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WHY IS IT THAT WE HAVE TO SPEAK ENGLISH?

marshall sl

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WHY IS IT THAT WE HAVE TO SPEAK ENGLISH?

> A U.S. Navy Admiral was attending a Naval conference that included
> admirals from the U.S., English, Canadian, Australian and French Navies.
> At a cocktail reception, he found himself standing with a group of half
> dozen or so officers that included personnel from most of the countries.
>
> Everyone was chatting away in English as they sipped their drinks but a
> French admiral suddenly complained that,
> whereas Europeans learn many languages, Americans learn only English. He
> then asked: "Why is it that we
> always have to speak English in these conferences rather than speaking
> French?"
> Without hesitating, the American Admiral replied: "Maybe it's because the
> Brits, Canadians, Aussies and Americans arranged it so you wouldn't have
> to speak German."

> Suddenly the group became very quiet.
 
Why does everyone forget Russia :(

Pretty funny tho
 
::)

Not so much a joke as an attempt to boost our own standing by putting down the French.

Gets old after awhile. I don't care when the "joke" is actually clever or funny, but this isn't, so...if it IS supposed to be one.
 
Steve said:
Why does everyone forget Russia :(

Pretty funny tho

Yeah Russia played one hell of a role in the war... yet everyone seems to forget this.
 
Because the Russians became the bad guys after the war.
 
In a previous era (when the term lingua franca was developed) the roles would have been reversed.  I remember reading that it was only in the last period of Czarist rule that Russian replaced French as the court language of Russia....
 
French was the language of diplomacy for many a century.  I believe it only changed around WWI with the heavy US emphasis on world affairs.
 
I believe (and I may be wrong) that French went out of style with the French Revolution and the rise of Britain with the Industrial Revolution.
 
No, I thought its influence lasted much longer than the Bourbon Kings...
 
Actually, I think it was Walt Disney and the marketing of Mickey Mouse.  Later, the French lost all hope of remaining an "International Language" when they began to worship that great American, Jerry Lewis.  ;D
 
Why does it not surprise me that only here could a simple joke could incite a debate on European diplomatic and court languages of the 19th century.
 
first thing to be an officer in the Canadian forces you need to be bilingual if i am not mistaken, witch i could be. so why would there be English Canadian?

also the Americans have no reason to hate french Canadians. i have seen so much hate towards french Canadians. it disgusts me. there were some fierce french Canadian regiments the vandoo's, black watch, royal Montreal regiment, and maisonneuve.
 
However Americans tend to conventiently forget that the reason the people below the 49th paralell don't have colours or engage in behaviour or write cheques is largely due to the French
 
If we now refer to the kilted "Black Watch" - the RHC - as a French Canadian regiment, then truly, Quebec has come a long way.  I kind of miss the place, sometimes.

Tom
 
French was also the language of the court in Prussia - those most military of people.  The Blue Max was, of course, properly called "Pour Le Merite", n'est pas?

The Russians weren't just the bad guys AFTER the war, they were really the bad guys during the war, we just thought they weren't as bad as the Germans.  In terms of number of people slaughtered, Stalin did have Hitler beat IIRC.
 
-Hutch- said:
first thing to be an officer in the Canadian forces you need to be bilingual if i am not mistaken, witch i could be. so why would there be English Canadian?

also the Americans have no reason to hate french Canadians. i have seen so much hate towards french Canadians. it disgusts me. there were some fierce french Canadian regiments the vandoo's, black watch, royal Montreal regiment, and maisonneuve.


To be recruited no but after IAP/BOTP you must take a second langauge course.
 
The Russians weren't just the bad guys AFTER the war, they were really the bad guys during the war, we just thought they weren't as bad as the Germans.  In terms of number of people slaughtered, Stalin did have Hitler beat IIRC.

Yup, no arguments there. As a son of Polish Immigrants, I learnt about the Massacre at Katyn, and other incidents in the war.
 
Michael Dorosh said:
The Russians weren't just the bad guys AFTER the war, they were really the bad guys during the war, we just thought they weren't as bad as the Germans.   In terms of number of people slaughtered, Stalin did have Hitler beat IIRC.

And explain to us how one bad leader who murders his own people, makes the whole population (the Russians) the bad guys? Shouldn't you just consider Stalin as the bad guy and not the Russian people as a whole?
 
ROTP Applicant said:
And explain to us how one bad leader who murders his own people, makes the whole population (the Russians) the bad guys? Shouldn't you just consider Stalin as the bad guy and not the Russian people as a whole?

Stalin must have been very tired after killing all those millions of people single handedly.

I get the feeling you would not like Daniel Goldhagen much.

If you really want to split hairs, I was not talking about the Russians, but the Soviets - the Russians were only one "ethnic" group making up part of the Soviet Union, including Caucasians, Georgians, Ukrainians, Azerbaijainis, etc., etc., etc.

If you really think you are going to determine "guilt" with any degree of precision, feel free to elucidate.

Goldhagen took the opposite tact with the Germans and the Holocaust and in some eyes, argued quite convincingly that the entire German nation was indeed guilty for the crimes against humanity perpetrated by the regime.

I agree, but to a matter of degrees.

If you can tell us about the sharing of power in the Soviet regime, I am all ears, as well as your dissertation on how, where, when and why to limit guilt and responsibility within the regime. 
 
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