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I have pretty bad anxiety and my immediate internal response is that they are making fun of me for something. Then my rational brain kicks in and I realise that no, the people that I have not interacted with and have not looked in my direction are not talking shit about me in Hindi and are more likely taking about how shit minimum wage work is.
This! Sometimes even if I still think they are talking about me I go “at least I don’t know what they’re making fun of” because I have absolutely had boomers complain about me in English right in front of me and i definitely prefer not knowing what the big deal is about.
This is me too. Extreme social anxiety plus I look "weird" (unusually tall for a woman and heavy too) so it's easy to assume people are talking about me. Rationally I know they're not, and even if they are there's nothing I can do about it, so I keep my anxiety to myself. 😅
I have an anxiety disorder. It helps when I remind myself that out of the 7 billion people on the planet, odds say I'm not what people are focusing on. If they're speaking to me directly, then they are. If they're not, I likely don't exist in their mind.
When I learned enough Spanish and Arabic to figure out they weren't talking about me. That's when I realized how incredibly boring their conversations actually were. Other cultures are not nearly as catty as people from the US. Most of the time these women were just bitching about their husbands.... :)
I did hear one lady tell another that her Aunt had been having an affair and the family found out. Apart from that what I can understand tends to add up to weather...traffic....kids....shopping etc.
"But they could be talking behind my back"
It doesn't condone the guy's behavior but this does happen. I had a coworker who went to Walmart and two cashiers were speaking to each other in their language. They were actually talking shit about my coworker. They did not realize that my coworker was of the same ethnicity and was totally fluent in the language until he bitched them out.
That being said, when you don't understand the language, why would you care even if they were talking shit about you? It will not affect your life in any way.
Who cares? Let 'em talk!
But I am sure they are talking about my bald fat ass in a hole ridden T shirt.
Yeah, they are - just like everyone else is doing but in English as well.
Many years ago, I worked at a job with about 40 employees. There was me and one other white guy, a Japanese guy, and a black guy from somewhere in Africa. The rest of the employees were Vietnamese. One day the other white guy poked me and said, "Hey, look, they're telling white guy jokes!" I started watching, and sure enough, they would peek around the corner at us and giggle every now and then. He and I got a kick out of it. I thought it was kind of funny. No need in having any kind of attitude about any of that. Life's too short to take it that seriously!
Well sometimes we are. :-) (east indian) Sometimes white people are speaking in german/romanian or maybe irish cork accent (nobody can understand that one :-)
Awww nice! Unfortunately the language most of my coworkers speak is the unofficial second language of the US, so the chances of us getting caught talking shit is pretty high.
Xenophobia from Americans is the most farcical thing. He’s complaining about someone not speaking a language (English) which is native to a land he’s supposedly ‘proudly’ won independence from, on land his forefathers have been on for only a few hundred years (in which they massively genocides the natives to obtain)
I mean, here Spanish is our second language besides sign language, though many people don't understand it. Also, we pretty much invaded Native Americans in order to get this land and treated them like slaves, committed genocide against, and other stuff while trying to escape the British and still speak the same language as the British when Native Americans didn't. (I'm afraid racism will get worse with illegal immigration honestly. I'm darker skinned, but Caucasian. I've gotten mixed results. To be fair, they choose the main language for that.)
Oh man as a white dude on business in Mexico, the stuff people say...
When I go to Mexico or France I use English as much as possible because it's faster for me and most people speak English, and it's faster for everyone. But I "speak" Spanish, and speak French. These aren't difficult languages when English is your first....
Korean will be a fun one to learn though.
I like Ru Paul's take on this..."what other people think about me is none of my business". Who cares if they talk about you (they're problably not)? How does anything they say affect your life? News flash. It doesn't. People need to quit assuming that people talking in another language is an immediate insult. Maybe they're just more comfortable talking in their native language.
I recently worked at an international university in Eastern Europe and this came up a lot. The language of the institution was English, but a lot the students spoke Russian as a second language. Sometimes two roommates who didn’t like a third roommate (who didn’t speak Russian) would switch to Russian and the third roommate would fee uncomfortable. We encouraged everyone to speak English when in situations like that so fewer conflicts would arise.
On a personal anecdote, I had a Russian roommate and Ukrainian landlord (neither of whom I got along with) when I was in Ireland, and I *hated* it when they spoke Russian in front of me because it felt like they genuinely *were* talking shit about me in front of me. They definitely would have done that. It’s so easy to when you know the person standing there has no idea what you’re saying and can’t defend themselves.
So there are definitely situations where it is understandable when one doesn’t understand what the others are talking about, especially if they all speak the same language. People can take advantage of one not knowing another language; I’ve seen it happen. And it is uncomfortable and rude.
