Thread for Things That Made You Frown Today

Dog's owners came and claimed her today. Her name turned out to be Blackie, of all things. FFS, she's BROWN. Hmph.

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Originally Posted by DCSL

Dog's owners came and claimed her today. Her name turned out to be Blackie, of all things. FFS, she's BROWN. Hmph.

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Fucking racists.

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Originally Posted by Tisket

And yet, most of us can't carry on a simple conversation with a vast swath of our very own population. There is nothing wrong with being an insular prick so, when choosing a language to teach your children, go ahead and choose something they are less likely to need on a day-to-day basis than Spanish. There is nothing wrong with other languages. I just personally think that, if they already speak English, it would be stupid to choose a different language than Spanish as the first to teach a child.

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As it happens, I don't want to talk to anyone who would rather speak with me in Spanish than in English, so I am not bothered by the fact that I have no desire to learn Spanish.

Grey's Anatomy not coming on tonight. WHY GOD WHY.

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Originally Posted by Bobmuhthol

As it happens, I don't want to talk to anyone who would rather speak with me in Spanish than in English, so I am not bothered by the fact that I have no desire to learn Spanish.

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Had your parents been the kind of people to force a language on you, what language would you have had them choose? Sincerely curious. I speak passable Spanish so if I could snap my fingers and suddenly know another language, I would want it to be Japanese. Mostly because it seems like it would be really hard to learn. I have no scientific basis for that conclusion but that's never stopped me from forming an opinion.

A language was forced on me by the school system. I know French and basic Latin, both of which I chose (note that my choices were French or Spanish for the requirement).

If I could pick a language and suddenly know it, probably Italian.

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Originally Posted by Bobmuhthol

A language was forced on me by the school system. I know French and basic Latin, both of which I chose (note that my choices were French or Spanish for the requirement).

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How often do you run across French speaking individuals?

My local school system did the same. I was able to get out of the requirement however.

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Originally Posted by Tisket

Had your parents been the kind of people to force a language on you, what language would you have had them choose? Sincerely curious. I speak passable Spanish so if I could snap my fingers and suddenly know another language, I would want it to be Japanese. Mostly because it seems like it would be really hard to learn. I have no scientific basis for that conclusion but that's never stopped me from forming an opinion.

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I took 4 semesters of college japanese, and worked in Tokyo for 12 weeks for an internship.... From that, I can tell you firsthand, that understanding and speaking are two COMPLETELY different skills... I was able to recap high level business meetings that occurred in japanese to my fellow English colleagues... but could barely order off of a menu without fumbling over myself and practicing.

I actually wish I could speak Portuguese... Brazil is a pretty big emerging market... would be great for career advancement

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Originally Posted by Tisket

How often do you run across French speaking individuals?

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People who only speak French? Pretty much never. People who speak English and French? A lot more frequently than you'd think. There are a lot more people who know Spanish and not English than French and not English, and like I said, I have absolutely no interest in communicating with someone who only knows Spanish.

As far as practicality, around here, it is not a bad idea to know Russian. I don't hang out in New Bedford or any other predominantly Hispanic places, so I actually don't come in contact with a lot of Spanish.

And there is a real argument for knowing Mandarin, but seriously, fuck China.