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Post by gdiddy on Aug 8, 2012 3:10:12 GMT
Well, this thread is really living up to its title, isn't it?
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Post by abs on Aug 8, 2012 3:10:12 GMT
 Okay, my logic is flawed, is it? "It's a bilingual country that speaks English as a primary language, therefore it is an English speaking country." - AbsCanada is not considered an 'english speaking' country, it is bilingual. By law, we are bilingual. English is not the primary language. We have laws in place to ensure that both languages are considered equal. "with gdiddys logic, britain is not an english speaking country, its a hexalingual country." - Mr. DavidEngland on the other hand has no official multi-lingualism. So to call it hexalingual is just plain wrong. England along with USA have never made an official stance on language. "Especially when English is still significantly more widely fluently spoken than French. " - AbsCorrect, English is more widely spoken than French. But within Canada, there is one exception. Quebec. Quebec is considered a unilingual province, where they acknowledge only french as their language. That's not to say people in major cities in Quebec can't speak english, but their primary language is actually Canadian french. And I have been to areas in Quebec where people spoke less english than parts of France. Anyways, I wasn't defendng tob, and I am not trying to bruise your delicate egos, I was just pointing out an innocent mistake you'd made about the country I love. If you want to keep fighting me on this, go ahead, I get the sense that you two aren't big enough (ahem... maybe a poor choice of words considering...) to accept that you've made a mistake. Toodles! You didn't tell me anything I didn't already know. I've been over to Canada a few times, including Quebec. But still, Canada is an English speaking country. I guarantee you if you google "English speaking countries". there is not a single list where Canada would not be on it. Well, I'm sure if you used enough time and searched for thousands you'd probably find the odd one. But as an example: geography.about.com/od/politicalgeography/a/englishcountry.htmvoices.yahoo.com/list-english-speaking-countries-world-76413.htmlen.wikipedia.org/wiki/English-speaking_worldSo no, pretty much everyone on the internet disagrees with you. Wikipedia defines it as "countries and territories where English is the national language or the native language of the majority". Which seems like a good definition, and Canada definitely slots right into the second. Similarly, if you looked for "German speaking countries", you would find Switzerland on every list. |
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Post by gdiddy on Aug 8, 2012 3:37:21 GMT
 Oh, well if wikipedia says so... Look man, I don't mean to discredit your sources. We all know that geography.com and yahoo.com are among the most reputable sites out there. But if you were to look at, oh I dunno, say www.canada.gc.ca/aboutcanada-ausujetcanada/arts/lang-eng.html (The official site of the Canadian Government) you'll find a different perspective on the matter. Have a read and get back to me.  |
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Post by gdiddy on Aug 8, 2012 3:42:41 GMT
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Post by abs on Aug 8, 2012 4:26:29 GMT
Er..that doesn't disprove my argument whatsoever.
Switzerland is both a French speaking country and a German speaking country.
You're essentially trying to claim two things are mutually exclusive when they are clearly not.
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Post by eddiemurphy on Aug 8, 2012 4:52:26 GMT
blackburn rovers 0-1 canadian bilingual fc.  |
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Post by abs on Aug 8, 2012 5:21:05 GMT
Gdiddy would you say Ireland is an English speaking country?
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Post by gdiddy on Aug 8, 2012 5:52:56 GMT
I probably would. But if some Irish fella told me otherwise, I wouldn't try to dispute that fact. I'd probably just take his word for it. My ego aint that big. Er..that doesn't disprove my argument whatsoever. Switzerland is both a French speaking country and a German speaking country. You're essentially trying to claim two things are mutually exclusive when they are clearly not. No. No I am not. I'm saying Canada is officially a bilingual country. Which it clearly is. You posted a wikipedia link saying it was English speaking, I post a wikipedia link saying it is French speaking. Read between the lines. Not everything is literal, my dear. Allow me to further demonstrate. Want me to disprove your argument? Here goes... You said Canada's primary language was english. In case you forgot, that's what this is all about. Since then, you've kind of skewed your stance to 'Canadians speak english.' I've never challenged whether or not Canadians speak english. That would be silly. I'm Canadian, and I'm speakig english right now. Once again... you said Canada's primary language was English. English is not its primary language. This is clearly stated under the Official Languages Act and the Constitution of Canada. Feel free to look up either of those two. I recommend the former, it deals more directly with this issue. As for Switzerland. God damn, what a beautiful country. I swear, I'd just throw my camera up in the air and snap a photo and it turned out looking like a postcard. Here's one from Zermatt:  Beautiful, innit? They speak German there. Basel had more French, for sure, but still plenty of German. At one point, I was in this club on the roof of a parking garage, and I could look one way and I was looking at France, and the other way, I'm looking at Germany. Pretty nuts. So you know, Switzerland is also a multilinguel country. Nearly everyone there speaks english too! Much like Canada. In fact, I think they have about four or five official languages! Worth noting that my Swiss friend Julia, her english is perfect! You can't detect a hint of an accent... but her written english? Fucking horrible. Which brings us back to doe (Tob)! You follow me? |
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Post by barny on Aug 8, 2012 6:56:29 GMT
We have a winner
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Post by Mr David on Aug 8, 2012 8:38:07 GMT
Not really, this fella is either a bit thick or wilfully confusing the term "English speaking" to mean a legal definition for the sake of having an internet argument.
