--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tgpedersen" <tgpedersen@...> wrote:
>
> I remember in Grand Junction, Colorado someone fixing my VW for
> free, since I didn't have much money. I felt bad about it, so I
> offered to teach him some German, so he could read the manuals
> in German, if need be. Pointless, he said, in ten years time
> everyone will be speaking English anyway. That was 1971.
It sounds like both you _and_ Glen have had some harrowing
experiences in your face to face encounters with "Homo
Americanus" in his natural habitat. You ought to write a
book about it someday. Anyway, maybe you should get your
information about language change from linguists instead
of from auto-mechanics. I've also heard the suggestion
that Chinese is going to become the world's language. If
it's to be either English or Chinese, I really hope that
they come up with some sort of better writing systems.
> McLuhan was wrong about the global village. This is what the world
> is: a big room surrounded by small rooms behind one-way mirrors. We
> can see everything you do, and you can't see anything we do.
Who's the "we", and who's the "you", here? _I_ know, for
instance, that _your_ real name is Peter Bakker. So that's
at least one thing that _I_ can see _you_ doing, that you
didn't see me see you doing! Maybe there's still another
one-way mirror behind _you_! ;-D
David