I am now completing research supported by NSF and NEH that is mapping changes in the English language through all of North America, for both mainstream and minority communities.
quote by William Labov
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Related quotes
The Minority Government
The wise are in minority.
The rulers are in minority
Rogues too are in minority.
So are captains and militants.
Teachers are in minority.
Bishops are in minority.
Juries too are minority.
So are smugglers and the rich.
Americans are in minority.
Human beings are in minority.
Minority rules the majority.
Minority rides the majority.
Majority yields to minority.
Majority fears the minority,
And loves to play the role of drudgery.
The sign of majority is slavery
23.09.2008
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
This is America: Better know English
America was once the magnificent place
Where all immigrants wanted to escape
So they illegally come here, as illegal aliens
Hiding in the back of our American vans
Now our schools and jobs require multiple languages
When we’re the Americans, we’re supposed to speak English!
And we do and just because they don’t
Doesn’t mean their language is a demand we should know
Don’t come to America if you don’t know the language
I’m just being realistic, I’m not being racist
Don’t put up store signs if they’re not readable
You’re in America; English is the main language you should know
Then they’re pissed because people won’t help out their business
But their forgetting us Americans don’t speak their language
We don’t go to Mexico demanding English classes
So why should they own the right to demand us Spanish?
I love the language, and everything BUT
THIS IS AMERICA look our history up!
Then tell me if French should be required
Where in the hell in the time line is that desired?
I know this is the land of opportunity, land of the free
But we should be able to communicate as human beings
And if that’s just too hard no one said they had to stay here
They can go back where they came from and speak in harmony there
I’m just a full blood American, as so the rest of my family
And like others, our language should be the first they’re demanding
We're tired of going to our fastfood restaurants to eat
When the orderer of our order can't even speak
And buyers, don't buy our house
If you can't even pronounce our street out
I'm tired of security going through all our private equipment
I'm an American, Bitch, do I look like a terrorist?
Honestly, you can come here if you want to be
Since this is the best place of opportunity
And we don’t care if you speak 20 different languages and love them
But this is AMERICA, ENGLISH better be one of them!
poem by Sugar Bear
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
yes, what if God does not speak english at all?
you were not born yesterday
and probably heard it before
that if your God does not speak english
then he must not be God
of course, something arrogant
hangs in the air
of this effortless superiority that
'englishers'
'english-plongplangs'
clai m, which, of course, we
always oppose and dub
as prettry dumb silly
but anyhow, yes, we are asked again
what if?
what if, this God, does not really speak English?
well, of course, he is still God
and he must not have considered the english language
that important
and i agree, even if i speak it,
i still have this language
of my soul,
albeit, in english, for you,
who does not speak my own language,
yes, of course, for you to perhaps
understand,
but i like it though, this thought
that God does not speak
the english language, lest, he may sound
so englishly, oh well,
arrogant.....
dear God
do you really...not speak english?
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Viceroy Sonata
I am the king called Viceroy
And in my ship I sail the Red Sea
All the way to North America because I want to see the other world
That the people call the American dream
But I know that is not easy to migrate to North America
Because if you want to stay you will need to apply for a green card
And you will be a gringo for the rest of your life
But I don't have any plans to live in North America
But my plans is just to visit North America and that is all
Because I am a jew and I belong in Telaviv that is my birth place
poem by Aldo Kraas
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
I bring other constituencies - I also have ties to minority communities. And obviously, to the world of world-class research universities. So I can bring some constituencies that I'm used to working with.
quote by Donna Shalala
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
This African American Vernacular English shares most of its grammar and vocabulary with other dialects of English. But it is distinct in many ways, and it is more different from standard English than any other dialect spoken in continental North America.
quote by William Labov
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Instead of this confusion, we need the unifying force of an official language, English, which is the language of success in America.
quote by Ernest Istook
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
The Song Of 'save Me
A Lot of turmoils
in English language,
and the keep on saying
'Save the Queen! '
Long Live America!
they say that too, why?
