“English Only Spoken Here”

[Cyrano]

This is a sign on the door of a local business here in Palm Beach County. And only a fool would not understand that what that sign really says is “Only Certain People Welcome Here.”

Southeast Florida is a melting pot. There are people here from many different Caribbean islands, people from various Central and South American countries, Jews from the Northeast, members of native-American Floridian tribes, white Christians who have resettled here or whose families have been here for generations, and many others whose origins I couldn’t even begin to guess at. And, for the most part, we get along pretty well.

But whatever someone’s native language, I have never run into anyone here who didn’t speak enough English to make themselves understood.

I don’t want to identify the business with the sign, but IMO, the owner has chosen to tell people who aren’t white, or who have an accent, to “stay the hell out.” And given the demographics of the region, this store won’t be in business too much longer.

So here’s my point. The days of white bigots of European origin are on the way out. By the middle of this century, they will be a minority in this country. And from what I’ve experienced living in the midst of Southeastern Florida society, I think they will be treated far better than they have treated others in the past.

So, Mr. Business Owner, keep your “English Only Spoken Here” sign in your window if you must. But your world is shrinking. It’s way past time to let go of your hatreds and join the human race.

There may be some on DU who think I’m misreading a sign. And if so, give me a break. You don’t have to live here to recognize the message being sent.

[Turbineguy]

1. If you go there

try to use simple words too. Not those big fancy intellectual elitist words.

[louis-t]

19. It's spelled "intehlekshul"

In case you didn't know. :P

[whatsthebuzz]

Only in Florida n/m

[northofdenali]

37. Opposite ends of the country -

same ridiculous rhetoric. It's very, very well known here in Alaska that if you don't speak "english", you won't get any respect.

Ask an Athabascan or Inuit. Who've only been here about 15,000 years longer than the first "english" speaking person.

[Stevenmarc]

2. OK why not say who they are since they made their position public

[Warpy]

3. If anybody did that in NM, he'd be out of business in a month

because English speaking white folks are just another minority here. This is a totally bilingual English/Spanish state with dozens of Indian and other languages spoken. Anybody who wants to stay in business has to understand Spanish well enough to know what a customer wants.

One silly git in Taos tried to get his Hispanic hotel staff to Anglicize their names to make xenophobic guests feel a little less challenged. It went over like a lead balloon and I don't think he was prepared for the firestorm of sheer disgust he had to face.

I'm convinced xenophobes are paranoid about having different languages spoken around them because they always think they're being laughed at. As someone who understands more than one language, I can pretty much reassure them that it's rarely about them unless they've been ignorant assholes who have demanded the speakers speak English.

[Cyrano]

9. I don't think xenophobes believe those speaking other languages are laughing at them.

I think it's hatred of "The Other," pure and simple.

Many of us had ancestors who came from Europe and didn't speak English. And when they arrived, they were outcasts until their children learned the language and then spit on the newest group of immigrants to arrive.

It has always been thus in "The land of the free. The home of the brave." Such is human nature. And it really sucks a lot.

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. Yes please tell us the name of this business

Better yet, take a picture of the sign and post it.

[Cyrano]

6. There is a reason I won't reveal the name of this business. And

that reason is something I can't state here. It could conceivably lead to revealing my own identity, which is something I won't do. My anonymity is far too important to me. And I'm sure that many on DU feel the same way about their anonymity.

[thecrow]

25. ....and it could bring up this page on a search....

so I respect your declining to tell the name of the business.

[Hekate]

31. Completely understood

[valerief]

5. I don't understand. If a person can't speak/read English, how do they know what the sign says? nt

[Walk away]

8. If we knew where it was we could all go in and ask what it says in Spanish.

That would be funny! ?lo que significa esta señal

[Warpy]

10. Nobody said bigots were smart

Not ever.

[louis-t]

20. Ha! Good point. The sign isn't FOR those who can't

read it, now is it?

[Walk away]

7. He must have way too much business! Why would anyone in this economy...

turn away customers. What an idiot!

[Cyrano]

14. No, he's a bigot. Then again, I suppose that makes him a idiot.

[onethatcares]

11. do you have any idea

as to how much it costs to have language classes in high school?? jeeez, next thing ya know, the kids are gonna want to grow their hair long and question authority.

Sorry but we just don't have the funds to educate everyone. :sarcasm:

[EFerrari]

12. Isn't the sign grammatically wrong?

Shouldn't it be "only English spoken here"? I assume they write English at this establishment and hear it and read it there as well?

[Bill McBlueState]

15. +1

Exactly what I was going to say, but I decided to scan the thread first.

[Cyrano]

16. Actually, "English Only Spoken Here," implies it is not spoken elsewhere.

Unfortunately, his form of hatred is spoken in far too many places.

[mainer]

21. True. It should be "Only English spoken here."

Not surprising.

