# Do people no longer speak English in the USA? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 5, 2003, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-no-longer-speak-english-in-the-usa/199781 "2003-09-05T18:02:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dogface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Dogface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogface)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2003, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-no-longer-speak-english-in-the-usa/199781/1 "2003-09-05T18:02:33Z")
Okay, first we have the idiots who got up in arms over the use of the term “niggardly”. Now we have this: > [@](#): > > An aide to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi stormed out of a presentation by Victor Davis Hanson, author of the book Mexifornia about illegal immigration in California. The Pelosi aide, Federico de Jesus, said Hanson’s views were racist and backed that up by accusing Hanson of being an admitted “classist.” > > Hanson is in fact a scholar of ancient Greece and Rome and had been introduced to the group as a, “classicist,” a distinction apparently lost on de Jesus, who proceeded to storm out of the room. So, can somebody explain to me how such incredible levels of inarticulation have become so popular among the “educated”? ---
**Author:** ![scule](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@scule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scule)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2003, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-no-longer-speak-english-in-the-usa/199781/2 "2003-09-05T18:11:47Z")
Is that really true? If so, then it is hilarious. Just another example of the general dumbing down of society, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2003, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-no-longer-speak-english-in-the-usa/199781/3 "2003-09-05T18:32:20Z")
Why is this an example of the “dumbing down” of society? Because one idiot can’t understand the diference between two similar sounding words and has a temper tantrum? ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2003, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-no-longer-speak-english-in-the-usa/199781/4 "2003-09-05T18:32:37Z")
He “stormed out of the room?” Doesn’t that make him a “storm trooper?” Nazi! _Nazi!!!_ ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2003, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-no-longer-speak-english-in-the-usa/199781/5 "2003-09-05T20:25:33Z")
Post a link maybe you could? ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2003, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-no-longer-speak-english-in-the-usa/199781/6 "2003-09-05T21:27:54Z")
Great OP, **Dogface**! I suspect many of these people dropped out of school when they heard that they’d have to _matriculate_. And they’re opposed to women actors, who, everyone knows, are all _Thespians_. God forbid they ever hold hearings on medicine – self-proclaimed _pediatricians_ might testify! ---
**Author:** ![Dogface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Dogface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogface)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2003, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-no-longer-speak-english-in-the-usa/199781/7 "2003-09-05T21:33:31Z")
[http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/op-ed/perkins/20030829-9999\_mz1e29perkin.html](http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/op-ed/perkins/20030829-9999_mz1e29perkin.html) Different account, same story. Mind you, this doesn’t make Hanson any less the fearmonger and nutbar, but it’s still pretty stupid behavior on the part of de Jesus. One would have hoped that they who style themselves the forces of “reason” and “tolerance” would be a bit brighter than that. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2003, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-no-longer-speak-english-in-the-usa/199781/8 "2003-09-05T21:37:04Z")
Anyone wanna chip in to get de Jesus a “Word-a-Day” calendar? ---
**Author:** ![Aldebaran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Aldebaran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aldebaran)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2003, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-no-longer-speak-english-in-the-usa/199781/9 "2003-09-05T22:03:22Z")
This is a good idea for me… I would like to have “a word a day” calendar. And then I come to this board to bring the word of the day in practice. That would make my posts understandable for the readers, no? Salaam. A ---
**Author:** ![TonyJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9c0ed/32.png) [@TonyJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonyJ)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2003, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-no-longer-speak-english-in-the-usa/199781/10 "2003-09-05T22:04:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by rjung \* > \*\*Anyone wanna chip in to get de Jesus a “Word-a-Day” calendar? \*\* “Oh, I conquer.” (Simpson’s reference) It’s pretty ridiculous. I think it shows that people tend to look for the worst - and find it, albeit incorrectly. When I first read the word “niggardly”, I did a double-take. But I looked at the context - and eventually a dictionary - and now I like the word. This, mainly because it infuriates people who are too careless to figure out what it means, and take it as a racial slur. ---
**Author:** ![bri1600bv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9fc29f/32.png) [@bri1600bv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bri1600bv)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2003, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-no-longer-speak-english-in-the-usa/199781/11 "2003-09-05T22:30:38Z")
Well, I’m as un-PC as you can get, but I can see why some black people don’t like the word niggardly. Even though it doesn’t have anything to do with race, it still kind of sticks in their craw a little bit. The “n-word” has been made so taboo and so powerful that you can’t expect it not too. White people seeing it would probably think it’s a little strange but kind of funny, but from a different perspective, it probably makes them feel a little uncomfortable, like “what are you really trying to say!”. ---