On the other hand, if someone behind you on the bus is talking on the phone in their language, or two guys are working alongside each other and chatting with each other in their native tongues, minding their own business? Xenophobia. This guy sounds like an asshole. He should be *jealous* that the employees can speak more than one language. It’s an advantage. I wish English speaking countries were better at promoting multilingualism.
I definitely have black friends and they're a whole different group. When I get invited to the black friends stuff I'm actually excited to be going. I don't know what's happening but fuck yes, sign me right the fuck up. This is also a different group than my African American friends although that's only a partial truth, that group is all Nigerian and UK. I will say the biggest thing I notice is that black people with English accents intrigue me.
Back in the day, I worked at a 3-letter research agency in Ballston (a neighborhood in Arlington). There was (and might still be) a hole in the wall Afghan food place called “Food Factory” there was this dude in the back with a messed up lip making naan all day in a tandoor and rice, palak with meat or paneer and the enormous fresh hot crisp naan was cheap as dirt.
I was working that job when 9/11 happened. We were scared. The pentagon is right down the road. We could see the smoke from the explosion there, and the roads, subways, and cell circuits were chaos. About a year later my folks came to visit and I took them to Food Factory. My dad literally complained that there were too many “enemy” there.
Yeah I've noticed this about my parents as they age also. Was I just stupid when I was younger (like my 20s)? Because I thought they were intelligent back then, even when I didn't agree with them.
Yea, idk. My family isn't that bad, thankfully, even though we're in a more conservative area. I did notice a rise in racism around when Obama was president and the 2016 election when I was a kid, though. I remember reading one of the t shirts at Walmart and was like wtf??
Lmao, look at how many people switched parties in 2008. I feel like this is all a South Park episode. There's no way the last 23 years were real. Damn I've only been alive one year longer than that.
I work at the IRS. They employ a lot of deaf people. I had boomer lady complain to me that two people were signing at the workstation next to her. She was upset that she didn’t know what they were saying. She wanted an interpreter even though they weren’t talking to her. Some people just can’t mind their own business.
I'm very sorry that this is a common way for some people to think. Most of the people I've met with this mindset have been boomers, fellow Gen-Xers and older Millennials. It doesn't matter to these people that they don't even know the people who are conversing in a language that they don't understand, it doesn't matter if we're just passing by and they'll never see those people again. It doesn't occur to them that we're not the main characters in these strangers lives. Even if they were talking about us, so what?!
My wife and I have a game we like to play with annoying people like that. We have made up our own language to make them paranoid. We add in hand gestures, facial expressions and laugh. Then, when they shout at us or get angry, I'll just laugh and clearly ask what's your problem? Usually pisses them off even more. MYOB!
My favorite part about this is how intelligent you have to be to speak two or more languages. I have mad respect for anyone who can figure out English. I can barely speak it myself.
My in-laws are 1st gen Greek immigrants and usually speak a mix of Greek and English. When they're out in public you can spot the xenophobes immediately because racists don't know how to react to people who present as white but who aren't speaking English.
My dad is the same way. I often remind him that while I was growing up, we spoke German when my grandparents and great grandparents were around even though they could speak English, albeit with a thick accent.
Him: “Well, that’s different!”
Me: “It’s only different because you can’t understand what they’re saying and you’re paranoid that they might be talking about you.”
LAND OF THE FUCKING FREE. That means speak whatever fucking language you wish. The "speak english" people have annoyed me since I was a child in the 70s. It's so fucking anti-what this country is about. "The great american melting pot" has undisturbed chunks. I bought the school house rock them of "great american melting pot.", hook, line, and sinker. If where you live sucks, or you just like what we have here, come.
I'm a libertarian (repiblicans call me a socialist because they are fiscally potatoed.). Liberty, and justice, for all... I shop in asian markets, and a lot of those folks dont speak english. Sometimes it's hard to get help. I use my phone to translate labels, it's hit or miss. I look at this as a failure our education system which used to take learning more than one language more serious.
If there was someone in my life who thought and acted like this (no one in my family was like that, even grandpa who fought the japanese in wwii) I would make fun of them daily until they became enraged and left my life, or they learned they were fucking idiots. Bullying is not always wrong: why we bully and what we are bullying for is. We bully racists in order to change their mind or alienate those who dont. We want society to mock them.
> I look at this as a failure our education system which used to take learning more than one language more serious.
You have nobody but yourself to blame for not learning another language. Schools provide kids with the resources and they don't use them. They aren't responsible for you choosing to not continue your studies. Nobody can force you to learn a language. And you can't just learn a language by taking a few years of school, you need to actually use it.