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Post by leanne on Aug 8, 2012 8:39:27 GMT
EDIT - can't be arsed. Looks like you're arguing about two different things.
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Post by Simone on Aug 8, 2012 8:55:26 GMT
Not really, this fella is either a bit thick or wilfully confusing the term "English speaking" to mean a legal definition for the sake of having an internet argument. the way I read it, abs said Canada is "a bilingual country that speaks English as a primary language" -- I believe this to be untrue, for if you are bilingual, you shouldn't have a primary language and a secondary language, but both language regarded as "primary". The way abs seems to put it, it sounds like canadian french has less dignity than english... it sounds like saying "You're half american and half italian, with american as a primary country cos your dad is american and your mom is italian, so you're american cos man wins over woman" ...dunno though, everything is possible with our very own Mr. Fogg. |
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Post by srk on Aug 8, 2012 12:04:05 GMT
Tbf, abs is *technically* correct in that he says Canada is an "english-speaking country", which is true. The majority of people in Canada do speak english as their 1st language. However the whole point of this argument was saying that tob is an idiot because his english is appalling. He lives in the one part of the country where english *isn't* the 1st language.***
That said, tob is still an idiot since 99.999999999% of the population in Montreal are fluent in both languages.
***The only reason we're "officially" bilingual is to appease the asshats in quebec who want to be their own country. There are limited amounts of french-speaking people east of quebec and almost no french-speaking people west of quebec, but...that's what our government decided. Fuckers.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 8, 2012 14:12:36 GMT
There will be no winners in this thread.
LOL at Abs for once again reading the beady eye section. He must love them.
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Post by gdiddy on Aug 8, 2012 14:29:13 GMT
The way I see it, it went to the judges scorecards and I took it by a score of 3-2. Split decision. Good tilt fellas, hard fought, valiant effort.
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Post by Benoît Assou-Ekotto on Aug 8, 2012 14:30:44 GMT
You won by a 4th round knockout for me mate.
Garcia vs Khan type shit.
