Want A Cheesesteak? 'Speak English'

What ever happened to lending a helping hand.. To another human being..

EXACTLY OX!

well said mate..its because the masses refuse to do this the world is so full of hate.

Its very true.. There was an actual campaign when I was a kid that showed people that needed help in all situations, like carrying groceries. and stuff like that with a cheesy song "Do you need a hand".. And its the truth.. the world is full of hate.. And the hate is being directed at anyone who isnt white.. Or actually more to the truth.. Anyone that doesnt speak English as a first language

and whilst were still on the subject...

what sort of idiot business person runs the risk of loosing trade by limiting it to just english speaking clientele?

he would have been better putting up a sign saying

"dont speak english?...JUST POINT"

hell..you can speak martian if your buying anything from my businesses...i want and need your business..

[edit on 10-6-2006 by optimus fett]

Would the businesses subject themselves to discrimination lawsuits based on the signs they had displayed? I mean.. I would kick up a fuss over it..

in fact im re reading some of the absolute ignorant clap trap posted here???

I totally agree 100% I am sick of being at a public place (n AMERICA)and hearing no english. Lets make this country America again!

for all the other narrow minded purveyors of ignorance that have replied to this thread...

lets ban deaf and dumb people from speaking in public, people that stutter can go aswell, cleft palets etc,etc

hell..lets just test everyones english speaking skills and if your not up to scratch you will be gotten rid of....

im sick of hearing people on holiday in europe demanding that people serving them in shops and restraunts speak english..it is so freaking rude.

the best phrase i ever learnt in portuguese was this...

"descupa, il fala moite a mal portuguese, fala's ingles por fa vor?"

"im sorry, i speak very bad portuguese, can we speak english?"

it opened nearly all the doors i needed to live in this country...what ever happened to our civalized society?

My mother had an uncle that went to live in what was then Rhodesia, today Zimbabwe.

Neither my mother's uncle or his wife knew how to speak English, but when they arrived there his wife could get anything from the shops in a funny way: she imitated what she wanted, the most famous case being when she wanted eggs; she imitated a chicken and then pointed to the place from the eggs would come out if she was a real chicken.
All the people laughed but they understood what she wanted.

This reminds me of something, if they only serve English speaking people, would they serve food to a mute person?

i am from south jersey so i have eaten at this place before in Philly and you cant put a sign out where this place is located with this kind of remark,there is people from all walks of life at this spot...i mean this is the 4th largest city in America..why woud any business man care what language there dollar was coming from...people always gotta start some #....i think all the people who dont speak this jerkoffs language should go to the place right nexted store and spend there dollars there instead...good for everybody fugetaboutit

go to the place right nexted store and spend there dollars there instead...good for everybody fugetaboutit

exactly....the launguage we all speak is $$$$$$$$$$...€€€€€€....and ££££££

lol..plus about another 1000 currencys that i dont have the symbols for on my keyboard!

Originally posted by ArMaP
When you speak of Latinos are you speaking of the ones whose "natural" language is a language related to Latin?

yes or you may take it as classical languages.

If that is the then I may be considered a Latino because I am Portuguese.
Does this mean that I understand English because I understand Portuguese?

You may be considered a person who speaks a language that has some roots in Latin.
It also means that it would be much easier for you to speak english than someone who speaks Mandarin or Swahili, therefore if you live in a land where English is commonly spoken then it is just laziness and dogmatism that prevents one from learning English.

Originally posted by dgtempe
When you start nickpicking about how great the thickness of the accent is, that is very unfair. At least they LEARNED the language, weather they have a thick accent should not matter. Plueeeeze!

By learning the language they do nobody any great favors for it is in their own best interest to be profecient in the local language.
I'm not nickpicking, I know many latinos who speak their native tounge fluently with their proper accentation while still being able to speak english in a good accent. Heck, I have met Japanese Engineers living and working in Japan that speak English more fluently and in a better accent than most in America. They rarely need to use English living in Japan and also for a person who speaks japanese the english language is very hard. That hasnt stopped them however and I admire them for their effort and that in

That's a very narrow minded view. I'd like to see you speak Russian or even Spanish, without a thick English accent!

Its almost impossible.

Almost impossible ? Are you saying that nobody who speaks Spanish properly can have a good accent while speaking English ? Its only impossible if you think it is .
I live in the USA and I can say with some confidence that I can speak english correctly and in the proper accent. If I were to live in Spain or Russia, I would make it my business to tell the difference between "que tal?" and " como estas usted?" and say them in the right accent. Other wise it is of no or little importance to me.

