“I guess our country holds the record for dumbness. The Pope spoke to the world this morning in three languages and we didn’t understand a one of ’em. But the minute he finished and the local stations got back to selling corn salve and pyorrhea tooth paste we were right up our intellectual alley again.” – Will Rogers, 15 May 1931
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Hmm. I have studied six foreign languages during my life on this planet. And, I doubt if I heard any of those six languages spoken that I would understand a word! But, give credit for trying hard. I have an appreciation for people coming to America from a foreign land and having to conquer English. That is the reason I am studying Korean to realize how BIG a challenge it is. Before we criticize anyone, we need to personally walk in their shoes!
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Six foreign languages, wow. I too appreciate all those who come to our country for the opportunities. English is a very weird language. I have a post coming out soon on that topic.
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I studied five languages ardently, but they were too hard for me to catch what the other person was speaking in French, German, Norwegian, Chinese, and Korean. I say this because too often we judge foreigners coming to live in America and NOT learning English. I am saying until you walk in their shoes it is very hard to do. I am a walking testament of trying very hard to learn another language to carry on a conversation with a native speaker. The English language is not weird, but it has differences as do many foreign languages.
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Dumbness is a judgemental word that we need to be careful who we re labeling. I choose not to use it. Because oftentimes, my actions seem very dumb.
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Yeah it is a word with some loaded context but I think it was pretty common back when Will’s quote above was taken.
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