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No Habla English

Voting, and all the languages in which you can do that.

I don't want to sound like one of those redneck racists that goes on a rant. But, I found this all so bizarre.

I go to vote yesterday. And, I see they have forms in four different languages. There's Tagalog, Vietnamese, Spanish, and I forget the other. Oh, and there was also English.

I finished voting and was handed a little, oval blue sticker that said "Toi Da Bau." I asked what that meant, and the 80-year-old working there said "It means you voted." He then realized it was written in Vietnamese, and offered to give me the "I Voted" in English. I laughed, and just kept the one he had given me. It's just so bizarre and random.

I told my girlfriend at dinner, and she said "Well, there are probably people that can speak English well enough, but are more comfortable reading and voting, in their own language."

That's fine, but guess what? Do we really need to waste money printing stuff up in every language? And besides, why not German? Or Russian? Sure, Spanish is an obvious choice, since we're so close. But, my logic is, if you are in this country and you can't read or speak the language, well...that's fine. But you shouldn't expect everyone else to accomodate that. And, if that makes me sound like one of those Republicans that annoy me, I'm sorry.

Now, that night I ate at Jimmy Carter's Mexican Restaurant off of Washington. A weird name for a Mexican restaurant, unless it was in Washington, D.C.

I was going to catch the band Grand Ole Party afterwards, at M-Theory Music. I walked to the bathrooms, and wasn't sure if I should walk in the first door. It had a word that I wasn't familiar with. I glanced at the other door, and it said something like "Damas," which sounded enough like "dame" for me to deduce that I should enter the first door.

Now, as annoying as those few seconds were, at least it made more sense. I was in a Mexican restaurant. The perfect place for things written in Spanish.

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I don't want to sound like one of those redneck racists that goes on a rant. But, I found this all so bizarre.

I go to vote yesterday. And, I see they have forms in four different languages. There's Tagalog, Vietnamese, Spanish, and I forget the other. Oh, and there was also English.

I finished voting and was handed a little, oval blue sticker that said "Toi Da Bau." I asked what that meant, and the 80-year-old working there said "It means you voted." He then realized it was written in Vietnamese, and offered to give me the "I Voted" in English. I laughed, and just kept the one he had given me. It's just so bizarre and random.

I told my girlfriend at dinner, and she said "Well, there are probably people that can speak English well enough, but are more comfortable reading and voting, in their own language."

That's fine, but guess what? Do we really need to waste money printing stuff up in every language? And besides, why not German? Or Russian? Sure, Spanish is an obvious choice, since we're so close. But, my logic is, if you are in this country and you can't read or speak the language, well...that's fine. But you shouldn't expect everyone else to accomodate that. And, if that makes me sound like one of those Republicans that annoy me, I'm sorry.

Now, that night I ate at Jimmy Carter's Mexican Restaurant off of Washington. A weird name for a Mexican restaurant, unless it was in Washington, D.C.

I was going to catch the band Grand Ole Party afterwards, at M-Theory Music. I walked to the bathrooms, and wasn't sure if I should walk in the first door. It had a word that I wasn't familiar with. I glanced at the other door, and it said something like "Damas," which sounded enough like "dame" for me to deduce that I should enter the first door.

Now, as annoying as those few seconds were, at least it made more sense. I was in a Mexican restaurant. The perfect place for things written in Spanish.

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