tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post107057883770048583..comments2024-03-29T03:19:09.227-04:00Comments on The Philosopher's Stone: SE HABLA ESPANOLRobert Paul Wolffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11970360952872431856noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-90283645366686080682015-09-04T13:00:38.932-04:002015-09-04T13:00:38.932-04:00Jim, that is a marvelous addition to my musings. ...Jim, that is a marvelous addition to my musings. Thank you. The Franklin quote is extraordinary.Robert Paul Wolffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04503871750113300199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-38109882725043518272015-09-04T11:18:14.643-04:002015-09-04T11:18:14.643-04:00There were a lot of German speakers in colonial Am...There were a lot of German speakers in colonial America and there were delegates from Pennsylvania that tried unsuccessfully to get federal documents published in German as well as English but I think even in Pennsylvania the English-only types were always in firm control. People often forget that the celebrated Franklin said things like this (who knew Germans were so swarthy!): <br /><br />“Why should the Palatine Boors be suffered to swarm into our Settlements, and by herding together establish their Language and Manners to the exclusion of ours? Why should Pennsylvania, founded by the English, become a Colony of Aliens, who will shortly be so numerous as to Germanize us instead of our Anglifying them, and will never adopt our Language or Customs, any more than they can acquire our Complexion?” (<b>The Papers of Benjamin Franklin </b> Ed. Leonard W. Labaree. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1959. vol 4:234). <br /><br />The worst example though came in post-WWI Iowa when the governor (William Harding) proposed and helped pass a law ("Babel Proclamation") that forbade any speaking of a foreign language in any public conversation. That "law" was repealed half a year later.Jim Westrichhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11523640492416820740noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-23827801562394245642015-09-04T10:44:43.943-04:002015-09-04T10:44:43.943-04:00Your apology is gratefully accepted. One can only...Your apology is gratefully accepted. One can only imagine what havoc he might have wrought in so confined a space. Our loss is your gain!Robert Paul Wolffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11970360952872431856noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-41657134829027300602015-09-04T10:38:30.984-04:002015-09-04T10:38:30.984-04:00On behalf of the people of Scotland, I sincerely a...On behalf of the people of Scotland, I sincerely apologise for Donald Trump.<br />We're a small nation, just five million people. That's mainly attributable to our well known diaspora, through coercion, force and more latterly economic aspiration. I suppose we were bound to throw up one bad apple now and again. <br />Sorry :-(NotHobbeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09443644930695303411noreply@blogger.com