Only surprise is that he didn't spell it "Engish"

[Igel]

35. Focus, people, focus.

People forget that written, neutral English as taught in the 1950s in "Middle America" isn't the only grammatically correct form of the language. Perhaps if we caught up with Central European linguists of the 1920s we'd understand that; instead we still seem to be in the 1700s, maybe the 1800s, with our linguistic sophistication.

Stress the "only" in "English only spoken here" and most Americans will get the intended interpretation. Stress "spoken" and you get another reading.

Of course, one purpose for sentential stress is, well, focus. Lest you think I was using a verb in my subject line. Can't make assumptions about the reader's background linguistic knowledge.

I guess to be "cutting edge" we get to consider the 1950s "state of the art" with Grice and his maxims. The assumption is that listeners display cooperativeness and will try to interpret an utterance as meaningful if possible--and will adjust their assumptions to the extent they can to be cooperative; they assume coherence (in the Halliday and Hasan sense, thank you--but that's bleeding edge, 1970s stuff; research in the 1980s and 1990s is apparently to be considered as still future).

Then again, cooperativeness is the problem, isn't it? In American discourse speakers and listeners find it fashionable, trendy, and even hip to be as uncooperative as possible, with listeners ex parte adjusting the speaker's assumptions to the extent possible and then using the gibberish they've produced to demonstrate that the speaker is incoherent and therefore lesser than the listener.

[EFerrari]

26. As a speech act, it does both.

These stupid @ssholes.

[Dead_Parrot]

28. Presumably, they can't read or write

Must have got a friend to make the sign for them.

[CurtEastPoint]

13. Another moment of idiocy recently at a doc-in-a-box:

The lady at the desk was helping two Hispanic men, only one of whom spoke English. She gave him the Spanish form, with the questions in Spanish, and then said, 'The answers must be in English.'

Now I ask you, if the man had not had a friend to help, how in the hell could he have completed the answers in English.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

17. Reminds me of an old story

For a long time, there is only one dry cleaner's in a certain town, but then one day, some Korean immigrants move in and start another dry cleaning business.

The first dry cleaner puts up a sign in the window: "One hundred percent American dry cleaner, We hate liberals, feminists, blacks, Mexicans, and especially Koreans."

The next day a sign goes up in the window of the Korean dry cleaner: "Two hundred percent American. We hate everybody."

[valerief]

18. I think this guy's neighbor businesses should put up signs like 'Blind People, Watch Your Step'.

[mainer]

22. Or: "If you're looking for the idiot, he's next door."

[valerief]

30. He's already established that with his sign. I think businesses should put up

signs that can't be read by the people they're addressing.

Here's another example:
Fermita

It means Closed in Esperanto. How many people know Esperanto? (Yeah, I know this example is like French, but not all Esperanto is.)

[Obamanaut]

23. Perhaps English is the only language the owner speaks, and he

is making bi or multi lingual potential customers aware.

[eppur_se_muova]

24. Amazing how differently people react to the same situation.

There are people living in TX -- who know damned well that they are living on what was Spanish territory for longer than it has been American -- who try to pretend that Spanish has no place there. And then there are those who accept payment in Mexican pesos, because they get more business that way.

[southernyankeebelle]

27. Don't worry about me going to FL. I have been boycott Fl for years. Why

should I go to a state that doesn't want to treat people right. Oh by the way am white and I don't like the way FL tries to tell others how to live yet want our money. This kind of think only enforces my decision was right. Many of my white friends don't believe in this kind of actions by business either.

[Obamanaut]

33. OK, no worry. nt

[AsahinaKimi]

29. You would NEVER EVER find a sign like that in San Francisco

Stupid Restaurant Owner..
Baka yarou!

[Hekate]

32. Last time I looked, Latin was on our dollar bills. Idjits.

:eyes:

[DainBramaged]

34. Not just in Florida.......

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7955634

[Igel]

36. Ne, myslim ze ctis pravidlne.

Ale toze myslim, ze prehanis jeho odznaku, a to je problem. Ne velky, ovsem, ale jeste problem--tvuj, a ne jeho.

Or, since DU is an English-only board (except as allowed in some contexts) I think that you can read properly but that you're exaggerating the intent of the sign. That's a problem.

"English only" entails in most contexts non-native English. And by your own admission language and race/ethnicity aren't causally connected. Perhaps there's evidence you've left out; but mostly I see ambiguous evidence for your assertions, supported only by assumption and possibly suspicion. It's enough for "I wanna believe out of solidarity" but not enough for "Let's critique your assertion."

[hansberrym]

38. Did you really mean to call white people of European origin bigots?

The days of white bigots of European origin are on the way out. By the middle of this century, they will be a minority in this country.


Who is the "they" you refer to? I would hope that bigots (of all shades) are already a minority, but your statement(unintentionally?) equates white European origin with bigots.