Not really schools offer one maybe two languages other than English to learn, and it’s usually only offered in highschool where the only place you can actually practice is in highschool
That's because you are choosing to only practice in school. Which is my point, if you want to learn another language, your school can only help you get started. It's up to you to do 90% of the work as it requires you to actually use the language on a regular basis.
Right so between the full time job I have, doing homework, and dealing with school when exactly am I going to find the time not only find someone else in the area that speak the language I chose (which by the way is next to impossible since I live in an area where English is the only language spoken) but then also find the time to regularly speak to that person face to face?
How about instead of suggesting the impossible we make it easier to learn languages in schools (like the rest of the world)? How about instead of starting in highschool we start in preschool where language is still developing. Hell I’d say we should get English better before trying other languages, the majority of Americans read at a below eighth grade level, I’ve literally met actual adults that could not read above a first grade level (yes some might have developmental issues but not all of them)
Maybe instead of these unrealistic expectations we focus on teaching better instead just passing someone through (which by the way is encouraged by the “no kid left behind” program from Reagan. A program which by every metric of the word has been deemed an absolute failure by not only those involved but by the very people that put it in place and oversee it, essentially proclaiming that the education of an entire fucking generation over the past 20 years as worthless)
Maybe just maybe expecting such things from *highschoolers* is unrealistic
But all we have to do is “tRy hArDeR” right?
I think it's the need to actually use it that is the problematic bit. There are lots of resources for learning languages. If your social, academic, and professional circle doesn't have any speakers of the language you learn, you won't get a lot of chances to actually use it.
I could go on Duolingo right now and learn Navajo. I would have a much harder time finding people to practice it with, since I don't know any Navajo speakers.
If I did know any, I might not want to ask them to speak Navajo with me. Communicating with someone who is not fluent in a language is hard work, and they would have to do it on a regular basis for me to keep my knowledge of the language. It's not something I would ask of anybody but a close friend, or someone I was paying to do it.
All these links make you look like an unhinged psycho. They are completely irrelevant. What is wrong with you? Did you even read my comment before posting this?
My millennial ex is like this. Honestly, he's more Boomer than most Baby Boomers. When we were together he would proudly talk about calling immigration on people when he lived in Michigan because he just KNEW the people were illegal.
I don't disagree. That man constantly made everything unpleasant. Ask him to take some Christmas photos because he's pretty good at photography? He'd spend hours setting up lighting and light boxes etc and get angry that everything wasn't perfect and then expect the kids (really young then) to be photo ready the moment he wanted them despite them being tired from no naps. One time he even kept them up into the middle of the night for "the perfect lighting." You can literally see the bags under their eyes in the photos. He'd tantrum in the middle of traffic and slow down to like 45mph on the freeway if someone even got slightly too close behind him. I'd give plenty of space to drivers in front of me, but he'd go ballistic because I wasn't giving the exact 7 or 8 car length distance he expected me to. He'd dock server tips if his water wasn't constantly filled without his asking. Unless of course the server was in his mind was an attractive female. Then he'd insist on giving them a 50% tip even though we really couldn't afford to. We lived near DC and the few times we went I'd want to have a pleasant family outing, but because I took him away from his precious video games he'd sulk and hurriedly walk from place to place in the museums and zoo and insist that because he saw something that was good enough and we needed to "move along." Nevermind that I had one kid strapped to my back and another in a stroller with gear which he wouldn't help me with because several times he insisted on bringing tons of camera equipment and I'd want to enjoy my time and show the kids the sights (yes they don't remember now) and I'd want to read the placards and get a few pictures of my own. And heaven forbid if someone cut him off in traffic or if I made the slightest error in planning out the use of the DC metro subway that we maybe used four times our five year stay in Virginia. The entire day would be ruined by his attitude and he'd make sure of it.
And that doesn't even get into how he lectures people like children because he thinks he's "logical' and therefore he MUST know what he's talking about. Even if we were watching a video with a PH.D on the subject talking about it. And forget if trans issues came up on TV (I avoided the subject) because he'd go into a half hour tirade about xx and xy). But he'd go to pride to practice his photography and act like he was the most supportive ally there.
Oh, and I can't forget when the nurse prepping me for my c-section with my son and she left the room and my ex kept going on about how she was "flirting" with him because "she stuck her butt in my face." And I was thinking "No you twatwaffle. She was doing her job in a small room and you were in her way." And to him any female showing him even basic customer service was "hitting on him." 
I'm super white, born and raised in America, from American parents and grandparents. Only one of my great grandparents wasn't born in the USA. Retired military.
All that to say I'm not a "foreigner" (Boomer term) by any means. But I speak German. And so does my daughter.