Is America short lived?
In our Country we say 'Mabuhay! '
Oopps, Are we dying?
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Losing My Minority
To lose one’s minority
Is not a bad thing.
With the loss of minority
come untold opportunities,
The magic of the number Eighteen.
With the loss of minority
Comes the lifting of the chains
That we once called childhood.
With the loss of minority
Comes college, then work,
Credit cards and Ebay.
With the loss of minority
Come parties and booze,
Familiar faces in the evening news.
With the loss of minority
Comes the search for a partner –
The thorn-lined chatrooms on rose-colored sites.
With the loss of minority
Comes the loss of virginity
And the loss of your sanity.
To lose one’s minority
is not a bad thing.
Young girl, welcome to your future.
poem by Marin Tsuikata
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Who's To Blame
Oh Mother Ghana; Mother Ghana
What has happened to you?
What has happened to your culture?
They say we've fold arms against 'Vernacular' language
Instead opened arms wide to 'English' language
Oh Mother Ghana Mother Ghana
Why?
At school, we are taught the things we do not know
By the 'English' language
Why not 'Vernacular' language?
Oh Mother Ghana, Oh Mother Ghana
Where is your true identity as pure African?
Where is your pride as true Ghanaian?
Oh Mother Ghana, Oh Mother Ghana,
Day after day
When we put on the uniform as students
We are forbidden to speak 'Vernacular' language
Instead the 'English' language
Why Mother Ghana, why Mother Ghana?
When we speak 'Vernacular' language; your culture,
They say: 'Speak English' someone's culture!
When we speak 'English' that someone's culture
They say: 'Abrofosem; speak vernacular language' your culture!
Oh Mother Ghana, Oh Mother Ghana
Who's to blame?
'English or Vernacular language'
Oh Mother Ghana; Oh Mother Ghana.
poem by Francis Julian Zewu
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
I think maybe since there isn't a great deal of access to the mainstream media and people don't understand the language of mainstream media, if you put music out there with lyrics that are loosely political, people absorb some of it and spit it back out.
quote by Thom Yorke
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
The promise of America is one immigration policy for all who seek to enter our shores, whether they come from Mexico, Haiti or Canada, there must be one set of rules for everybody. We cannot welcome those to come and then try and act as though any culture will not be respected or treated inferior. We cannot look at the Latino community and preach ""one language."" No one gave them an English test before they sent them to Iraq to fight for America.
quote by Al Sharpton
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Finglish
I am from Finland and i speak 'Finglish'!
Because i am learning the English language and,
It always infuses with my Finnish.
I am learning to keep me going but,
I do speak my English like 'Finglish'! !
And i always try to enforce the truth of my peace like,
The subconscious act from my mind to muse up things:
But i am unaware of your love.
Try to keep me informed on this love and,
Try to teach me the English language so that i cam be with you;
For the heavens and the earth do know how i do speak.
Keep me on the tracks of your love and teach me more!
For one day i will learn the English language very well;
And i will be ready to teach you my Finnish language as well.
poem by Edward Kofi Louis
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
America
(Francis Scott Key)
Oh, say, can you see
By the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed
At the twilight's last gleaming
Whose broad stripes and bright stars
Through the perilous fight
O'er the ramparts we watched were so
Gallantly streaming?
America, America, America
America, America, America
And the rocket's red glare
The bombs bursting in air
Gave proof through the night
That our flag was still there
Oh, say, does that star
Spangled banner yet wave
Over the land of the free
And the home of the brave!
