]

9. Thank you, Navajo Nation!

We need to hear more from the Native American tribal members!

[PatrynXX]

11. Longmire is dealing with that headon

the show

[IrishAyes]

13. One of my favorite tee shirts

has a picture of Geronimo, Sitting Bull, and (I forget now) with the caption: "The original founding fathers"

[eppur_se_muova]

16. Another T-shirt ...

variations abound.

[JBoy]

12. Dan Quayle would have thought she was speaking Latin. nt

[krispos42]

30. *snicker*

[BlueJazz]

15. I've had people "accuse" me of being from England.

I tell them: Oim a froid it's werse than that ..Oim frum Austrail-e ah

[Spitfire of ATJ]

28. We had someone over with a Sussex accent...

You know,....all so patient with us simple folk.

She was shocked to hear me offer her Darjeeling.

[Ikonoklast]

70. U wot m8?

I swear on me Mum I'll bust yer gob if U call me a Yank again.

[BlueJazz]

71. LOL!

[Swede Atlanta]

18. That reminds me of a recent FB exchange I had with a second cousin......

She is quite a hardened biker (I have nothing against bikers) but definitely someone who probably swallows the teabag talking points lock stock and barrel.

She posted some vitriolic teabag nonsense about illegal immigrants and how they need to be rounded up and deported and we needed to put armed guards at the border with a shoot to kill order for anything that moved.

I responded that her post was harsh and that the issue of immigration is complex with many aspects and that we need comprehensive reform that includes penalties and fines for those that have come here illegally but that they should have a path to citizenship. I was especially concerned about efforts to deny children born in this country of illegal parents of American citizenship.

She replied that the issue was very simple that anyone who was here illegally should be treated harshly and their children and grandchildren should be denied citizenship. I responded that she must then wish that upon herself.

She replied "cousin, our ancestors came here legally so I don't know what you are talking about". I replied, actually none of our ancestors came here legally because the native peoples who were here when the first Europeans arrived never game them legal status. So anyone here who is not a descendant of the native peoples who were here in the 16th and 17th centuries are here illegally.

She didn't defriend me on FB but she has basically ignored me ever since. The truth hurts.....

[wordpix]

27. you could also give her some history about how the US got all that SW territory + CA

It used to all be Mexican---actually THEY were there first.

Not that t-baggers would get it.

[Enthusiast]

49. Yeah. You could ask her about the names of the cities throughout California and the South West.

How did they get those names?

But then, from President Polk, we got manifest destiny. Manifest destiny is the kind of term Adolf Hitler could have come up with-like Lebensraum.

[BillyRibs]

20. Bured dude, you got burned!

And you had it coming!

[KamaAina]

32. I'm in California.

Navajo is spoken in what is now Arizona and New Mexico.

[lunasun]

39. yes and the stories they can tell you about invading immigrants and what they did

A lot more than speak a foriegn language in front of them..............

[Grateful for Hope]

21. Excellent! K&R

[K.O. Stradivarius]

23. As Homer Simpson once said...

"English? Who needs that? I'm never going to England."

[leveymg]

24. Deportation buses are waiting. Yorkshire, London, Middlesex, all aboard!

[KamaAina]

34. I hope they're Volkswagens

"If Ted Kennedy drove a Volkswagen, he'd be President today."

[mwooldri]

61. Naaa.... Megabus - Low Cost Express Bus Service from $1.00...

Bought to you by the nice guys at Stagecoach Group UK...

errr... make that £1.00...



You could get the bus from Philadelphia... err.... nevermind.

[hfojvt]

25. try this joke again written in Navajo

and see if you get 160 recs.

I guess everybody who recced this joke should logically leave this country.

Or does that only apply to the Amuricans we hate?

[MattBaggins]

37. woooosh

[lunasun]

40. +1 same thought here!!!!

[Enthusiast]

50. +2 Me too.

[TlalocW]

26. Reminds me of a joke a Hawaiian comedian told when he was in LA

He was on the corner when someone shouted from a car in Spanish wanting to know what time it is. He said, "Sorry sir, I don't speak Spanish." The guy replied, "What a shame young people not learning their heritage and language," so he started cursing at him in Hawaiian.

TlalocW

[KamaAina]

35. 'Ai kukae!

[kurtzapril4]

63. So, I would love

to know some Hawaiian swears! Please? LOL!

[SheilaT]

29. Love it.

I'm in Santa Fe, NM. Lots of Spanish speakers here, so my Spanish has improved a lot. I also get to hear various Native Americans speaking their own language. I sort of love that I have no hope whatsoever of understanding a single word of whatever their language is.

I also like to point out that the difference between me and someone else here is simply how long ago our ancestors arrived. In some cases, the person is the arriving ancestor.

The other thing that I often remember is an incident that took place in a grocery store in Kansas about ten years ago. The customer ahead of me in the check-out line talked to the sacker, who by name and accent was clearly Russian. He said, "I understand you've just become an American citizen." She said yes, and he then said, "We're lucky to have you."

I think about that a lot. We're lucky to have you applies to just about every immigrant who ever came here. And don't bother to name the less-than-desirable ones. I'm not even worried about them.

[AtheistKing]

31. Correction

I don't mean to be a nit picker, but, English originated in Germany, not England.
What the guy said, however, was as ignorant as they come.