Originally posted by Allah the moon god
I think speaking English is not enough. Accents can make it unintelligible.
In the UK for example in the west country they can speak at a slower rate with longer vowel sounds.

ATMG ,
I totally agree with you about accents. I was there a while back and it took me a while to get around the cockney accent. Add to this the "innit" etc and you can quite easily see people from other English speaking nations go: "huh?".

In London proper( near Kensington Palace) I was in this Thistle Hotel and the concierge there was this Arab guy who couldn’t understand English and made me keep repeating. It was infuriating. Some waiters dont know what 'cutlery' means, I had to actually make gestures because people dont understand English in England!
I took it all in good spirits as I was a tourist but it was disconcerting to see how these people who work with people in England havent bothered to achieve even the most basic level of proficiency in English.

Originally posted by opensecret1150
Well, sir, I am not a grammar Nazi on these forums, but...insist you properly edit your posts. Your writing is thick with anachronisms ("Many a time"), spelling mistakes ("shouldnt", "cant","its"),.......

Its a spelling mistake because I missed to add apostrophes??

OK, I'm not entirely serious, but do you see how you do the very thing you are upset with others for doing? A little humility might be in order!

What I am upset with people for is that they dont even bother to try and would rather dish out excuses about how hard it is or how they are predisposed to speaking in one particular way or the other. I find that ridiculous!

Originally posted by Philadelphite
let me elaborate, for i live a couple blocks away.

At Pat's, Geno's superior rival, the basic order is your cheese type followed by "wit" or "witout", depending whether or not you want onions.

Pat's is the local favorite, and Geno's hates it when people come up and order "Pat's" style, "whiz wit" and such.

He won't give Pat's advertising on tv, so it becomes an immigration argument in the current national political atmosphere.

Basically, the signs tellin Pat's customers to order plainly, not in Pat's code

Just steak politics

Baaahhh....

Both place are tourist traps. No real Philly native bothers with those two places any way. Same goes for Jims on South St and the like.

the "tourist trap" comment is a little ridiculous. the media put these places in the spotlight. it is not their fault. i always choose pat's because it is far superior. there are other places that have better steaks that are not as popular.
i read that some puerto rican actvist wants to take legal action if geno's keeps up their policy. it is amazing that these activists will attack a cheesesteak restaurant policy instead of their own problems.

Well the person who say he need to speak spansh (and it is funny) you should look for some who know how spansh well near you and pracite with him and make it fun it help alot I would know but give up

Originally posted by optimus fett
what sort of idiot business person runs the risk of loosing
trade by limiting it to just english speaking clientele?

You aren't from around here (Philly) are you?

There is absolutely no chance this cheesesteak place will loose
his trade over this. It's one of the top places in Philly for everyone,
locals and tourists, to go to. The lines are out the door and into the
street. The cheesesteak wars on that corner are notorious.

This sort of 'idiot' business person just got more free advertising
for his store than he could possibly afford in one lifetime.

This 'idiot' is brilliant!

Oh .. and he doesn't care about accents. He has a heavy Philly
accent. So all this chatter about speaking English with no accent ...
that wasn't his intent.

I have to agree with the previous post of "if you can't speak english, just point!" Why can't we all just get along

Originally posted by Ox
It seems that the Government is trying to make a subtle racist attack.. and spread it throughout the country by pointing the finger at the Mexicans.. theyre all illegal.. theyre the new enemy of the state.. To take focus off of other things.. and its wrong.. its plain racism.. pure and simple.. Leave them alone.. If they cant speak english and order something to eat.. then HELP THEM!.. They are doing the best with what they have available.. What ever happened to lending a helping hand.. To another human being..

Well this thread was going along so nicely until now, but it too has now fallen prey to Escro's Law. Thanks for ruining it for the rest of us civil people. *sigh*

When in doubt, lets play racism.

Originally posted by snowflake_obsidian
I just think the sign could have been written in a nicer manner. Perhaps instead it could've just said "Please order in English."

lemme guess, yer a female.

But Escrotumus sometime racsim does play a part in this case it may not be so but still there alot of it. I live in a white town and sometime there are some racsims remark by the people here. So I cant argree with you there. Here is an example: one day my mom had a baby a while ago the baby came out very white for a hispanic but offten people think my mom is the nanny for the baby when she tell them she is the mother most of the time there "oh sorry" but are time when they say "why are you ******* lie! you ******* mexican" and being the fact my mom is getto she whould "quite them" with her fist so you get the point. In here it does not seem to be the case or I would like to think so

[edit on 11-6-2006 by El Che]