Say it in Spanish. Say it with pride

[The_Professor]

Chavez fights use of English words
Banners exhort Venezuelans: 'Say it in Spanish. Say it with pride.'
The Associated Press
updated 9:15 a.m. ET, Tues., Feb. 26, 2008

CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez?s government is taking its battle against U.S. ?imperialism? into Venezuelans? dictionaries, urging state phone company workers to avoid English-language business and tech terms.

Through a campaign launched Monday, newly nationalized CANTV hopes to wean employees and others from words like ?staff? (?equipo? is preferred), ?marketing? (?mercadeo?) and ?password? (?contrasena?).

Stickers and banners printed up by the company exhort Venezuelans to ?Say it in Spanish. Say it with pride.?

The Communications and Information Ministry said in a statement that Venezuelans must recover Spanish words that are ?threatened by sectors that have started a battle for the cultural domination of our nations.?

Other English words targeted include ?mouse? (the company prefers ?raton?), ?meeting? (?reunion?) and ?sponsor? (?patrocinador?) ? all of which have become common in Latin American countries.

The leftist president has sought to counter what he calls U.S. cultural imperialism on all fronts, financing Venezuelan cinema as an alternative to the ?dictatorship of Hollywood? and forcing radio stations to play more Venezuelan music.

English is still taught in schools alongside other languages, however. And Chavez himself often breaks playfully into English during speeches, sometimes to salute his close friend, former Cuban leader Fidel Castro, saying: ?How are you, Fidel??

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23350305/

[fatman]

Is this much different than the English-only advocates here in the US?

[Xavier_Onassis]

English words are used in business classes in Latin America for their snob appeal. Spanish has equivalent words and everyone in the field knows them. Think wearing gold teeth, think putting a sticker on your car so everyone knows that your wheels are 22". Think putting plastic swinging testicles on your F-150, Ram or Silverado.

The American music that is allegedly played too often on Venezuelan radio ios rap and hip hop. In my opinion, any act that prevents rap or hip hop from being heard anywhere is a good and saintly act. The Spanish language version is worse than its English language counterpart (if we concede that English is the language used in hip hop).

Chavez is hardly a classy person, but there is some sense to doing this.

Venezuela, one of the world's most fertile nations, imports most of its food from the US. This is by design of the US, of course. Venezuelans have been unspeakably stupid and subservient in the past. Getting Venezuelans to farm would be a lot more useful to Chavez' cause than attacking the use of English words, but still...

[Rich]

>>This is by design of the US, of course.<<

Of course.

 

[fatman]

Why don't you actually refute it instead of posting unwitty one-liners?  You're not Ronald Reagan.  You're not even Don Rickles.

[The_Professor]

"Venezuela, one of the world's most fertile nations, imports most of its food from the US. This is by design of the US, of course. "

Really? How so, XO?

[Xavier_Onassis]

"Venezuela, one of the world's most fertile nations, imports most of its food from the US. This is by design of the US, of course. "

Really? How so, XO?
===========================================
We sell them canned goods, packaged rice and beans, at a price lower than the cost of clearing the land in Venezuela. We buy their beef for Mickeyburgers at a price that ensures that the grazing land, owned by a few ranchers, will never be used for crops.

We do this to keep our balance of payments as much in our favor as possible. The Venezuelans are none too clever when it comes to using their resources wisely.

[Rich]

Still obsessing Ms. Divine?

Pathetic.

[fatman]

Still obsessing Ms. Divine?

Pathetic.

Nothing to add but non-humorous one liners?  Hellooooooo pot, kettle here.  There you go again <----- Hey, I can crank out one liner non-sequiters too!  Damn, I'm smart.

[Rich]

Sill obsessing?

Really pathetic.

[fatman]

Sill obsessing?

Really pathetic.

