Draconian vacation policies for US slave workers
in [Europe]
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From: Dave Frightens Me on 16 Aug 2006 06:38 On 15 Aug 2006 20:29:03 -0700, "Tchiowa" <tchiowa2(a)hotmail.com> wrote: > >Dave Frightens Me wrote: >> On 14 Aug 2006 18:09:13 -0700, "Tchiowa" <tchiowa2(a)hotmail.com> wrote: >> >> > >> >Jordi wrote: >> >> >> No, they're not. >> > >> >Spoken like a true Euro who have never been to the US. >> > >> >Before you come up with the "smart" response, I've been to Europe >> >probably 100 times and visited a large number of European countries. >> >> Nice one. How come you have such an odd view of Europe? Is it because >> you are lying? > >No, it's because I've been all over the world and have had the >opportunity to compare various cultures. Oddly, so have I, plus many others reading this. Your view seems way different to anyone elses here, suggesting you must be right, and we're all wrong. >> >> There's history, you see. Are you by any chance pretending the US is >> >> exempt from those? >> > >> >No. Just pointing out the fact that the reason so many Euros have >> >passports is due to hatred and bigotry, not some cultural superiority >> >as has been implied. >> >> Very bizzare response. > >Yes, I find European history quite odd myself. This is evidently why you don't seem to understand the European view of things. >> >> > > No, we're talking two completely different things. All this came after >> >> > > you said more or less 'what's the use of holidays if people don't have >> >> > > money to spend', Europeans do have enough money to keep a... say >> >> > > 'western' lifestyle without having to work 51 weeks a year, that's all. >> >> > >> >> > But their "western" lifestyle is lower than American's. >> >> >> >> In what sense? 1.0 litre less of engine?, 4 less inches on a flat TV? >> >> Having some real vacation weighs substantially more on overal quality >> >> of life. >> > >> >As do a lot of other things. Most Americans have "real" vacations and >> >most have more to spend on their vacations that Euros do. >> >> That is meaningless, as you included "real", which could mean anything. > >No, Jordi included "real". I quoted him. > >Try to keep up. Getting a bit defensive are we? I never aimed that one at you. -- --- DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com --- --
From: Dave Frightens Me on 16 Aug 2006 06:44 On 16 Aug 2006 01:32:12 -0700, "Tchiowa" <tchiowa2(a)hotmail.com> wrote: > >The Reid wrote: >> Following up to Hatunen >> >> >>that's a classic, "everybody in Europe speaks English". Is the >> >>man trolling? >> > >> >In all fairness, he didn't say "everybody". >> > >> True, but "almost all" is just as silly and if not a troll >> indicates someone who has never moved outside major tourist >> spots. . > >Tourist spots??? English is the primary and *official* language of >government for the EU. It is the primary language of business >throughout the EU. It is the primary language for education throughout >the EU. > >Time to get back into the current century. You are very foolish in stating this. Quite a number of us actually live here, and know just what it's actually like. >http://linguistlist.org/issues/12/12-166.html > >http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3143464.stm > >"Italians place a very high importance on learning languages, >particularly English. Fifteen years ago it was quite difficult to find >an English speaker here but today it is relatively easy." You failed to attribute that that was merely a comment someone made in the tourist hotspot of Rome. That doesn't make it a fact. Around 5% of Italians speak reasonable English. -- --- DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com --- --
From: Dave Frightens Me on 16 Aug 2006 06:46 On 15 Aug 2006 18:48:12 -0700, "Tchiowa" <tchiowa2(a)hotmail.com> wrote: > >Dave Frightens Me wrote: >> On 14 Aug 2006 18:18:12 -0700, "Tchiowa" <tchiowa2(a)hotmail.com> wrote: >> >> > >> >Miguel Cruz wrote: >> >> >> Contrast this with Athens and Berlin. A tiny minority of the people have >> >> shared fluency in any language. >> > >> >Almost all speak English. >> >> *chuckle* >> >> You would be one of those ignorant yanks if you believe this! > >A few years ago I commented to a friend of my in Angola about the >difficulty I had in France (I used to go there several times a year) >because I don't speak French and not all that many people spoke >English. He claimed that it was because many people have an attitude >like you just expressed (ignorant yank) abouit Americans. > >At his suggestion I tried using Portuguese when I went to France (I had >learned that after several years in Angola). So I did. I'd speak to >someone in France using Portuguese and they would respond in French. >I'd try again in Portuguese and then they would shift to English as a >"neutral language". > >I found that damn near everyone I met could speak English fairly well. That's due to your limited experience, probably limited to touristy areas. >> >> They share a handful of TV channels, >> >> mostly the channels that are available in New York and New Orleans as >> >> well. Popular music and films are different, the cuisines have less >> >> overlap, >> > >> >You think New Orleans food is similar to what you get in NYC? >> >> It's a hell of a lot closer than Greek salad and Sauerkraut. > >Clearly someone has never eaten Creole food and Philly Cheese Steaks. Neither of those are as common as the humble Big Mac in the typical diet. -- --- DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com --- --
From: The Reid on 16 Aug 2006 07:47 Following up to Dave Frightens Me > So I did. I'd speak to >>someone in France using Portuguese and they would respond in French. >>I'd try again in Portuguese and then they would shift to English as a >>"neutral language". >> >>I found that damn near everyone I met could speak English fairly well. > >That's due to your limited experience, probably limited to touristy >areas. He obviously never took a taxi! Most of the places I've been in Spain, Italy and France there's a few educated people who speak English, the vast majority don't, often even the waiters etc who *appear* to. -- Mike Reid I will agree bendybuses are a good idea when they build bungalows on Mayfair Walk-eat-photos UK "http://www.fellwalk.co.uk" <-- you can email us@ this site Walk-eat-photos Spain "http://www.fell-walker.co.uk"
From: jeremyrh.geo on 16 Aug 2006 07:52
Dave Frightens Me wrote: > On 16 Aug 2006 01:32:12 -0700, "Tchiowa" <tchiowa2(a)hotmail.com> wrote: > >"Italians place a very high importance on learning languages, > >particularly English. Fifteen years ago it was quite difficult to find > >an English speaker here but today it is relatively easy." > > You failed to attribute that that was merely a comment someone made in > the tourist hotspot of Rome. That doesn't make it a fact. Around 5% of > Italians speak reasonable English. On our recent trip to Sardinia I was surprised that so few people spoke English. Luckily Italian is mostly French with "o" stuck on the end, so with that, and shouting a lot, we got by. B; |