8 years ago
1
The last acceptable prejudice
“This is the last acceptable public prejudice: bad jokes and silly stereotypes about people who speak differently. It plays out differently from other kinds of prejudice, of course. People do not choose their race. Religious beliefs are so deeply held that everyone knows to treat them gently. And sexual preference is now so widely seen as inherent that anti-gay prejudice is vanishingly hard to find in polite precincts. Language, in contrast, is seen as more freely chosen.” By R.L.G.
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I think it could also apply to foreign accents, at least in some countries or circles. It makes me cringe when I hear people complaining that someone is not speaking American when they mean a language other than English or worse, English with a foreign accent.