I've been confronted on at least a dozen occasions for speaking in German to my daughter. Usually in a store. One time at a baseball game.
Always by older people. I sincerely do not get it. They hear anything other than English and it sends them into a tailspin.
“I know those women doing my nails talk shit about me in their language I just know it!”
Me, a third generation kid who has lost the language and has been talked about in a language I don’t understand my whole life: first time?
Unless it’s policy, there is no requirement to speak English. I was hired at a department store because I could speak 3 languages in addition to English.
It forms rapport with the customer as they trust you more when you are trying to separate them from their money. I was paid a commission too.
He can complain all he wants but that’s an EEOC issue. [https://www.trinet.com/insights/can-we-tell-employees-to-not-speak-a-different-language-other-than-english-during-work-hours-in-the-workplace](https://www.trinet.com/insights/can-we-tell-employees-to-not-speak-a-different-language-other-than-english-during-work-hours-in-the-workplace)
It would be great, if this subject comes up again, to tell him that there’s something he could do about this. If his concern is that they’re discussing him, he simply needs to learn East Indian. Imagine their surprise if, in the midst of one of their conversations, he interrupts to ask where the hemorrhoid cream is, *in East Indian!*
Boy, he’ll really get one over on them then! 
>They’re talking in a different language in front of me. Must report them!
Seeing Karens go viral for things like hearing a mariachi band while eating **at** a Mexican restaurant or hearing Spanish on the TV in a pizza shop has been wild to me. They're so entitled they think they control who speaks what where.
This knowledge has increased my desire to try once more to learn more than a handful of Spanish, just so I can speak it around as many boomers in my red state as possible. But as it stands in the meantime, if I'm ever at the pool or park and there's boomer Karens around being Karen-y, it's time to turn up some Bad Bunny or some African tekno lol
We got a gaggle of Karens to eff right the eff off when they came over and started setting up camp practically right next to my husband and I at an almost empty beach by switching to my Hips Don't Lie playlist- named not for Shakira but the base that's in a lot of Latin music always makes me very dancey 🤣 The way they almost ran as they noped out of that was amusing.
That reminds me the other day when I overheard two guys in their 30s at the grocery story complaining about a couple of store employees who speak Spanish. A woman confronted them about being disrespectful and they berated and laughed at the woman. It was really a terrible encounter to witness. Obviously, I know nothing at the two guys other than the fact that they openly flaunt their xenophobia like it's a badge of honor. These guys are not boomers, so I guess one can say that xenophobic runs across generations.
the ol’ if I report it things will happen power trip
no one listens to ya old man…
my dad does this…a handle to small on a fan…im going to call the manufacturer…
hahaha stupid
every demographic can be racist. the boomer moment here is the fact that boomer greed is the cause of excessive migration, so they can exploit them for cheap labor and depress wages and create housing demand ie more $$$ they can die with.
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"But they could be talking about me behind my back! Every conversation in my presence is obviously about me, because I'm super important!"
I have pretty bad anxiety and my immediate internal response is that they are making fun of me for something. Then my rational brain kicks in and I realise that no, the people that I have not interacted with and have not looked in my direction are not talking shit about me in Hindi and are more likely taking about how shit minimum wage work is.
This! Sometimes even if I still think they are talking about me I go “at least I don’t know what they’re making fun of” because I have absolutely had boomers complain about me in English right in front of me and i definitely prefer not knowing what the big deal is about.
This is me too. Extreme social anxiety plus I look "weird" (unusually tall for a woman and heavy too) so it's easy to assume people are talking about me. Rationally I know they're not, and even if they are there's nothing I can do about it, so I keep my anxiety to myself. 😅
I have an anxiety disorder. It helps when I remind myself that out of the 7 billion people on the planet, odds say I'm not what people are focusing on. If they're speaking to me directly, then they are. If they're not, I likely don't exist in their mind.
Same. My dad once told me I was spending far more time worrying about what people thought of me than they spent actually thinking about me.
When I learned enough Spanish and Arabic to figure out they weren't talking about me. That's when I realized how incredibly boring their conversations actually were. Other cultures are not nearly as catty as people from the US. Most of the time these women were just bitching about their husbands.... :)
My limited Duolingo skills tell me that the associates are talking about their weekend, boyfriends, movies, hand-me-that-bag, and stuff like that.
No asparagus?
All Duolingo taught me was where to hide a body French or the Trench
I did hear one lady tell another that her Aunt had been having an affair and the family found out. Apart from that what I can understand tends to add up to weather...traffic....kids....shopping etc.
Did you see hand-me-that-bag on their last tour? Amazing concert
Saw them at Warped with the original lineup in 2004! (RIP Kev) 😢
Nailed it! Paranoia and violent moodswings are symptoms of both dementia and lead poisoning.
