I’m stumped by the meaning of this sentence in the column today:
“Tradition has it that he stepped down to cast a negative vote, apparently being the German-speaking equivalent of an Oreo.”
What is meant by this? I don’t see the connection to the cookie. What am I missing?
LINK TO COLUMN: Did Hebrew almost become the official U.S. language? - The Straight Dope
Oreo: “black on the outside, white on the inside”. Term, more or less, for a black person who doesn’t sufficiently ‘act black’, or support black causes, or votes Republican, or whatever. I first heard it applied to Colin Powell. Not, as you can imagine, intended as a compliment.
A racial slur eh? Wow. I have been reading this site for years. I have to say that I am a bit shocked that this word would just be casually tossed around.
Thanks for the quick response.
Interesting, I wouldn’t have guessed that.
In Australia I’ve heard of the term Coconut used by Aboriginal people to desribe another Aboriginal person who behaved too “white”, had lost their culture etc.
Same thing, black on the outside white on the inside.
Separate question on the same report, that report was published in the 90’s and said there had been legislation before congress since the 80’s to make English the official language of the USA but at that time it didn’t actually have one.
Has this changed? Did that bill ever get through or another one?
A few years ago, I got to talking with a fellow from Oklahoma who’d grown up on “the reservation” (his words). As it happens, all of the family ginger genes had ganged up on him and left him looking a lot like Conan O’Brien. He told me that he was harangued mercilessly for being an “apple.”
His opinion was that his tormentors had completely failed to grasp the concept, though he expressed it a little more colorfully than that.
As for the English language legislation, I believe it’s one of a whole group of perrenials that are pretty much ignored unless someone tries to sneak one into another bill.
Dear Abby and Ann Landers probably did more than anyone to spread this story and keep it alive.
Almost every year, shortly before Election Day, both of them would often write “You MUST get out and vote. And if you think your one measly vote couldn’t possibly be important, here’s a list of historical cases where one vote made a HUGE difference.” The “German almost became the official language of the USA” anecdote was on that list.
Cecil has already show that the Muhlenberg story was bogus. MANY of the “facts” on the list were bogus, and even the ones that were true didn’t prove much.
After all, while it’s true that one vote saved Andrew Johnson from being ousted as President, that one vote belonged to a US Senator, not to an ordinary schmoe.
OBVIOUSLY your one vote can be hugely important if you’re a Senator, Congressman, Supreme Court justice or state legislator. It hardly follows that your vote is crucial if you’re an ordinary secretary, dentist, accountant, cashier, barber or waitress.
Voting pool size matters. One of three (or four) judges on America’s Got Talent? Vote is important, one vote can make a difference. One of 100 senators? Reasonably important, can make a difference. One of 1 million call in votes on a game show? Not likely to make a difference.
But the thing is, if everyone acts like their one vote isn’t important, then few vote, and the ones who do have substantially more influence.