TresSugar

Georgia Considers English-Only Driver's Test - Why?

CitizenSugar — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 10:30:47 -0700

Georgia lawmakers may soon make trying to get a driver's license an even bigger headache for some residents. The state legislature is considering a bill that would require potential drivers to take the written test in English and without a translator. It seems like a silly idea to me.

Not only could this keep nonfluent speakers from getting to and from their jobs, it will probably lead to an increased number of unlicensed drivers on the road. And that puts English speakers at risk, too. In addition, critics argue that it further isolates non-English speakers, could discourage foreign companies from investing in Georgia, and unfairly targets minorities who can't benefit from the state's nonexistent public transportation system.

Proponents say the bill will increase public safety, since drivers need to read road signs. But the driving test and road sign test are already administered in English. Do you think it makes sense to limit the written test, too?

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Despite Chicness, Italy Might Say Arrivederci to English Words

LibertySugar — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 09:00:55 -0700

Before it was the national language, Italian was just the regional dialect of Tuscany. But, since it went on to become the official language in the 1800s, Italy is ready to protect it from an English invasion. The influential Dante Alighieri Society, similar to France's Académie française, wants to erase words like "le weekend, "cool" and "OK" from conversational and written Italian.

Some Italians consider English words chic (er, wait what's the English word for chic?); but, the cultural institute is making a push for pure Italian, instead of "Anglitaliano." In a globalizing word, such protection may be crucial to maintaining the integrity of a language. Then again, languages are first of all a mode of communication and maybe the meaning behind "cool" just can't be translated.

Italians should know that Americans use Italian words, too! . . . at least at Starbucks. But Americans beware - if you order a "latte" in Italy, you'll get a glass of milk!

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LPGA Decides to Ditch Ban on Non-English Speaking Golfers

LibertySugar — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 07:00:00 -0700

The triumph of non-native English speakers, who won three LPGA majors this year, indicates that speaking English is not a required skill on the golf course. Even so, the international women's pro-golf association announced a policy recently that would suspend players who do not speak English. After much outrage, the plan has been rejected.

The LPGA Tour commissioner explained:

After hearing the concerns, we believe there are other ways to achieve our shared objective of supporting and enhancing the business opportunities for every tour player.

The original plan did not require players to be fluent, only "effective." The LPGA explained that it wanted players to interact effectively with pro-am partners, do media interviews, and give a winner's acceptance speech in English. The LPGA offers online language training, and also has a cross-culture program.

Considering that players have an incentive to improve their language skills if they want to further their careers off the course, it's probably not necessary for the LPGA to ban players with poor English from playing golf, a sport that doesn't require much speaking. We all have heard stories of white-only golf courses - why do you think the sport has a tendency to back away from diversity?

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France Ready to Admit English Is the New Lingua Franca?

LibertySugar — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 11:00:00 -0700

French students struggling with English can soon take intensive English-language classes during vacations. France's education minister Xavier Darcos thinks poor English is a handicap disproportionately bestowed on the nonrich. He said, "Well-off families pay for study sessions abroad, I'm offering them to everyone right here."

This development deviates from France's usual protection of the French language. In 1635, L'Académie française (the French Academy) began conserving what it deems the proper vocabulary, usage, and grammar of the French language. Lately the academy especially tries to stop the Anglicization of the French language - email should be called "courriel" and walkman should be "baladeur."

While the French have a lofty academy to protect their language, American businesses turn to ordinary signs informing customers that "This is America. When ordering speak English." But with a loudening call for second-language fluency in both America and France, these countries' conservative forces may soon have more than one language to protect.

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India's Right Wing Threatens Violence Over English Store Signs

LibertySugar — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:15:39 -0700

Right-wing parties in India want to restore the dominance of the Marathi language in the city of Mumbai. The Maharashtra Reconstruction Party is demanding language changes, and since it's not happening fast enough, they have threatened to attack stores that use English signs, instead of or more prominently than Marathi signs.

One regional party leader said:

People are insulting Marathi pride with smaller signs. We will not back down. Traders can take this as a warning or a suggestion, it's up to them.

Businesses, including McDonald's, have responded to the threats by quickly changing their signs, while others have resisted.

In the US, by 2042 whites will no longer be the majority and groups including Hispanics, blacks, and Asians, will in combination outnumber non-Hispanic whites. If other languages remove English from its place of dominance, could you imagine groups using violent threats, like those in India, to assert the use of English in America?

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British Kitty Says 'Allo!

GiggleSugar — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 10:30:16 -0700

It's impressive enough when a cat can talk, but this one seems to have acquired an English accent. His other hobbies include taking tea, chasing "birds," and feasting on fish and chips.

