That language law...

I have been away a bunch so I am behind in reading newspapers. (I will read them all, but out of order, and over a few weeks...) A letter to the editor in the Post commented on a proposal for an anti-immigrant law in Virginia allowing firings for cause without penalty because of poor English language skills. The writer made excellent points about how such a law would likely be misused by employers as an excuse to fire people.

Now, the law is oriented to non-English speakers, but I figure that so many people who are "native" speakers butcher the language, don't know what words mean, etc., so why should such a law merely target immigrants.... not to mention the fact that less than 100 years ago many of our forebearers were in the same "boat", reading and speaking German, Norwegian, Swedish, Yiddish, Russian, etc. -- newspapers in those languages had tremendous circulation numbers for decades in the early 20th Century.

(Anti-immigrant legislation and the current hype about it is about a dislocation in time, about people focusing on the moment and not the continuum, the process of assimilation.)

But really brought it home is today's Express newspaper and the cover of the "Style" sub section with the cover art and the headline "Put a Fork In It". In Spanish, combined, the first two English language words in this sentence spell "a bad word." Maybe I just have a nasty mind, but...