Who says compuerization is progress?

[lederstiefel1]

...and concerning the "church(es)" I can only really, really recommend the book "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins.

It's absolutely fascinating! READ IT!!

Ralf

 

[sudsmaster]

I learned some French in high school. About 10 years later I found myself vagabonding in Mexico and Guatemala, and not knowing much Spanish. What little I knew I think I must have infused with a sort of French accent, because people would listen to my fractured Spanish, look at my quizzically and ask me where I was from. After I got back, I enrolled in a college Spanish course, enough to understand the basics, but haven't been back down there long enough to use it.

It sounds like the Spanish people were not dismissive of your "Sud-Americano" accent. I have heard, however, that some French people are rather dismissive of those who speak Quebecois French - even though, like Mexican Spanish, it retains older forms of the mother tongue.

 

[panthera]

I suspect

the more we insist on labels, the less we will accomplish.
My last year in an American High School, we were supposed to fill in a questionnaire which included such terribly personal questions as our ethnic and racial origins. I refused.

Upon my refusal, I was dragged to the director's offices (Vice-Principal for Discipline) where I was informed that I would be suspended if the form was not completed.

Since I couldn't risk my college scholarship, I caved. Checked the box "other" and wrote in: Denizen of Sol III.

Bastards had to accept it, it was forbidden to change a student's answer...

To my ear, Cuban Spanish is the easiest to understand, Columbian has the prettiest variations - "asia" for "ella" - and much of the Spanish spoken in Spain sounds like someone has a lisp and is light in the loafers.

Yikes - probably gonna have the PC-Police on me back for that one, so, in advance: Dahlinks, I was flaming in mink and boas before you even knew how to flutter your eyelashes. Give it a rest.
Oh, hell, now the fur-freaks are going to be jumping in with the PC-Police, sirens a-blazing.

 

[lederstiefel1]

Rich and Keven

No, Rich, they were absolutely not dismissive but thought first I'd lived once in America for a while because of my accent...lol
The strangest thing happened to me was the year after that holiday/exchange-time in Mexico, when I came back from a back-packer trip throughout Europe, sitting in the train that brought me back from Paris to Germany and an Argentine couple came into my compartment, messing about with the little flyer timetables they found on their seats for connections in Frankfurt/Germany which they could not read. I offered my help and both said immediately: "Are you Mexican? But you don't look like one!"
I had to laugh and explained everything. Finally we all had to laugh and they had got all the information they needed!

French was once nearly my second mother-tongue - made my school-leaving examn in it - and I was much better in French than in English at that time. But I did hardly use French for ages and so I have lost a lot of knowledge since...

Keven, I do agree with you, concerning Spanish!

I cannot believe what I read there about the school report!??
If that would have taken place in my time at school, we'd simply thrown the whole bundle out of the window and had made a sit-in strike for one day if not lynched the director! Nobody could have forced us to give such private information to the school or someone else!
We'd had a riot alarm at school!
And I'm sure that such a questioning is illegal in Germany anyway.

Ralf

 

[maggie~hamilton]

I thot it was "Spectacles, Testicles, Wallet, Cigar"

 

[maggie~hamilton]

http://www.ratemyeverything.net/post/1262/Come_Here_Little_Boy.aspx

 

[58limited]

~I cannot believe what I read there about the school report!??

Similar info is asked on many private and government forms - for demographic data. Also, used on college financial aid applications to see if you are eligible for scholarships and grants based on ethnicity.

My last U.S. Census form that I filled out, I was so fed up with the ethnic breakdowns to choose from (a very long list of hyphenated choices) that I checked "other" and wrote Texan-American.