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25 Responses to “Que?”

1. Susan says:

   June 14, 2006 at 5:07 pm

   You’re right.

   “Is” is also captalized unnecessarily. I mean really; some people need to learn English.
2. Kyso Kisaen says:

   June 14, 2006 at 5:07 pm

   Maybe the quotes are the textual equivalent of speaking slowly and louder so that the person who does not speak English has a chance to comprehend what is being said. They’re like the autotranslater in FFXI, where certian words appear in brackets telling you they’ve been translated into different languages on other preople’s screens. In this case, the quotes turn “Speak English” into “Habla Ingles” in the Spanish-speaking person’s brain.
3. Betty Cracker says:

   June 14, 2006 at 5:20 pm

   The sign lacks terminal punctuation in both sentences too. Also, I would have placed a comma after “ordering,” but that’s just a style choice, so I guess we can let them slide on that. Still, it would have been a smoother transition with a clearly defined introductory clause.

   And what’s up with the LA Times misrepresenting the content of the sign? The article says the sign says, “This Is America. When Ordering Please Speak English.”

   Note the inclusion of the missing terminal punctuation and the insertion of the polite “please” where it doesn’t exist. Wankers.
4. McBoing says:

   June 14, 2006 at 5:35 pm

   Do bald eagles speak English, I wonder?
5. punkass marc says:

   June 14, 2006 at 5:44 pm

   I don’t know, but it appears they do a mean seig heil.
6. Ryan says:

   June 14, 2006 at 8:45 pm

   The panda says, “No!”
7. Douglas, Friend of Osho says:

   June 14, 2006 at 8:58 pm

   I think eagles are like dogs in that regard. I’ve been given to understand that they, hawks, falcons and the like can comprehend human voice commands and only respond to ones in the language in which they were trained.
   I can’t take seriously a sign which uses quotation marks for emphasis, as distinct from underlining the imperative. The introductory phrase is fine, but a semicolon would have been in order. I’m not sure, but wouldn’t the Spanish imperative to speak English be rendered “hable ingles”? I know for a fact that speaking louder doesn’t really help someone understand verbiage if they have poor command of the language in the first place.
8. Thomas says:

   June 14, 2006 at 11:23 pm

   I think eagles are like dogs in that regard. I’ve been given to understand that they, hawks, falcons and the like can comprehend human voice commands and only respond to ones in the language in which they were trained.

   Then almost all eagles that respond to voice commands speak Mongolian, and they are all golden eagles, not bald. Only the Mongolians hunt with eagles.

   Don’t ask how I know that.
9. Douglas, Friend of Osho says:

   June 15, 2006 at 7:12 am

   However you know it, I’m glad you brought it up.
10. elfinity says:

    June 15, 2006 at 12:29 pm

    OMG! Oh yeah, that’s from Geno’s…. For those who don’t know – there are two competing Philly cheesesteak places right across from each other here in South Philly (Geno’s is one of them), and rudeness is like part of the service. If you take more than 2 seconds to order, they’ll be like, Ok, NEXT!
    Some people say that’s part of the charm and experience. I’m sorry, I’ll experience my cheesesteak someplace else.

    Having said that, UGH. I had no idea it had such terrible grammar.

    Having said that, I am on the guy’s side, in the sense that, yes, I get that USA is the “country of immigrants” and all that romantic shit, but seriously? My parents were in their 40′s when they came – they learned ok. My grandparents were close to 80 y/o when they passed their citizenship test (in English). Also, tons of Dutch came to live around here 100 years ago – all learned to speak English; there are heaps of Italians in Noo Yohk and Noo Jeysee – all seem to be doing ok. Greeks – same thing… I really do not see why anyone else should have an exemption. THAT reaks of entitlement, if anything. Seriously.
    What other country do you know where a foreigner can throw a fit that the locals don’t speak his/her native language and get a positive response?

    And those who say that learning to speak English will make them lose their “roots”, fuck off. I have my Russian roots firmly embedded and so do all my non-native friends (and we probably all have better grammar skills than the dude who made the sign)
11. Anne says:

    June 15, 2006 at 1:44 pm

    What a great sign! At least these people are displaying their ignorance for all to see – it makes my job of discerning the idiots a lot easier.
12. Douglas, Friend of Osho says:

    June 15, 2006 at 2:59 pm

    elf, I’m not so sure the English primacy campaign is really aimed at helping immigrants assimilate, a goal I don’t necessarily sneeze at. I think it’s simply a plebian attempt to cast Hispanics as folks who can’t or won’t fit in, despite the overwhelming desire of most of them to learn English. In two-plus decades of working in San Francisco’s hospitality industry, there was scarcely a day when at least one of my many Hispanic colleagues didn’t grill me for advice on vocabulary, style, idiomatic expressions, etc. Come to think, an inordinate number of my white colleagues did the same. Also, I’ll weigh in the “roots” issue simply to delare that I have absolutely no contact with my Korean mother’s culture and never had. This makes little to no difference, as far as I’m concerned.
13. elfinity says:

    June 15, 2006 at 5:44 pm

    Also, I’ll weigh in the “roots” issue simply to delare that I have absolutely no contact with my Korean mother’s culture and never had.

    Yes, it only is an issue for those who use it as an excuse.