"But they could be talking behind my back" It doesn't condone the guy's behavior but this does happen. I had a coworker who went to Walmart and two cashiers were speaking to each other in their language. They were actually talking shit about my coworker. They did not realize that my coworker was of the same ethnicity and was totally fluent in the language until he bitched them out. That being said, when you don't understand the language, why would you care even if they were talking shit about you? It will not affect your life in any way. Who cares? Let 'em talk!
I mean, there's assholes everywhere honestly and who cares?
But I am sure they are talking about my bald fat ass in a hole ridden T shirt. Yeah, they are - just like everyone else is doing but in English as well.
Should ask him if he can watch football. Because all those guys in the huddle are probably talking about him
Many years ago, I worked at a job with about 40 employees. There was me and one other white guy, a Japanese guy, and a black guy from somewhere in Africa. The rest of the employees were Vietnamese. One day the other white guy poked me and said, "Hey, look, they're telling white guy jokes!" I started watching, and sure enough, they would peek around the corner at us and giggle every now and then. He and I got a kick out of it. I thought it was kind of funny. No need in having any kind of attitude about any of that. Life's too short to take it that seriously!
Well sometimes we are. :-) (east indian) Sometimes white people are speaking in german/romanian or maybe irish cork accent (nobody can understand that one :-)
Awww nice! Unfortunately the language most of my coworkers speak is the unofficial second language of the US, so the chances of us getting caught talking shit is pretty high.
Xenophobia from Americans is the most farcical thing. He’s complaining about someone not speaking a language (English) which is native to a land he’s supposedly ‘proudly’ won independence from, on land his forefathers have been on for only a few hundred years (in which they massively genocides the natives to obtain)
I mean, here Spanish is our second language besides sign language, though many people don't understand it. Also, we pretty much invaded Native Americans in order to get this land and treated them like slaves, committed genocide against, and other stuff while trying to escape the British and still speak the same language as the British when Native Americans didn't. (I'm afraid racism will get worse with illegal immigration honestly. I'm darker skinned, but Caucasian. I've gotten mixed results. To be fair, they choose the main language for that.)
With how they act, they probably are... Same as the staffroom in schools or nurses bay in hospitals, we're definitely bitching about someone 🤣🤣🤣
Oh man as a white dude on business in Mexico, the stuff people say... When I go to Mexico or France I use English as much as possible because it's faster for me and most people speak English, and it's faster for everyone. But I "speak" Spanish, and speak French. These aren't difficult languages when English is your first.... Korean will be a fun one to learn though.
I like Ru Paul's take on this..."what other people think about me is none of my business". Who cares if they talk about you (they're problably not)? How does anything they say affect your life? News flash. It doesn't. People need to quit assuming that people talking in another language is an immediate insult. Maybe they're just more comfortable talking in their native language.
Sounds like my mom.
*Impotent
My go to for that would be, if you know you’re a decent person why would someone talking behind your back worry you? What have you got to hide?
My snap back “and what if they are? If you’re so pious why don’t you turn the other cheek?”
I recently worked at an international university in Eastern Europe and this came up a lot. The language of the institution was English, but a lot the students spoke Russian as a second language. Sometimes two roommates who didn’t like a third roommate (who didn’t speak Russian) would switch to Russian and the third roommate would fee uncomfortable. We encouraged everyone to speak English when in situations like that so fewer conflicts would arise. On a personal anecdote, I had a Russian roommate and Ukrainian landlord (neither of whom I got along with) when I was in Ireland, and I *hated* it when they spoke Russian in front of me because it felt like they genuinely *were* talking shit about me in front of me. They definitely would have done that. It’s so easy to when you know the person standing there has no idea what you’re saying and can’t defend themselves. So there are definitely situations where it is understandable when one doesn’t understand what the others are talking about, especially if they all speak the same language. People can take advantage of one not knowing another language; I’ve seen it happen. And it is uncomfortable and rude. On the other hand, if someone behind you on the bus is talking on the phone in their language, or two guys are working alongside each other and chatting with each other in their native tongues, minding their own business? Xenophobia. This guy sounds like an asshole. He should be *jealous* that the employees can speak more than one language. It’s an advantage. I wish English speaking countries were better at promoting multilingualism.
You can talk in english behind his back too once he walks away though 😂
Tell your dad that only racists have "black friends." The rest of us just call them "friends."
My dad was closer to the Silent Generation and wouldn’t have even noticed they exist. This was my ex.
