"Speak English" signs ruled OK at Philly shop

Little-Acorn

Little-Acorn

New member
Every now and then, a ray of sunshine comes through the murk.

If I were to move to Italy, I wouldn't expect the people there to speak English to accommodate me. I'd bust my ass and learn enough Italian to communicate, however imperfectly. And before I got that much learned, I'd learn how to say, "Please excuse me for not speaking Italian, I'm new here. Can you help me say this?" And hopefully they would start to notice after a few weeks or months (languages are not my strong suit) I didn't need to say it any more. I'd have a funny accent, but I'd be understandable.

And I wouldn't object if someone had a sign in his store saying, "This is Italy, please order in Italian". I might avoid that store for the first few weeks until I got enough language to do so, but I wouldn't hold it against him. *I* and a guest in *his* country. When in Rome.....

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http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8VGQ98O0&show_article=1

'Speak English' Signs OK at Philly Shop

By PATRICK WALTERS
Associated Press Writer Write a Comment
Mar 19 07:38 PM US/Eastern

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - The owner of a famous cheesesteak shop did not discriminate when he posted signs asking customers to speak English, a city panel ruled Wednesday.

In a 2-1 vote, a Commission on Human Relations panel found that two signs at Geno's Steaks telling customers, "This is America: WHEN ORDERING 'PLEASE SPEAK ENGLISH,'" do not violate the city's Fair Practices Ordinance.

Shop owner Joe Vento has said he posted the signs in October 2005 because of concerns over immigration reform and an increasing number of people in the area who could not order in English.

Vento has said he never refused service to anyone because they couldn't speak English. But critics argued that the signs discourage customers of certain backgrounds from eating at the shop.

Commissioners Roxanne E. Covington and Burt Siegel voted to dismiss the complaint, finding that the sign does not communicate that business will be "refused, withheld or denied."
 
Little-Acorn said:
Every now and then, a ray of sunshine comes through the murk.

If I were to move to Italy, I wouldn't expect the people there to speak English to accommodate me. I'd bust my ass and learn enough Italian to communicate, however imperfectly. And before I got that much learned, I'd learn how to say, "Please excuse me for not speaking Italian, I'm new here. Can you help me say this?" And hopefully they would start to notice after a few weeks or months (languages are not my strong suit) I didn't need to say it any more. I'd have a funny accent, but I'd be understandable.

And I wouldn't object if someone had a sign in his store saying, "This is Italy, please order in Italian". I might avoid that store for the first few weeks until I got enough language to do so, but I wouldn't hold it against him. *I* and a guest in *his* country. When in Rome.....
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well, that's because you're a bush loving moron who's never been out of the country. Maybe, you haven't been out of your own state.

I've never seen a "spanish only" sign anywhere in latin america. And I don't stumble all overmyself apologizing to people that I don't speak good spanish. They don't expect apologies. I do the best I can with my lame spanish, and 99.99% of people are cool about it, and try to help me.
 
Cypress said:
well, that's because you're a bush loving moron who's never been out of the country. Maybe, you haven't been out of your own state.

I've never seen a "spanish only" sign anywhere in latin america. And I don't stumble all overmyself apologizing to people that I don't speak good spanish. They don't expect apologies. I do the best I can with my lame spanish, and 99.99% of people are cool about it, and try to help me.
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But Cypress, the rest of the world is supposed to make concessions for white (and only white) Americans, but you're unpatriotic if you think that it's wrong to be obnoxious and rude to a foreigner for not knowing perfect English.
 
Well no sign at my business, but we cannot help anyone who does not speak english as that is all we speak there.
And we will not let anyone sign a service agreement that clearly does not understand what is going on.
 
Cypress said:
well, that's because you're a bush loving moron who's never been out of the country. Maybe, you haven't been out of your own state.

I've never seen a "spanish only" sign anywhere in latin america. And I don't stumble all overmyself apologizing to people that I don't speak good spanish. They don't expect apologies. I do the best I can with my lame spanish, and 99.99% of people are cool about it, and try to help me.
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Oh, so you must have moved to Latin America and then decided to speak only in English.

Or are you comparing a vacation to moving to another country?
 
uscitizen said:
Well no sign at my business, but we cannot help anyone who does not speak english as that is all we speak there.
And we will not let anyone sign a service agreement that clearly does not understand what is going on.
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I love the picture of McCain, it is his true self!
 
Watermark said:
"Speak English" signs are obnoxious and sign of low-IQ induced by too much right-wing talk radio brainwashing.
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I sorta agree, but it's certainly the owner's right. If it were my place, I'd just say "no habla espanol" when they came to the counter. I actually stopped at a fast food joint in Watsonville, California where the girl at the counter could not take my order in English and had to summon a coworker. No big deal.
 
