OT- Spelling is out.

Slynky · #1 September 17th, 2003, 12:55 AM

My memory sucks pretty bad sometimes, DavidG, but several years back...was there some talk of Quebec "exiting" Canada? Or something real controversial like that.

DavidG · #2 September 17th, 2003, 01:54 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Slynky:
My memory sucks pretty bad sometimes, DavidG, but several years back...was there some talk of Quebec "exiting" Canada? Or something real controversial like that.

Yup. The had a referendum. 51% voted no. The second I think. The issue of Quebec separation has been a pretty big issue in Canada for much of the Last 20 or 30 years. Although currently it's kind of lost it's appeal. The Parti Quebecois party first came to power in 1976 on a pro separation policy. They only just recently got voted out.

narf poit chez BOOM · #3 September 17th, 2003, 04:58 AM

according to some things i've heard, that referendum wasn't counted accuratly either. apparently, some or all of the counter's where told to discount no votes if they went over some very narrow lines.

Slynky · #4 September 17th, 2003, 05:00 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by DavidG:

quote:
Originally posted by Slynky:
My memory sucks pretty bad sometimes, DavidG, but several years back...was there some talk of Quebec "exiting" Canada? Or something real controversial like that.

Yup. The had a referendum. 51% voted no. The second I think. The issue of Quebec separation has been a pretty big issue in Canada for much of the Last 20 or 30 years. Although currently it's kind of lost it's appeal. The Parti Quebecois party first came to power in 1976 on a pro separation policy. They only just recently got voted out.

WOW! Seems very unusual for something like that to get momentum in an age like this.

Jake Monroe · #5 September 17th, 2003, 05:45 AM

[quote]Originally posted by Slynky:

Quote:

Originally posted by Alneyan:
[qb]We Americans REALLY suck when it comes to speaking a second language.

That reminds me of a joke.

Someone who can speak 3 Languages is trilingual.
Someone who can speak 2 Languages is bilingual.
Someone who can speak 1 language is American.

oleg · #6 September 17th, 2003, 10:21 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by dogscoff:
Oleg, I have to agree with you. I can read that russian text with the exact same level of ease I would read normal russian...

I wonder it is becuse you don't have correct fonts

Go to "view"->"encoding"-> *** "cyrillic Windows". Now you can read it, right ?

dogscoff · #7 September 17th, 2003, 10:30 AM

I heard somewhere that the reason English has achieved such a strong "international language" status is due not so much to the fact that so many rich countries speak it (although that is undeniably a factor) but because it is so good at absorbing words from other Languages. If you think about it, it makes sense. Try squeezing an foreign word into a french sentence (same for italian, probably german)- it will sound wierd, and you won't know what gender it's supposed to be (although I believe foreign words are usually given masculine status), or how the hell to conjugate it if it's a verb or how to make it agree if it's not. English, on the other hand, can assimilate and bastardise just about anything you throw at it.

20 or 30 years ago, French *was* the international language of politics and diplomacy, largely because it is less ambiguous than english. Now it is just the international language of roulette, wine and yank-bashing. (all of them entirely worthwhile pursuits, imho=-)

--
"Verbing wierds language"
-Calvin