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Conference thebay::joyoflex

Title:	The Joy of Lex
Notice:	A Notes File even your grammar could love
Moderator:	THEBAY::SYSTEM

Created:	Fri Feb 28 1986
Last Modified:	Mon Jun 02 1997
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	1192
Total number of notes:	42769

146.0. "Speak English, sil vous plait!" by NY1MM::BONNELL () Fri Feb 07 1986 13:48

I found this letter in my local paper.  I present it here in it's entirety.
...diane


    English has been the "tie that binds" for the people of the United
    States. It has solidified a nation out of what might have been a
    loose collection of feuding ethic groups. 

    But today the postion of English as our common toungue is
    eroding rapidly. Immigrants are rejecting our time honored custom
    of assimilating into our society in favor of maintaining their own
    seperate languages and cultures.
    
    And our federal government is encouraging this trend by providing
    bilingual ballots, prolonged - rather than transitional bilingual
    education in public schools, and bilingual social services -
    including a national Hispanic university and other services that
    discourage the learning of English. 
    
    My Veterans Group - the Forty and Eight, is strongly opposed to
    the use of any language other than English, as the official
    language of America. 
    
    As the commander of the Forty and Eight in Monmouth County, I am
    asking every registered voter in our area to call or write to our
    U.S. senators and congressmen in support of the English Language
    Ammendment, currently before Congress. 
    
    And also ask them for a commitment to insist on high English
    language standards for the naturalization of immigrants. 
    
    George F. Himmel
    40/8 Chef de Gare

T.R	Title	User	Date	Lines
146.1		DR::BLINN	`Sat Feb 08 1986 20:38`	22
	Thanks for including the letter in it's [sic] entirety. > English ... has solidified a nation out of what might have been a > loose collection of feuding ethic groups. What makes the writer think that America is _not_ a loose collection of feuding ethnic groups? > And also ask them for a commitment to insist on high English > language standards for the naturalization of immigrants. While we're at it, how about high English language standards for graduation from high school? Or at least college :^) > George F. Himmel > 40/8 Chef de Gare Is a "Chef de Gare" a railway stationmaster, or what? And I suppose that he needs help with arithmetic -- "40/8" is five, so I suppose he is the fifth stationmaster, no? Tom
146.2		DELNI::CANTOR	`Tue Feb 11 1986 23:40`	3
	_Chef_de_Gare_ indeed! Okay, everyone repeat after me. Say "_La_Guerre!_" Dave C.
146.3		CHEV02::NESMITH	`Wed Feb 12 1986 10:28`	6
	> Say "La Guerre..." Lager? Yeah, I could go for a beer right now... Susan
146.4		AJAX::CALLAS	`Wed Feb 12 1986 21:58`	1
	Could he have meant "gare"? It means "station" doesn't it? Or am I confused?
146.5		DR::BLINN	`Sun Feb 16 1986 18:44`	6
	Yes, he _could_ have meant "gare", which is the French word for "railway station", but I really doubt that's what he meant. But then, he doesn't believe in knowing any language except English, and seems to be proud of it. Are you confused? How should I know? Tom
146.6		VOGON::GOODENOUGH	`Mon Feb 17 1986 05:34`	7
	Apart from "Gare": Ethic, Toungue, Ammendment ? I'd be amused to know if these were in the original, or just Diane's typos. Jeff.
146.7		NY1MM::BONNELL	`Tue Feb 18 1986 13:49`	8
	re: .6 ooops. those are mine. that should be ethnic, tongue and amendment. ...diane (I thought "gare" was just "station", not "railway station". but high school french was a long time ago.)
146.8		VOGON::GOODENOUGH	`Thu Feb 20 1986 07:03`	6
	I believe you can have "gare d'autobus". Where is Didier? The only notefile where he's needed, and he's not here! :-) :-) Jeff.
146.9		PRSIS3::DTL	`Thu Feb 20 1986 06:34`	32
	huh? someone knocked at the door? What's going on here??? Gare? which fish??? btw, why hasn't this &^%# system a VNOTES server? Okay, Diane marks one point. Gare is station Railway station is "gare des Chemins de Fer", or commonly known as "gare". Bus station is "gare des autobus" (because there are generally more than one bus in a gare), but today we usually say "gare routi�re". "gare!" is "warning!" or "care!" Example: "gare au gorille" (care of the gorilla) (from Georges Brassens' song) "gare" is also the imperative form of the verb "garer" (to park) Example: "gare toi l� et tant pis pour les flics" (park here and the cops may go and ***) [End of buffer] huh? what end of buffer?? ha! sorry.. Vnotes... Well .. what did I say? yes, war is of course "guerre" (War and Peace, Dostoiewski, = Guerre et Paix) So, 40/8 Chef de gare is stationmaster for station number 8 on line 40 Obvious! next? :-)
146.10		APTECH::RSTONE	`Tue Feb 25 1986 16:31`	24
	RE: 40/8 Chef de Gare In the text of the man's letter he referred to "My Veterans Group - the Forty and Eight....". I'm just old enough to recall learning that this group is made up of men who fought in France during World War I. They took their name from the 40/8 notation marked on the French railroad cars used for military transport. The 40/8 reference meant that the car would hold 40 men or 8 horses. In his next paragraph he identifies himself as the Commander of his local organization, hence his title of "Chef de Gare" translates into the "Commander of the Station". In an American Legion or VFW Post (in the military a "station" or "post" being essentially synonymous) the title is "Post Commander". While it appears that his use of the French title belies the message in his letter, it might be well to recognize that the English language, as we know it, has roots from many, many other cultures. His real point is that there has been no other ethnic group which has been accorded the privilege of officially sanctioned by-lingual consideration. I don't wish to offend anyone who may identify as his target, but frankly, I have a little difficulty on that point also. Roy