[KamaAina]

36. Bzzzzzt!

Anglo-Saxons as a people may have originated in what is now Germany, but the modern English language definitely developed in England. The Anglo-Saxons in Europe spoke something akin to Old English.

[BlueMTexpat]

46. There is also a LOT of French influence in English, especially dating from 1066.

Celtic dialects and Latin were used in the British isles before the Anglo-Saxons arrived. In 1066, the Normans were the last successful military invaders of the British Isles. They brought their language with them.

Modern English has borrowed from many languages and cultures around the world - which is what makes it such a rich, flexible and expressive language.

The same logic applies to making countries/cultures rich and adaptable.

We are ALL from "somewhere else." Our only common point of origin appears to be Africa and that was W-a-a-ay Back When.

[mwooldri]

64. Joke time... Four famous authors walk into a bar...

Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens and J K Rowling.

Since I'm awful at making jokes that are actually funny, that's as far as I got... but I +1 your point. English *is* a mongrel language, with all kinds of influences - from the Germanic, the Gallic, the Celtic, the Romanic, the Greek... English changes. Words come, and words go. Some change their meaning entirely. Charles Dickens wouldn't know what sexting or twerking would be... yet these words have entered the English language. Likewise, words considered to be English have made their way into many other languages. IMO Japanese has an awful lot of English loan words. The French try to minimise their English loan words. And as for spelling and grammar? Please don't get me started. This posting I'm doing right now.. it's more of a conversational piece than a formal written letter. British English vs American English, vs other regional variations...

Agreed - one common point is in Africa - waaaaay back.

[efhmc]

75. Darn. I was really looking forward to that joke. It had such a great leadup.

[dgibby]

56. True that,

and it was something I didn't know until I started doing genealogical research. Found out throught DNA studies that one branch of my family with the same name originated in Germany and England. Now to figure out the migration patterns. I'm guessing we originated in Germany, then migrated to England, then onto America.

[jwirr]

38. I absolutely love it. Some years ago I was able to visit DC and while standing on the steps in front

of the Lincoln memorial I could hear the people walking past me speaking in all kinds of tongues - it felt so good to hear this and think about MLK's speech from those steps.

[gopiscrap]

41. Excellent

[Niceguy1]

42. love the

Fantasy shopping checkout line threads, theybare always a hoot. Almost as hood as the chaning the tv and hiding the remote discussions

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

43. Totally made up, but makes a great point.

[sakabatou]

44. Sounds like it's something passed along.

[B Calm]

48. +1

[tavalon]

51. Awesome,

Alas, that fellow needs to know that within a decade, perhaps two, Spanish will be the number two language spoken in this nation. And we will probably, kicking and screaming, follow in the footsteps of Montreal, as we should have a long time ago. It keeps us provincial to have one national language.

Tiene Preguntas?

[Bay Boy]

53. It isn't already the number two

language here?

[unionthug777]

54. that reminds me

my son and i were waiting in line to get on a ferris wheel. we were talking and the man in front of us turned around and said "que pasa amigo?" trying to impress his young daughter with his knowledge of spanish, i guess. i looked at him and calmly informed him that " my son and i are native americans". the look on his face was priceless as he turned around. lol

[judesedit]

55. That is the best yet! Thanx for sharing

[Baitball Blogger]

57. LOVE IT!

[cynzke]

59. Morons!

WHY DON'T WE DEPORT THEM!

[Shemp Howard]

60. The joke itself is unintentionally offensive and racist.

Last edited Sat Sep 28, 2013, 12:14 PM - Edit history (1)

The joke is out to make a point, and that point is made very well.

But why does the "man" have to be a "white man"?

No one here should accept any joke or comment that smears any ethnic group. Any ethnic group. IMHO, that's part of being progressive.

To those who might say "lighten up, it's no big deal", I would say this: No, it is a big deal. It's little things like this that push us, as a nation, apart. And every little bit does damage.

And to those who might say "well, it's mainly white men who have that attitude", I would say this: Profile much, do you?

So how about this. Replace "white man" with "customer". Get your point across while taking the high road.

Peace.

[efhmc]

68. Even if you use the word "customer" when I close my eyes I can see many of

the white guys I know in this small central Texas town saying this exactly. They are the only ones who come to my mind. Yep, except most people around here know what Spanish sounds like.

[noiretextatique]

72. poor white people

so put upon and blamed for everything...it is a shame.

[Shemp Howard]

74. I'm curious about something.

Please tell me, specifically, what part of my Post #60 you disagree with. If you would be so kind, avoid generalities. Pick out a sentence and tell me where I'm wrong.

Or do you simply believe in the concept of collective guilt?

And for what it is worth, don't automatically assume that I'm a "white man". Because you'd be wrong.

But you can assume that I will speak up when any ethnic or racial group is smeared, whether it's here at DU or around the water cooler.

[KamaAina]

73. Your concern is duly noted.

And I couldn't replace it if I wanted to. It's an image from Facebook.

[DirkGently]

69. Perfect. n/t

[Jamastiene]

76. True.

I remember a T-shirt I saw back in the 90s that said, "What are you calling immigrant, pilgrim?" I think it was a Rage Against the Machine t-shirt. So true.