Front Page: Hurricane Ike Tonight, English Channel Fire Burns, Zimbabwe Rivals Strike Power Agreement

CitizenSugar — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 07:00:51 -0700

Hurricane Ike Tonight:
Hurricane Ike is expected to make landfall with a direct hit to Galveston and Houston, with a population of 5.6 million. The National Hurricane center was crystal clear with their warning for evacuation: "Persons not heeding evacuation orders in single family one- or two-story homes will face certain death." Forecasters expect water 22 feet above sea level.

English Channel Fire Burns:
Firefighters are still putting out small fires after a blaze shut down undersea traffic in the tunnel between England and France. The tunnel remains closed to train traffic after a fire broke out yesterday afternoon in a truck aboard a 30-car shuttle train. The fire is the most serious incident since the tunnel opened in 1994.

Zimbabwe Rivals Strike Power Agreement:
President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai have agreed to a power-sharing deal after more than a month of discussion. Though specific details of the deal have not been released, the fact that Mugabe has released any authority signals a loosening of his grip over Zimbabwe. Worry remains that the deal has too much crossover power to grant the country the stability it needs.

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10 Smart and Sexy Books

TresSugar — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:00:59 -0800

Forget the Literary Review's Bad Sex Scene award - we want the good ones, but not the smut . . . necessarily. Luckily, Nerve tracks the books with the best sex scenes all year with its Henry Miller awards. Named after the novelist, it rewards the best literary sex scenes in the English language. We've selected our 10 favorites.

Source: Flickr User jamelah

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The Dark Side of Cute

TresSugar — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:00:00 -0800

Kittens in casts. Babies nudged to laugh every five seconds. Stuffed teddy bears left at killing-spree sites. We are so surrounded by the tyranny of cute that even multibillion-dollar corporations have cute names like "Google" and "Twitter," and the uncute business of insurance is represented in ads by a cute lizard with an English accent. (And yes, I too am guilty of spreading cuteness.)

What's up with the cute? Writer Jim Windolf has had enough and decided to try to get to the bottom of what he calls the "self-infantalization" of Americans. His conclusion? There's a dark, manipulative side to cute. If you want to know what it is, read more.

In Daniel Harris's book Cute, Quaint, Hungry, and Romantic, he says that there's a hidden sadism to our love of cute, citing the barrage of images of cats falling, puppies slamming into mirrors, and even babies trapped in high chairs being prodded to laugh.

"The process of conveying cuteness to the viewer disempowers its objects," he writes, "forcing them into ridiculous situations and making them appear more ignorant and vulnerable than they really are. Adorable things are often most adorable in the middle of a pratfall or a blunder." In other words, they are cute insofar as they are helpless, and we, conferrers of cute, are all-powerful.

Becoming cute, conversely, is one way of disarming opponents or critics. It's not incidental, argues Windolf, that the cult of cute in the US emerged during the Bush years, when "the American image went from that of protector to invader, from defender of human rights to aggressor on the lookout for loopholes in the Geneva Conventions." Cuteness then, according to this theory, "came about as some sort of correction, as a way for us to convince ourselves and our friends that we're not as bad as our recent national actions have made us seem." (It reminds me of smiley emoticons at the end of passive-aggressive email messages and instant messages. In this case, American cute is like a ginormous cultural smiley face emoticon tacked on the end of dubious actions telling our allies we're not all that bad.)

Windolf traces American cute back to Japan's kawaii culture, which got huge 10 years ago but actually emerged at the end of WWII after it was "humiliated and emasculated." If you're interested in political and cultural psychoanalysis, I suggest reading this long essay. But whatever you do, remember - ~~sometimes a cigar is just a cigar~~ sometimes a cute kitten isn't just a cute kitten.

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Très Cool! Babies Cry in Their Native Language

TresSugar — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0800

I've always found it fascinating that dogs "bark" in different languages. Though we say "ruff ruff" in English, that same noise is expressed as "ouah, ouah" in French. Now here's something even cooler: German researchers have started to think that babies' wails sound different depending on what language their parents speak.

The scientists observed 60 babies born to families speaking French and German and found that the infants could be absorbing their parents' accents from inside the womb. In the last three months of pregnancy, babies have already begun to memorize sounds, and based on the analysis of the babies' cry "melodies," the sounds mapped closely to the parents' accents:

The French newborns cried with a rising "accent" while the German babies' cries had a falling inflection.

Writing in the journal Current Biology, they say the babies are probably trying to form a bond with their mothers by imitating them.

The findings suggest that unborn babies are influenced by the sound of the first language that penetrates the womb.

Fascinating, right? Now I want to hang out with a big international gang of babies and see if their cries all sound different. Wait, that means being trapped in a room with a bunch of crying babies - nevermind!