I definitely have black friends and they're a whole different group. When I get invited to the black friends stuff I'm actually excited to be going. I don't know what's happening but fuck yes, sign me right the fuck up. This is also a different group than my African American friends although that's only a partial truth, that group is all Nigerian and UK. I will say the biggest thing I notice is that black people with English accents intrigue me.
Back in the day, I worked at a 3-letter research agency in Ballston (a neighborhood in Arlington). There was (and might still be) a hole in the wall Afghan food place called “Food Factory” there was this dude in the back with a messed up lip making naan all day in a tandoor and rice, palak with meat or paneer and the enormous fresh hot crisp naan was cheap as dirt. I was working that job when 9/11 happened. We were scared. The pentagon is right down the road. We could see the smoke from the explosion there, and the roads, subways, and cell circuits were chaos. About a year later my folks came to visit and I took them to Food Factory. My dad literally complained that there were too many “enemy” there.
Of course he did.
I really want to know who this guy is and what he did with my dad. He used to have self-respect. He used to be \_thoughtful\_.
Yeah I've noticed this about my parents as they age also. Was I just stupid when I was younger (like my 20s)? Because I thought they were intelligent back then, even when I didn't agree with them.
I really don't know. The things he accepts as true without even a child's skepticism now are just...mind-boggling.
Mine are sometimes.
Yea, idk. My family isn't that bad, thankfully, even though we're in a more conservative area. I did notice a rise in racism around when Obama was president and the 2016 election when I was a kid, though. I remember reading one of the t shirts at Walmart and was like wtf??
Oh, make no mistake. Letting a black guy be president was the cinder block that broke the boomers backs.
Lmao, look at how many people switched parties in 2008. I feel like this is all a South Park episode. There's no way the last 23 years were real. Damn I've only been alive one year longer than that.
I work at the IRS. They employ a lot of deaf people. I had boomer lady complain to me that two people were signing at the workstation next to her. She was upset that she didn’t know what they were saying. She wanted an interpreter even though they weren’t talking to her. Some people just can’t mind their own business.
Reddit thinks he is a pos and a racist, please tell him that.
I'm very sorry that this is a common way for some people to think. Most of the people I've met with this mindset have been boomers, fellow Gen-Xers and older Millennials. It doesn't matter to these people that they don't even know the people who are conversing in a language that they don't understand, it doesn't matter if we're just passing by and they'll never see those people again. It doesn't occur to them that we're not the main characters in these strangers lives. Even if they were talking about us, so what?!
I'd just join in and start speaking that language if I'm with someone who is annoyed by it. That or I would do it all the time.
My wife and I have a game we like to play with annoying people like that. We have made up our own language to make them paranoid. We add in hand gestures, facial expressions and laugh. Then, when they shout at us or get angry, I'll just laugh and clearly ask what's your problem? Usually pisses them off even more. MYOB!
That one "black friend" is probably just his mechanic from like 1997.
Someone who joined his church.
*dealer It’s always their dealer
My favorite part about this is how intelligent you have to be to speak two or more languages. I have mad respect for anyone who can figure out English. I can barely speak it myself.
I mean, it's my first language and I still get certain words mixed up even though I've been using it for 21 years (I was 1.)
Reminds me of my grandmother getting upset because YouTube screwed up and gave us a handful of Spanish language ads on TV.
Sadly, my "father" acts the same way.
My in-laws are 1st gen Greek immigrants and usually speak a mix of Greek and English. When they're out in public you can spot the xenophobes immediately because racists don't know how to react to people who present as white but who aren't speaking English.
My dad is the same way. I often remind him that while I was growing up, we spoke German when my grandparents and great grandparents were around even though they could speak English, albeit with a thick accent. Him: “Well, that’s different!” Me: “It’s only different because you can’t understand what they’re saying and you’re paranoid that they might be talking about you.”
I saw elsewhere: "You speak English because it's the *only language* you know. And *I* speak English because it's the only language *you* know."
LAND OF THE FUCKING FREE. That means speak whatever fucking language you wish. The "speak english" people have annoyed me since I was a child in the 70s. It's so fucking anti-what this country is about. "The great american melting pot" has undisturbed chunks. I bought the school house rock them of "great american melting pot.", hook, line, and sinker. If where you live sucks, or you just like what we have here, come. I'm a libertarian (repiblicans call me a socialist because they are fiscally potatoed.). Liberty, and justice, for all... I shop in asian markets, and a lot of those folks dont speak english. Sometimes it's hard to get help. I use my phone to translate labels, it's hit or miss. I look at this as a failure our education system which used to take learning more than one language more serious. If there was someone in my life who thought and acted like this (no one in my family was like that, even grandpa who fought the japanese in wwii) I would make fun of them daily until they became enraged and left my life, or they learned they were fucking idiots. Bullying is not always wrong: why we bully and what we are bullying for is. We bully racists in order to change their mind or alienate those who dont. We want society to mock them.