It is an unfortunate fact that bigotry buys votes.

Even when an issue should not be a political question, it is made one so that otherwise unworthy people can rally the public to their cause.

I do my best to learn sufficient portions of the language of any country I visit, but I imagine if I was under an economic condition where I knew I could prosper in an unfamiliar place as opposed to the suffering I would face in my native country, I would go regardless of whether I spoke the native tongue.

I am reluctant to join the now popular trend of making reference to Obama's recent speech on racial understanding, but I do believe this discomfort between the various cultures divided by language is a two way street of animosity as he illustrates and not a simple matter of ignorant immigrants flouting the customs of our society.
 
One thing that I think pisses off a lot of Americans is when those that can speak the language don't among themselves. They don't realize that immigrants that speak english are only doing so barely. I had a coworker who I thought understood the language fine. Then I started spending more time with her and realized I had to dial back my vocabulary a bit for her to follow.

We wonder why they speak spanish amongst themselves, as if they are talking about us. They aint talking about us, they are just more comfortable in their native tongue. Get over yourself.
 
RStringfield said:
I sorta agree, but it's certainly the owner's right. If it were my place, I'd just say "no habla espanol" when they came to the counter. I actually stopped at a fast food joint in Watsonville, California where the girl at the counter could not take my order in English and had to summon a coworker. No big deal.
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I certainly don't think it should be banned, I've just always found the signs obnoxious. It probably wouldn't matter to anyone who actually couldn't understand English, though, as they couldn't understand the sign, so I guess it's sort of an in-obnoxiousness.
 
Watermark said:
"Speak English" signs are obnoxious and sign of low-IQ induced by too much right-wing talk radio brainwashing.
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oh stfu... i know your vagina is hurting but seriously try to not cry everyday.

If I worked behind a counter and day in and day out I had to try and decipher other languages I would get pretty fed up. It's a matter of practicality not to mention if you can understand your customers, things probably will be running a lot more smoothly and efficiently.
 
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Cypress said:
well, that's because you're a bush loving moron who's never been out of the country. Maybe, you haven't been out of your own state.

I've never seen a "spanish only" sign anywhere in latin america. And I don't stumble all overmyself apologizing to people that I don't speak good spanish. They don't expect apologies. I do the best I can with my lame spanish, and 99.99% of people are cool about it, and try to help me.
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yes, you go to another country and attempt to speak their language. Some here do not do that from what I have gathered from this article.
 
RStringfield said:
I sorta agree, but it's certainly the owner's right. If it were my place, I'd just say "no habla espanol" when they came to the counter. I actually stopped at a fast food joint in Watsonville, California where the girl at the counter could not take my order in English and had to summon a coworker. No big deal.
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Grind said:
oh stfu... i know your vagina is hurting but seriously try to not cry everyday.

If I worked behind a counter and day in and day out I had to try and decipher other languages I would get pretty fed up. It's a matter of practicality not to mention if you can understand your customers, things probably will be running a lot more smoothly and efficiently.
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Grind U r obnoxious so you would understand.
 
funny you should mention that, it worked for me in qubec, ca

not that i moved there, but i visited there and did not act like they owed me a favor for being there


but then some people are provincial...some latinos that move here have their kids translate for them - but then they are usually working two or three jobs
 
Cypress said:
well, that's because you're a bush loving moron who's never been out of the country. Maybe, you haven't been out of your own state.

I've never seen a "spanish only" sign anywhere in latin america. And I don't stumble all overmyself apologizing to people that I don't speak good spanish. They don't expect apologies. I do the best I can with my lame spanish, and 99.99% of people are cool about it, and try to help me.
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America is really the low-rent neighborhood in the world-wide community. I'm really tired of being associated with these morons. And they think they are just the cat's meow. But they're stupid, and clumsy and rude, and ignorant.
 
Darla said:
America is really the low-rent neighborhood in the world-wide community. I'm really tired of being associated with these morons. And they think they are just the cat's meow. But they're stupid, and clumsy and rude, and ignorant.
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Yep the stereotypical ungly americans have grown in number.
It seems to be in fashion to be rude.
 
Watermark said:
"Speak English" signs are obnoxious and sign of low-IQ induced by too much right-wing talk radio brainwashing.
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It's an issue of clear communication . Must all staff be able to speak every language. Here's another of your hideous double standards. You probably think it's horrible if americans go to paris and refuse to speak french. Well, when people come here, they should speak english.
 
I would never put up an English only sign as I would want as big a customer base as possable. Sure the guy should be allowed to do it, but eventually if he keeps limiting his customer base the market will put him out of business.

I would never turn a client away just because he was a non-English speaker.
 
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