Spotted by our Sarah Ball:
“This is Alabama. We speak English. Learn it.”
—Tim James, a Republican candidate for governor of Alabama. James’ campaignposted this ad on YouTube last week (with disabled comments, presumably to avoid any commentary in languages other than English), getting at the most important issues in his state, which has 11 percent unemployment and among the lowest educational attainment rates in the nation.
What’s stupefying about this is his reason for offering drivers-license tests in English and only English: we’ll save money. (We = them. I live in Canada.)
Imagine you stop spending “ridiculous” sums on hiring bilingual DMV employees. And then stop spending for all those pricey laminating machines that you’ll need fewer of because all those non-English speakers won’t be getting certified.
Now imagine how many people will want to learn English. Now imagine how much you’re going to have to pay to hire people to teach English as a second (or third or nth) language. Unless you have them pay for language-instruction themselves. Which is kind of nasty. “Speak our language or else. Oh and ps: cough up big bucks for a tutor.” Ie. How can you pay for a tutor if you’re not even qualified to get a drivers’ license and drive to work to earn that money?
And since when could people in Alabama speak decent English? #thatsjingoistic If you show up for the driving test and misuse a gerund, will that disqualify you? Or if you misuse ‘whom’? Will you only be allowed to take a test if you speak English correctly? Or will there be an Illiterate English driving test and also a Regular English one? Cause I’m pretty sure both would be necessary.
