tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33297721.post7695656143656891153..comments2023-11-05T04:08:55.749-08:00Comments on Duck and Cover: Those damned LanguagesUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33297721.post-60923512248487610412011-02-17T18:02:08.602-08:002011-02-17T18:02:08.602-08:00Guilty confession: this one, despite the probably ...Guilty confession: this one, despite the probably justified calling out of the racist overtones, actually seems to cross the border into humor, at least for me. (Well, I said it was a guilty confession! I also evicted a bunch of widows and orphans from their hovels, but I don't feel nearly so bad about that.)<br /><br />Where's the clicky box for "enjoyed as humor"? Oh, there isn't one. Gosh, in all the time I've been reading this site, I never noticed that before.Kip Whttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12751319031224838771noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33297721.post-34297830246220683862011-02-17T06:39:54.020-08:002011-02-17T06:39:54.020-08:00About 80% of Americans speak only English, or are ...About 80% of Americans speak only English, or are multilingual and prefer English.<br /><br />About 10% of Americans speak Spanish.<br /><br />Japanese? 0.2%.<br />German? 0.5%.<br />Mandarin? under 0.8%.<br />Urdu? 0.1%.<br />Hindi? 0.1%.<br /><br />The reason why companies do not offer support in all languages is the same reason they do offer support in Spanish: because that's the most efficient way to serve the greatest number of customers.<br /><br />Why does Mallard Tinsley hate free market capitalism?Rootbeernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33297721.post-88541105260785327532011-02-16T15:49:05.909-08:002011-02-16T15:49:05.909-08:00Clearly, Tinsly does not live in a city worthy eno...Clearly, Tinsly does not live in a city worthy enough of having its own Chinatown, et al.<br /><br />Deepbeep gets a cookie.DiRnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33297721.post-71145373604895657232011-02-16T15:19:22.321-08:002011-02-16T15:19:22.321-08:00I'm not sure when Mexico took over the United ...I'm not sure when Mexico took over the United States, but I'm certain Obama had something to do with it!<br /><br />...Kenya's in Mexico, right?Tognoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33297721.post-58121547624327705822011-02-16T15:11:38.264-08:002011-02-16T15:11:38.264-08:00I think it would be way cool if phone trees had a ...I think it would be way cool if phone trees had a "press 3 for other languages", and that option let you spell out the language on your keypad.<br /><br />Otherwise ... what's the "joke" in today's "comic"? Humor comes from little surprises, so I guess the surprise is that there was a third option and it turned out to be useless because (Mallard thinks) Spanish and English are unfairly favored. But Mallard spoils the joke by listing multiple languages in the same line - as you read, you know that you can't possible do Japanese, German, Hindi, Urdu etc all at once, so the punchline is flabby.<br /><br />A way of presenting this not-so-subtley-racist "joke" would be<br /><br />For English press 1<br />For Spanish press 2<br />For Japanese learn Spanish<br />For Hindi learn Spanish<br />For German learn Spanish ....<br /><br />...ok, it's still racist asshattery but at least it has comedy, sort of like the gorilla-suit number in "Cabaret".<br /><br />On the evidence, conservative "comics" can't be funny because humor requires a deep understanding of human nature, and contemporary conservativism requires sociopathy.rewinnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14008105385364113371noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33297721.post-8804571982956271142011-02-16T12:01:24.396-08:002011-02-16T12:01:24.396-08:00So Mallard, you'd have no complaint if every c...So Mallard, you'd have no complaint if every company's phone tree had 30 language options?Michael Foleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18420222848094093512noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33297721.post-64794782137135438632011-02-16T11:39:50.025-08:002011-02-16T11:39:50.025-08:00When Paul Rodriguez said "You're in Ameri...When Paul Rodriguez said "You're in America now, speak Spanish," it was funny.Erichhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00083091864939104540noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33297721.post-13758036796169411142011-02-16T11:16:18.332-08:002011-02-16T11:16:18.332-08:00Perhaps I'm stating the obvious, But mallard i...Perhaps I'm stating the obvious, But mallard it clearly says press one for english,So why would you have to learn spanish?Beef Wellingtonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33297721.post-54965781409104823072011-02-16T11:07:50.223-08:002011-02-16T11:07:50.223-08:00If he went to Mexico, he'd be the guy who LOUD...If he went to Mexico, he'd be the guy who LOUDLY...AND SLOWLY...speaks English to the locals, then bitches about how stupid the foreigners who live there are, since they don't speakee the Englishes.<br /><br />Though he would say that every glass of Corona he drank had a real nice head on it, not realizing it was largely waiter spit.<br /><br />WV: orshropp, the sound Tinny makes over the toilet when he realizes that it was.Bill the Splutnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33297721.post-87835550720775046942011-02-16T10:22:52.175-08:002011-02-16T10:22:52.175-08:00I'm pretty sure that the "press 2 for Spa...I'm pretty sure that the "press 2 for Spanish" thing is typically spoken in Spanish, not English. Tinshley was probably afraid he'd burst into flame if he wrote something in Dirty Brown Person Talk, though.<br /><br />A nice, hot, blue-burning flame.dlauthornoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33297721.post-59645982700645349242011-02-16T09:57:47.540-08:002011-02-16T09:57:47.540-08:00I thought this was a "The Mexkins r takin'...I thought this was a "The Mexkins r takin' over BLLLLLLLAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHH" strip.<br /><br />But of course it's also a "The Tinsh hates the free market" strip, if it's cost-effective for businesses to set up phone messages in English and Spanish but not other languages.CW in LAnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33297721.post-9857968056175314022011-02-16T09:56:33.465-08:002011-02-16T09:56:33.465-08:00Yeah! If we're going to privilege Spanish jus...Yeah! If we're going to privilege Spanish just because it's the country's de facto second language, why don't we privilege every other language in the world in the same way? Huh? Huh? Huh? Boy, you sure showed those hypocritical non-xenophobes, Tinsley.GeoX, one of the GeoX boys.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14658452994152399308noreply@blogger.com