    Regarding the English primacy… eh… I have an idea about that – all that decoy OMG TEH ILLEGAL ALIENS! right when people should be VERY attentive to all them cover-ups and abortion bans and how to get out of Iraq things… it all seems a little too coincidental, does it not? And all the hidden frustration (of sucky life) and the xenophobia (that has steadily been fed ever since 9/11) and just stupid fear of the hidden enemy – all that suddenly got a very concrete target – the OMG TEH ILLEGALS!
    So a lot of people, who normally wouldn’t care about Mexicans or Puerto-Riucans or what have you, are getting all uppity regarding English language. Russian rulers have done that for ages, it’s called insiting “pogroms”.
    And yeah, it’s not aimed at helping anyone assimilate, but he does have a point. What other country has “For (native language), press 1, for (some other language) press 2″ set-ups in different organizations and companies? I mean, maybe I’m missing something, that could happen. In which case, I’d appreciate an bit of enlightenment.
14. Douglas, Friend of Osho says:

    June 15, 2006 at 7:09 pm

    Actually, elf, I think in the UK, you get a bevy of language options when you call some customer service lines. I was in Morocco a few years ago, where French is taught in schools and the one train station where you can use a touch screen to navigate requests also has options in French. come to think of it, even in France, train station touch screens come with Anglophone options.
15. Matt P says:

    June 15, 2006 at 7:20 pm

    It might also worth noting that the BBC makes its news content available in quite a number of different languages.
16. R. Mildred says:

    June 15, 2006 at 7:28 pm

    I had a great comment, but akismet has decided I am spam, and I can’t free it from the spam box. yes I did what it asked me, the “not spam” button redirects me to a japanese or chinese translation site.

    Could one of the other mods have a try for me, please?
17. McBoing says:

    June 15, 2006 at 7:32 pm

    R. Milred’s missing comment (I couldn’t get it to work either):

    But how often do immigrants actually order in spanish? and for that matter, what point is there to a sign to tell spanish speaking monoglots that they should order in english? They’ll just get confused and order bald eagle steaks.

    I can see it being a very simple way to give a racist owner an out with which to refuse hispanic customers “did you say ‘I’d like to consume some of your finest cheesesteak, por favor’? Get outta my place you filthy wetback!” after all, it’s barely a generation since “no dogs, no negros, no jews, no japs” was a common sign in shop windows, and that’s the sort of spirit rushbo, coulter and the various other KultureKampf propaganda pundits the repugs’ have in their pocket are trying to train into the average racist on the street.

    And of course Amir “Michelle Malkin’s Iranian brother” Taheri disagrees with you entirely elfinity, from an articel he wrote during the Paris Riots (emboldening for emphasis):

    “In the US all that is required [to be considered an American] is loyalty to the American Constitution within which all sorts of hyphenated identities are not only accepted but actively promoted. You don’t even have to speak English to be an American.”

    (Found that during a search for Amir’s stuff ages ago just as the whole “national language” thing was kicking off, and it made me laugh something silly)

    What other country do you know where a foreigner can throw a fit that the locals don’t speak his/her native language and get a positive response?

    Well for one thing, Egypt, but I’ve seen monoglot anglophones throw that particular temper tantrum in a wide variety of countries across the world, and get responded to as well as billmon of whisky bar did. Not that that justifies such stupidity, because they are assholes for doing it, but you should never underestimate the arrogance of the anglophones, for our pretentiousness is truly legendary.
18. R. Mildred says:

    June 15, 2006 at 7:37 pm

    Thanks, but it’s missing the links! Ah!

    Here’s the amir one: http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7&section=0&article=73084&d=12&m=11&y=2005

    and here’s billmon’s: http://billmon.org/archives/002460.html.
19. Douglas, Friend of Osho says:

    June 15, 2006 at 8:12 pm

    Bald eagle steaks, I like that. Tee hee.
20. Chuck says:

    June 15, 2006 at 9:22 pm

    One, what the fuck is a Deaf person going to do?? Pointing is the easiest, simplest, fastest way for someone who’s deaf to order. Pointing ain’t English. Would they refuse service to them?

    Two, if this is America when ordering, what is it the rest of the time?
21. thebewilderness says:

    June 16, 2006 at 1:00 am

    I think the reason for the quotation marks is that when he says “speak English” he means something very different from what most people mean when they speak english.
22. Collin, a Photographer from Boston says:

    June 16, 2006 at 10:53 pm

    Say, Anne, thanks so much for taking care of the “job of discerning the idiots.” Glad you’ve got that down.

    My question is: why does this matter? If you don’t like the sign, then don’t eat at the restaurant. It doesn’t hurt anybody. It’s a public display of opinion. That’s what this country is all about. I don’t really agree with his ideas, I’m pretty Liberal, but what the hell? It’s funny. Believe it or not, ACLU, life goes on and in the end nobody cares.

    Please. Grow some balls and yell about something that’s worth your while. It’s a cheesesteak joint, for god’s sake.
23. cami says:

    June 17, 2006 at 8:11 am

    What other country has “For (native language), press 1, for (some other language) press 2″ set-ups in different organizations and companies?

    Great, guess we can do away with all the English signs, recordings, etc. over here in Switzerland. After all, we’ve only got 1% of the population with English as a first language. LEARN GERMAN, DAMNIT!

    And really “what other country” is “pretty much every country where English is not the native language, and even some where it is”.
24. McBoing says:

    June 17, 2006 at 8:56 am

    Please. Grow some balls and yell about something that’s worth your while. It’s a cheesesteak joint, for god’s sake.

    Ironically, the only person taking the sign seriously is you, Collin. Did you read the comments?
25. R. Mildred says:

    June 17, 2006 at 9:05 am

    Grow some balls

    This is what’s called a Logical Phallacy (bu-dum Char!)

    It’s a public display of opinion. That’s what this country is all about.

    Umm, so that’s “shut up and stop publically displaying your opinion because this is a country that was built on the idea of people being free to publically display their opinions”?

    Our education system is a shambles, an absolute shambles.