The only obsession I have on this board is stopping your mean-spirited bullying bullshit.  You're not the first bully I've ever dealt with, and I sincerely doubt you'll be the last.  In my experience, which is rather lengthy in dealing with assholes/bullies, the best remedy is to give to them what they give to give everyone else, which is why you're getting what you're getting.  Maybe next time it'll give you pause before you:

A)  Echo John Gibson's comment on the Culture Vulture board by saying He finally found a way to quit you.  You then go on to think that this is a rather funny episode, and spray your filth all over the board.  Anyone who wants to check it out can go to the Culture Vulture board and look through the Heath Ledger thread.

B)  Think that it's a hilarious wordplay to say Cindy Shemale instead of Cindy Sheehan.  I realize you disagree with her politics, hell I do too.  It is however, not funny.

C)  Believe that once again we all need to be subjected Barak Obama's middle name.  Yes, I realize that you find this very amusing, but seeing as how we aren't allowed to choose our names, is irrelevant.  Oh yes, he could go change his name, and you would be at the forefront saying "WHAT DOES HE HAVE TO HIDE LOLOLOL?  DOES HE THINK THAT WE DON'T KNOW HIS REAL MIDDLE NAME LOLOLOL"

D)  Continue to post irrelevant and vapid articles void of any factual basis.  I'm sure that sooner or later that you'll call me a bitch, but I really don't care.  I've been called worse by better people than you'll ever be.

E) Express frustration that you can't "slap me around".

[Stray Pooch]

C)  Believe that once again we all need to be subjected Barak Obama's middle name.  Yes, I realize that you find this very amusing, but seeing as how we aren't allowed to choose our names, is irrelevant.  Oh yes, he could go change his name, and you would be at the forefront saying "WHAT DOES HE HAVE TO HIDE LOLOLOL?  DOES HE THINK THAT WE DON'T KNOW HIS REAL MIDDLE NAME LOLOLOL"

I had lunch with a media consultant who had been encouraging me for sometime to run for statewide office.  As it happened, the lunch was scheduled for late September 2001.

"You realize, don't you, that the political dynamics have changed," he said as he picked at his salad.

"What do you mean," I asked, knowing full well what he meant.   We both looked down at the newspaper beside him. There, on the front page, was Osama bin Laden. 

"Hell of a thing, isn't it," he said, shaking his head.  "Really bad luck.  You can't change your name, of course.  Voters are suspicious of that kind of thing.  Maybe if you were at the start of your career, you know, you could use a nickname or something.  But now . . ."  His voice trailed off and he shrugged apologetically before signalling the waiter to bring us the check.

                                                    - Barack Obama, The Audacity of Hope, page 3

[fatman]

The fact that Obama has done as well he has with a middle name that is the same as that of a dictator, and a last name that is one consonant away from Osama, says a lot about his appeal.  Not necessarily to me, but to the general electorate.  I think that people in general are a lot more tolerant of things like this, though I don't profess to know the why.

Thanks for bringing up a good quote Pooch, I haven't read the book but I may have to now.

[Rich]

Only the democrats would put forth someone named Barack Hussien Obama as a candidate for the presidency at this point in our history. That's not to say his name matter all that much. This is America after all. I have always thought a name has a great deal to do with who we elect president. That's why I figured Rudy Giulliani didn't stand a chance. Or Huckabee ... too weird. We like people with simple, anglo-saxon WASPy type names. Not excotic Italian, Russian, or Arabian name. We like Bush, Clinton, Nixon, Reagan, Kennedy, Adams, Ford, Johnson ... you get the picture.

Just a thought.

[Stray Pooch]

Ya know, France was doing the same thing a few years ago and I think some factions in Japan (where the people are as fascinated by things American as our people are by things Japanese) were considering similar measures.

I think Hugo Chavez is a moron, and while I do not condone Pat Robertson's "final solution" in principle, I wouldn't cry if HC took an accelerated path to the worm farm.  But in this case, I don't really have a problem with his attempts.  I think English should be the official language in the US.  I think Spanish should be the official language in Venezuela.  I wouldn't go so far as suggesting that any foreign words should be weeded out of our language.  To do so would basically decimate our language, given our propensity for adapting and assimilating words from other cultures.  But if Hugo-a-go-go wants to isolate the Venezuelan people from the evils of spoken English, more power to him.