America, America, America
America, America, America
America, America, America
America, America, America
America, America, America
America, America
ooohhh
song performed by by Lou Reed
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
What is a minority The chosen heroes of this earth have been in a minority. There is not a social, political, or religious privilege that you enjoy today that was not bought for you by the blood and tears and patient suffering of the minority. It is the minority that have stood in the van of every moral conflict, and achieved all that is noble in the history of the world.
quote by John Ballantine Gough
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
The Language That The Poor Wants To Speak
do you speak good English?
do you take pride in it and then use it to impress others
and swindle them
into a belief that they are inferior?
they have feelings too
of humiliation
which even in such a sad state
wish that their humiliation
speak good English still
they always think that English will give them
a good job
a better standing in the society
a flare of fashionable tongue
you make them cry
but still they want to speak that cry in English too
foolish!
but can you blame them?
you who hold that power and might
you who have taken all what they once had
and made them
worse within
themselves
despite which,
they still want to be like you
to speak like you
a god
how sad!
you have never known the language of love
the grammar of generosity
the syntax of sympathy
that language that good English
sometimes has forgotten
to utter
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
That's what the Senate is about. It's the last bastion of minority rights, where a minority can be heard, where a minority can stand on its feet, one individual if necessary, and speak until he falls into the dust.
quote by Robert Byrd
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Never be afraid to stand with the minority when the minority is right, for the minority which is right will one day be the majority.
quote by William Jennings Bryan
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
America, So Beautiful.
Why is America the beautiful,
So beautiful?
It's because of German Polkas, and beer.
It's because of Irish corned beef, and potatoes.
It's because of French wines, and escargot.
It's because of soul food, from the hood,
The kind you find in Big Momma's,
In Cathedral City California.
It's because of Mexican food,
And the Mariachi's that accompany it.
It's because of the Hawaiian Poi,
And the Alaskan, fish ice cream.
It's because of the Italian Operas,
And spaghetti and meat balls.
It's because of the English language,
Brought to America,
By the subjects of the king.
America is blue eyes,
America is green eyes,
America is black eyes,
America is brown eyes,
America is blond hair,
America is red hair,
America is black hair,
And my all time favorite,
America is brown hair.
America is Japanese sushi,
America is Chinese hot and spicy soup.
America is mountains,
Beautiful snow covered mountains,
Shining in the sun.
America is deserts,
Hot arid and unforgiving,
And filled with life.
America is forests,
That extend,
'From sea to shining sea.'
America is ingenuity,
Great minds, from all over the world,
Reach their great fruition,
In America.
Where they are free.
Why is America the beautiful,
So beautiful?
It's because America is a rainbow,
Red, white, black, yellow, brown,
And all the myriads of colors,
These main colors produce.
It's so cliche to say,
We are a melting pot.
I prefer to say, What the great Bill Murray said.
'We are a mongrel race.'
Yet nothing on God's green Earth,
Is more loyal, more faithful, more loving,
And more devoted,
Than the mongrel.
America the beautiful.
poem by Juan Olivarez
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Mainstream U. S. A.
Can I have this last dance, my darling?
Can I have this last dance with you?
I wanna dance the whole night tonight
And can I have this last dance, my darling?
Can I have this last dance with you?
These are the words that he told to the fellow next door
Mainstream, U.S.A.
I flipped that guy the bird
Mainstream, U.S.A.
Is all I wanna say
Mainstream, U.S.A.
I flipped that guy the bird
Mainstream, U.S.A.
Is all I wanna say
We are the world (back off, fool)
We are (I'm talking to you)
We are the world (back off, fool)
Mainstream, U.S.A.
I flipped that guy the bird
Mainstream, U.S.A.
Is all I wanna say
Mainstream, U.S.A.
I flipped that guy the bird
Mainstream, U.S.A.
Is all I wanna say
Notes
The lyrics above are as heard on the original Dial-a-Song version. The following verse is tacked on to the end of the LoFi (DAS Online) version, and is sung superimposed with the first verse in the Then version:
As I rode the subway this morning
There was a man with a boat beside me
And he tapped out rhythms with a smile on his face
And the tip of his finger
That he found on the floor
And these are the words that he told to the fellow next door
song performed by by They Might Be Giants
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!