Hoot Owl wrote: I did not mean to imply you were stupid, my apology. I started typing in "pressure coo" and the instructions for the bomb came up, first. I dont want to know how to make one. My first thought was, where is the stove and the cord? Now who is the stupid one?
No problem, I shouldn't have been so snarky... sorry.
It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies and nosers−out of unorthodoxy
bailey bud wrote: We need to register pressure cookers......
I also think pressure cooker owners need to be trained properly and certified before they can have one.
Joking aside - I'm irritated as hell about people on planes panicking because there's two people on board speaking Arabic.
(the passengers were removed from the flight).
Hell - I was speaking Arabic last week with a nice kid from Saudi - on my flight from Chicago to Denver.
What the hell is wrong with speaking Arabic?
(I think it's simply being friendly - got a problem with that?).
(I'm sure you've heard this but...)
question: What do you call someone who speaks 3 languages?
answer: Trilingual
question: What do you call someone who speaks two languages?
answer: Bilingual
question: What do you call someone who speaks one language?
answer: American
I'm irritated as hell that we seem not only to be turning into a nation of xenophobes but that so many are willing to lay that suspicion of "otherness" on their neighbors.
It's just as PrintSmith said on another thread, with freedom comes risk. The people on that plane that reported the Arabic speakers are part of the contingent that seem to think have a semi-police state will make them safer.
Certain times there are prudent ways to act. And jabbering in Arabic on an airplane after the marathon bombing is legal but pretty stupid and should be avoided if at all possible.
Thomas Sowell: There are no solutions, just trade-offs.
bailey bud wrote: We need to register pressure cookers......
I also think pressure cooker owners need to be trained properly and certified before they can have one.
Joking aside - I'm irritated as hell about people on planes panicking because there's two people on board speaking Arabic.
(the passengers were removed from the flight).
Hell - I was speaking Arabic last week with a nice kid from Saudi - on my flight from Chicago to Denver.
What the hell is wrong with speaking Arabic?
(I think it's simply being friendly - got a problem with that?).
(I'm sure you've heard this but...)
question: What do you call someone who speaks 3 languages?
answer: Trilingual
question: What do you call someone who speaks two languages?
answer: Bilingual
question: What do you call someone who speaks one language?
answer: American
I'm irritated as hell that we seem not only to be turning into a nation of xenophobes but that so many are willing to lay that suspicion of "otherness" on their neighbors.
That's a pretty broad brush statement... what's your source, or is that just your "feeling"? One out of four Americans speak at least one other language (mostly Spanish). And how many Americans have the need to speak many languages? If I learned French in high school (which I did), how does that make me a better person than someone who only knows English? Since high school, I've had maybe two or three instances when knowing French was even remotely useful... 33 years later. I've forgotten much of it since I don't have the need to use the language. Guess I'm devolving into a xenophobe.
It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies and nosers−out of unorthodoxy
Very true about Americans and languages. Because of our liberal immigration policies (compared to most other countries) a large percentage of Americans are immigrants and speak English as a second language, and many of those have children who speak some of their parent's tongue.
And just look at how many people speak Spanglish.
Thomas Sowell: There are no solutions, just trade-offs.
