Next for Hugo, is to implement the "Decibet."
Posted on 02/26/2008 6:36:10 AM PST by Brilliant
President Hugo Chavez's government is taking its battle against U.S. "imperialism" into Venezuelans' dictionaries, urging state phone company workers to avoid English-language business and tech terms.
Through a campaign launched Monday, newly nationalized CANTV hopes to wean employees and others from words like "staff" ("equipo" is preferred), "marketing" ("mercadeo") and "password" ("contrasena").
Stickers and banners printed up by the company exhort Venezuelans to "Say it in Spanish. Say it with pride."
The Communications and Information Ministry said in a statement that Venezuelans must recover Spanish words that are "threatened by sectors that have started a battle for the cultural domination of our nations."
Other English words targeted include "mouse" (the company prefers "raton"), "meeting" ("reunion") and "sponsor" ("patrocinador") — all of which have become common in Latin American countries.
The leftist president has sought to counter what he calls U.S. cultural imperialism on all fronts, financing Venezuelan cinema as an alternative to the "dictatorship of Hollywood" and forcing radio stations to play more Venezuelan music.
English is still taught in schools alongside other languages, however. And Chavez himself often breaks playfully into English during speeches, sometimes to salute his close friend, former Cuban leader Fidel Castro, saying: "How are you, Fidel?"
Hugo is loco.
How very French of him. I phart in his general direction.
But, but, according to some on FR, English is a dying language and we are all doomed.
How long did it take you to figure that out?
If Hugo goes after aviation, he’ll be taking on the wrong endeavour. English is the universal language of aviation. So he can try and change that in Venezuela, but he will fail.
Next thing you know, he’ll ban women from wearing pantaloons.
Next for Hugo, is to implement the "Decibet."
In tomorrow’s news, Hugo Chavez makes his cat’s birthday a national holiday.
Shut up and eat your Big Mac, Hugo.
I can say it proudly in Spanish...
Beso de Hugo mi asno
The English I speak today is not the English I spoke in 1950.
Also in future news, Hugo Chavez to run for another term as president with Sean Penn as his running mate...
The English I speak today is not the English I spoke in 1950.
____________
The English you spoke in 1950 was not the English your grandfather spoke in 1900.
....and no English speaker alive today would understand the English spoken 1500 years ago. Languages change over time. C'est la vie.
In the front of Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary, there are examples of English through the ages...at 1258AD, I cannot read it at all. That’s the period of King Henry 3rd.
I was in Caracas for 4 days in early February. People are not even permitted to estimate the exchange rate of dollars to their crappy currency. The people at the desk of the Embassy Suites, by and large didn’t speak any English.
Chavez is attaching an anchor to the feet of these people. Once he is out of the picture they will be severely handicapped in their ability to function in international commerce.
Gonna be kind of difficult to land a plane without speaking English. I’m not going there anytime soon, so go ahead, make my day.
Hey Hugo... how do you say shove it up where the sun don’t shine in Spanish? Oh yeah, say it with pride!
> Hey Hugo... how do you say shove it up where the sun
> don’t shine in Spanish?
Relations between Venezuela and Brasil are cooling, so I’ll say it in Portuguese.
Oi, Ugo, bicho criminoso. Empurre-lo aonde o sol não brilha. E faça-lo com orgulho, porco miserável.
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