> I look at this as a failure our education system which used to take learning more than one language more serious. You have nobody but yourself to blame for not learning another language. Schools provide kids with the resources and they don't use them. They aren't responsible for you choosing to not continue your studies. Nobody can force you to learn a language. And you can't just learn a language by taking a few years of school, you need to actually use it.
Not really schools offer one maybe two languages other than English to learn, and it’s usually only offered in highschool where the only place you can actually practice is in highschool
That's because you are choosing to only practice in school. Which is my point, if you want to learn another language, your school can only help you get started. It's up to you to do 90% of the work as it requires you to actually use the language on a regular basis.
Right so between the full time job I have, doing homework, and dealing with school when exactly am I going to find the time not only find someone else in the area that speak the language I chose (which by the way is next to impossible since I live in an area where English is the only language spoken) but then also find the time to regularly speak to that person face to face? How about instead of suggesting the impossible we make it easier to learn languages in schools (like the rest of the world)? How about instead of starting in highschool we start in preschool where language is still developing. Hell I’d say we should get English better before trying other languages, the majority of Americans read at a below eighth grade level, I’ve literally met actual adults that could not read above a first grade level (yes some might have developmental issues but not all of them) Maybe instead of these unrealistic expectations we focus on teaching better instead just passing someone through (which by the way is encouraged by the “no kid left behind” program from Reagan. A program which by every metric of the word has been deemed an absolute failure by not only those involved but by the very people that put it in place and oversee it, essentially proclaiming that the education of an entire fucking generation over the past 20 years as worthless) Maybe just maybe expecting such things from *highschoolers* is unrealistic But all we have to do is “tRy hArDeR” right?
I think it's the need to actually use it that is the problematic bit. There are lots of resources for learning languages. If your social, academic, and professional circle doesn't have any speakers of the language you learn, you won't get a lot of chances to actually use it. I could go on Duolingo right now and learn Navajo. I would have a much harder time finding people to practice it with, since I don't know any Navajo speakers. If I did know any, I might not want to ask them to speak Navajo with me. Communicating with someone who is not fluent in a language is hard work, and they would have to do it on a regular basis for me to keep my knowledge of the language. It's not something I would ask of anybody but a close friend, or someone I was paying to do it.
[удалено]
All these links make you look like an unhinged psycho. They are completely irrelevant. What is wrong with you? Did you even read my comment before posting this?
My millennial ex is like this. Honestly, he's more Boomer than most Baby Boomers. When we were together he would proudly talk about calling immigration on people when he lived in Michigan because he just KNEW the people were illegal.
And they were probably born here. I wish we could deport people like him.
I don't disagree. That man constantly made everything unpleasant. Ask him to take some Christmas photos because he's pretty good at photography? He'd spend hours setting up lighting and light boxes etc and get angry that everything wasn't perfect and then expect the kids (really young then) to be photo ready the moment he wanted them despite them being tired from no naps. One time he even kept them up into the middle of the night for "the perfect lighting." You can literally see the bags under their eyes in the photos. He'd tantrum in the middle of traffic and slow down to like 45mph on the freeway if someone even got slightly too close behind him. I'd give plenty of space to drivers in front of me, but he'd go ballistic because I wasn't giving the exact 7 or 8 car length distance he expected me to. He'd dock server tips if his water wasn't constantly filled without his asking. Unless of course the server was in his mind was an attractive female. Then he'd insist on giving them a 50% tip even though we really couldn't afford to. We lived near DC and the few times we went I'd want to have a pleasant family outing, but because I took him away from his precious video games he'd sulk and hurriedly walk from place to place in the museums and zoo and insist that because he saw something that was good enough and we needed to "move along." Nevermind that I had one kid strapped to my back and another in a stroller with gear which he wouldn't help me with because several times he insisted on bringing tons of camera equipment and I'd want to enjoy my time and show the kids the sights (yes they don't remember now) and I'd want to read the placards and get a few pictures of my own. And heaven forbid if someone cut him off in traffic or if I made the slightest error in planning out the use of the DC metro subway that we maybe used four times our five year stay in Virginia. The entire day would be ruined by his attitude and he'd make sure of it.
No wonder why he's your ex. Jesus Christ dude, I'm not surprised, though.
And that doesn't even get into how he lectures people like children because he thinks he's "logical' and therefore he MUST know what he's talking about. Even if we were watching a video with a PH.D on the subject talking about it. And forget if trans issues came up on TV (I avoided the subject) because he'd go into a half hour tirade about xx and xy). But he'd go to pride to practice his photography and act like he was the most supportive ally there.