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Post by eddiemurphy on Aug 8, 2012 16:49:04 GMT
You won by a 4th round knockout for me mate. Garcia vs Khan type shit.  |
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Post by abs on Aug 9, 2012 7:20:19 GMT
I probably would. But if some Irish fella told me otherwise, I wouldn't try to dispute that fact. I'd probably just take his word for it. My ego aint that big. Er..that doesn't disprove my argument whatsoever. Switzerland is both a French speaking country and a German speaking country. You're essentially trying to claim two things are mutually exclusive when they are clearly not. No. No I am not. I'm saying Canada is officially a bilingual country. Which it clearly is. You posted a wikipedia link saying it was English speaking, I post a wikipedia link saying it is French speaking. Read between the lines. Not everything is literal, my dear. Allow me to further demonstrate. Want me to disprove your argument? Here goes... You said Canada's primary language was english. In case you forgot, that's what this is all about. Since then, you've kind of skewed your stance to 'Canadians speak english.' I've never challenged whether or not Canadians speak english. That would be silly. I'm Canadian, and I'm speakig english right now. Once again... you said Canada's primary language was English. English is not its primary language. This is clearly stated under the Official Languages Act and the Constitution of Canada. Feel free to look up either of those two. I recommend the former, it deals more directly with this issue. As for Switzerland. God damn, what a beautiful country. I swear, I'd just throw my camera up in the air and snap a photo and it turned out looking like a postcard. Here's one from Zermatt: Beautiful, innit? They speak German there. Basel had more French, for sure, but still plenty of German. At one point, I was in this club on the roof of a parking garage, and I could look one way and I was looking at France, and the other way, I'm looking at Germany. Pretty nuts. So you know, Switzerland is also a multilinguel country. Nearly everyone there speaks english too! Much like Canada. In fact, I think they have about four or five official languages! Worth noting that my Swiss friend Julia, her english is perfect! You can't detect a hint of an accent... but her written english? Fucking horrible. Which brings us back to doe (Tob)! You follow me? Okay this doesn't really take much explaining. You said it wasn't an English speaking country. I never said it wasn't a French speaking country. I would agree it is ALSO a French speaking country. The phrase "English speaking country" doesn't mean another language isn't also spoken there. It doesn't mean a country can't also be a French speaking, German speaking, Irish speaking country. Pretty much every single list of English speaking countries on the internet includes Canada. Are you going to say they are all wrong and you are, in fact, in the right? You posting the list of French speaking countries does nothing to disprove anything I'm saying, as I've never denied Canada isn't also a French speaking country. The only thing I will concede is that the phrase "primary language" for English was the wrong word to use, and something like "most prevalent" would have been more accurate. I'm sure you would agree English is the most prevalent language in Canada. |
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Post by abs on Aug 9, 2012 7:23:04 GMT
Not really, this fella is either a bit thick or wilfully confusing the term "English speaking" to mean a legal definition for the sake of having an internet argument. the way I read it, abs said Canada is "a bilingual country that speaks English as a primary language" -- I believe this to be untrue, for if you are bilingual, you shouldn't have a primary language and a secondary language, but both language regarded as "primary". The way abs seems to put it, it sounds like canadian french has less dignity than english... it sounds like saying "You're half american and half italian, with american as a primary country cos your dad is american and your mom is italian, so you're american cos man wins over woman" ...dunno though, everything is possible with our very own Mr. Fogg.  You are the biggest pseud on here, most of your posts appear to try and make yourself look intelligent when in fact they show you up to be a bit thick. Clearly that analogy doesn't work whatsoever, as the number of fluent English speakers in Canada dwarfs the number of fluent French speakers in Canada, which is the point I was making. I think pretty much everyone else got that apart from you.  Oh and it's Dr Fogg to you. |
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Post by Simone on Aug 9, 2012 9:52:15 GMT
the way I read it, abs said Canada is "a bilingual country that speaks English as a primary language" -- I believe this to be untrue, for if you are bilingual, you shouldn't have a primary language and a secondary language, but both language regarded as "primary". The way abs seems to put it, it sounds like canadian french has less dignity than english... it sounds like saying "You're half american and half italian, with american as a primary country cos your dad is american and your mom is italian, so you're american cos man wins over woman" ...dunno though, everything is possible with our very own Mr. Fogg. You are the biggest pseud on here, most of your posts appear to try and make yourself look intelligent when in fact they show you up to be a bit thick. Clearly that analogy doesn't work whatsoever, as the number of fluent English speakers in Canada dwarfs the number of fluent French speakers in Canada, which is the point I was making. I think pretty much everyone else got that apart from you. Oh and it's Dr Fogg to you. dude, I didn't even enter in the discussion with you, I was simply talking to another fellow about the way I intended what you wrote, so this is totally gratuitous. Plus you yourself say you used an inaccurate phrase which could lead to wrong interpretations, and I am the thick one for getting the wrong message? This is nonsense, you know. But I really like the fact that, after spending the last two pages looking like a great git for arguing about Canada with a canadian -- and at this point the only thing that would make you look a bit less of an idiot would be to simply said "Alright, I get your point, sorry" instead of this "it doesn't disprove my point" solicitor kind of shit -- you have the audacity of saying I "try to look intelligent".  Is that what they teach you in british universities? "When you look like an idiot with somebody, attack somebody else, you might get luckier"?! |
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Okay, my logic is flawed, is it? 
You are the biggest pseud on here, most of your posts appear to try and make yourself look intelligent when in fact they show you up to be a bit thick.