I’ve hears stories of some Americans telling other people who are speaking a non-English language “This is America, speak English!” even if the conversation has nothing to do with them. Why do they do this?

  • jamiehs@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    128
    arrow-down
    7
    ·
    4 months ago

    Because those Americans are entitled, insecure, ignorant, xenophobic assholes.

      • irish_link@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        7
        arrow-down
        14
        ·
        4 months ago

        This is true however there are much more documented instances of this in America. Could be a pure numbers game (more people more cases) but no full proof of that.

        • pingveno@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          4 months ago

          Conflicts over language have been tied to other conflicts (political, cultural, war) for a very long time. Cultural genocide against indigenous people has targeted indigenous language use among young people. Many people in India have objected to the establishment of Hindi as a UN language because they fear it will advance the extinction of their own language. I’m not saying some Replacement Theory bigot kvetching because someone dared speak a language besides English is equivalent. It’s more that language does have a special place in culture in a way that is very common.

    • davel [he/him]@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      15
      arrow-down
      6
      ·
      edit-2
      4 months ago

      Just as there are two kind of race, white and political; and there are two kinds of gender, male and political; there also are two kinds of language, English and political.