**Author:** ![fizzygoodmakefeelnice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8491ac/32.png) [@fizzygoodmakefeelnice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fizzygoodmakefeelnice)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-no-longer-speak-english-in-the-usa/199781/12 "2003-09-06T13:31:06Z")
No, for goodness sake, the word ‘niggardly’ has _no racist connotations_. > [@](#): > > it probably makes them feel a little uncomfortable, like “what are you really trying to say!”. As demonstrated by **Polycarp’s** brilliant post, a word that sounds a little (or maybe even a lot) similar to an offensive term is not automatically a reference to that term, or an attempt to make a veiled racist comment. Anyway, bet de Jesus felt like a right muffin ---
**Author:** ![robertliguori](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/46a35a/32.png) [@robertliguori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robertliguori)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-no-longer-speak-english-in-the-usa/199781/13 "2003-09-06T14:15:18Z")
> [@](#): > > God forbid they ever hold hearings on medicine – self-proclaimed pediatricians might testify! Won’t someone think of the children?! ---
**Author:** ![pizzabrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e9c0ed/32.png) [@pizzabrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pizzabrat)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-no-longer-speak-english-in-the-usa/199781/14 "2003-09-06T14:23:27Z")
> [@](#): > > _fizzygoodmakefeelnice_ > As demonstrated by Polycarp’s brilliant post, a word that sounds a little (or maybe even a lot) similar to an offensive term is not automatically a reference to that term, or an attempt to make a veiled racist comment. Well, two posts up, TonyJ says: > [@](#): > > When I first read the word “niggardly”, I did a double-take. But I looked at the context - and eventually a dictionary - and now I like the word. This, mainly because it infuriates people who are too careless to figure out what it means, and take it as a racial slur. So he goes out the way to use the word “niggardly”, not because it’s a useful word, but just to rouse “ignorant” people who might mistake it as a racial slur. That’d make me wonder “what are you really trying to say”. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-no-longer-speak-english-in-the-usa/199781/15 "2003-09-06T14:25:52Z")
Reminds me of a cow-orker of mine. A few of us were talking and she said something that I didn’t catch so I said “What?” and she answered “If you said “what” than you must have heard me.” and I answered “I heard something, but it was unintelligible.” Well, this woman went on a 10 minute tirade about how I called her stupid. I let her go on and on, saying once “if the shoe fits.” Another co-worker explained what “unintelligible” meant. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-no-longer-speak-english-in-the-usa/199781/16 "2003-09-06T14:59:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bri1600bv \* > \*\*Well, I’m as un-PC as you can get, but I can see why some black people don’t like the word niggardly. Even though it doesn’t have anything to do with race, it still kind of sticks in their craw a little bit. \*\* If you live long enough, all sorts of things will “stick in your craw a little bet.” Learn to deal with it, or don’t live so damned long. ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-no-longer-speak-english-in-the-usa/199781/17 "2003-09-06T15:36:30Z")
This kind of idiocy is not unique to the US. I remember an occurrence in Germany that was widely reported on at the time (sorry, no cite - it was circa twenty years ago, before the advent of the Web). A Berlin alternative paper mentioned that “it is an open secret in Berlin society that [name of a conservative city councillor] is heterosexual”. The politician had his lawyer make the paper publish a rebuttal in the paper, under his legal right of reply. Which made people doubt the education of the councillor _and_ his lawyer, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-no-longer-speak-english-in-the-usa/199781/18 "2003-09-06T15:54:10Z")
Way back in junior high school I asked a female classmate, “So, are you heterosexual?” With much indignation she retorted, “No!” It was quite funny. ---
**Author:** ![Beryl\_Mooncalf\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9f8e36/32.png) [@Beryl\_Mooncalf\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beryl_Mooncalf_1)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-no-longer-speak-english-in-the-usa/199781/19 "2003-09-06T16:41:54Z")
Poly, I surprised you missed this one. _cunctipotent_ ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-no-longer-speak-english-in-the-usa/199781/20 "2003-09-06T18:00:57Z")
The difference in _demagogue_ and _demigod_ has led to some red faces. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-no-longer-speak-english-in-the-usa/199781.md?page=2)