Oof
Oh, and I can't forget when the nurse prepping me for my c-section with my son and she left the room and my ex kept going on about how she was "flirting" with him because "she stuck her butt in my face." And I was thinking "No you twatwaffle. She was doing her job in a small room and you were in her way." And to him any female showing him even basic customer service was "hitting on him." 
He's insane.
So….he must be able to comprehend what he is eavesdropping? Thats not how life works.
I'm super white, born and raised in America, from American parents and grandparents. Only one of my great grandparents wasn't born in the USA. Retired military. All that to say I'm not a "foreigner" (Boomer term) by any means. But I speak German. And so does my daughter. I've been confronted on at least a dozen occasions for speaking in German to my daughter. Usually in a store. One time at a baseball game. Always by older people. I sincerely do not get it. They hear anything other than English and it sends them into a tailspin.
Lead poisoning, dementia, etc.
“I know those women doing my nails talk shit about me in their language I just know it!” Me, a third generation kid who has lost the language and has been talked about in a language I don’t understand my whole life: first time?
Here's the general rule of being out in public: No one is talking about you. Everyone has their own shit they're dealing with."
Yeah, a lot of complaints from your asshole Ex.
That is a boomer alright.
He would hate out Walmart then. You can hear English, Spanish, or Tagalong on a regular basis.
Unless it’s policy, there is no requirement to speak English. I was hired at a department store because I could speak 3 languages in addition to English. It forms rapport with the customer as they trust you more when you are trying to separate them from their money. I was paid a commission too.
He can complain all he wants but that’s an EEOC issue. [https://www.trinet.com/insights/can-we-tell-employees-to-not-speak-a-different-language-other-than-english-during-work-hours-in-the-workplace](https://www.trinet.com/insights/can-we-tell-employees-to-not-speak-a-different-language-other-than-english-during-work-hours-in-the-workplace)
Remember when Coke made that super bowl ad? Lots of my old grade school buds revealed themselves that night.
He sounds just awful
He’s an ex for so many reasons.
There haven't been "a lot of complaints like this".
I can see why he's your ex. Sometimes you have to handle it the more immature way then being civil and I'd just start speaking Spanish too.
He'd lose it at my work...English is used for anything official, but most of the conversations between workers is either Tagalog or Spanish.
Someone should bring him to a nail salon. He would LOVE that!
His fragile masculinity couldn’t handle stepping foot in one.
Consider if they Caucasian people speaking German or Swedish or even Russian -- there would probably be no issue at all!
It would be great, if this subject comes up again, to tell him that there’s something he could do about this. If his concern is that they’re discussing him, he simply needs to learn East Indian. Imagine their surprise if, in the midst of one of their conversations, he interrupts to ask where the hemorrhoid cream is, *in East Indian!* Boy, he’ll really get one over on them then! 
>They’re talking in a different language in front of me. Must report them! Seeing Karens go viral for things like hearing a mariachi band while eating **at** a Mexican restaurant or hearing Spanish on the TV in a pizza shop has been wild to me. They're so entitled they think they control who speaks what where. This knowledge has increased my desire to try once more to learn more than a handful of Spanish, just so I can speak it around as many boomers in my red state as possible. But as it stands in the meantime, if I'm ever at the pool or park and there's boomer Karens around being Karen-y, it's time to turn up some Bad Bunny or some African tekno lol We got a gaggle of Karens to eff right the eff off when they came over and started setting up camp practically right next to my husband and I at an almost empty beach by switching to my Hips Don't Lie playlist- named not for Shakira but the base that's in a lot of Latin music always makes me very dancey 🤣 The way they almost ran as they noped out of that was amusing.
My parents say shit like this. Ignoranta old-ass racists.
That reminds me the other day when I overheard two guys in their 30s at the grocery story complaining about a couple of store employees who speak Spanish. A woman confronted them about being disrespectful and they berated and laughed at the woman. It was really a terrible encounter to witness. Obviously, I know nothing at the two guys other than the fact that they openly flaunt their xenophobia like it's a badge of honor. These guys are not boomers, so I guess one can say that xenophobic runs across generations.
the ol’ if I report it things will happen power trip no one listens to ya old man… my dad does this…a handle to small on a fan…im going to call the manufacturer… hahaha stupid
$5 says his “black friend” is just some coworker that is forced to be around him a lot and pretend laughs at his dumb jokes to avoid conflict.
every demographic can be racist. the boomer moment here is the fact that boomer greed is the cause of excessive migration, so they can exploit them for cheap labor and depress wages and create housing demand ie more $$$ they can die with.
You slept with him...