Crossposted from rec.arts.sf.fandom. . . a rantlet

The context for this being that someone is going off on people who come to the States without learning English and, apparently, preferring it for all their daily needs, as the response to, "What's wrong with wanting a Spanish-language copy of Dudley Do-Right?" was, "The Rio Grande is that way."

Given various peoples on my friendslist posting on the subject of the tetchiness of language and the weirdness of ethnic filing and . . . stuff . . . and the fact that I'm feeling a little ranty, I copy it over here.

( Text of post under here. )

When the words aren't. . . .

I don't think this is going to get long, but I'm going to put it behind a cut anyway. wiredferret, I'd sort of appreciate it if you'd get silmarian to read it before you do; I'm probably being really excessively twitchy about this, but I don't feel confident about being able to say what set off this set of thoughts in a way that mightn't mutate weirdly in your stress levels, and I figure he can figure out what, if anything, needs to be said for appropriate mental bufferage. Um. Thing.

We now pause this broadcast to make awkward hand gestures and shuffle our feet.

( Cutting here. . . )