RE: Language Usage (was Don in DC for Prez)

Mark Twain has produced many famous quotes.

David Murphy
Information Services
Oregon State Scholarship Commission
1500 Valley River Drive
Eugene, OR 97401
(541) 687-7433


-----Original Message-----
From:   owner-midrange-l@midrange.com  On Behalf Of John Earl
Sent:   Friday, November 20, 1998 5:24 PM
To:     MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com
Subject:        Re: Language Usage (was Don in DC for Prez)

Wasn't Mark Twain's famous quote along these lines;

"There are fools, damn fools, and then there are School Boards."

jte

David Murphy wrote:

> I believe that statement was attributed to Mark Twain.
>
> David Murphy
> Information Services
> Oregon State Scholarship Commission
> 1500 Valley River Drive
> Eugene, OR 97401
> (541) 687-7433
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From:   owner-midrange-l@midrange.com  On Behalf Of DAsmussen@aol.com
> Sent:   Friday, November 20, 1998 4:00 AM
> To:     MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com
> Subject:        Re: Language Usage (was Don in DC for Prez)
>
> Bruce,
>
> In a message dated 98-11-19 12:02:48 EST, you write:
>
> > "WRONG! WAY wrong!" strikes me as a bit strong as clearly it all
> >  depends on the definition of "used".  If "used" is defined as being
> >  the mother tongue of speakers, then Chinese (Mandarin specifically)
> >  does win based on the 1990 Universal Almanac with 825 million speakers
> >  (English is a far second with 450 million).
> >
> >  If, on the other hand, we define "used" as being the official language
> >  of a country then English comes in first with 87 and Mandarin way, way
> >  behind with 3 (with a lot of other languages between these two).
> >
> >  By careful definition of "most used" I suspect we could come up with
> >  a wide variety of language "winners".
>
> In the immortal words of Harry S. Truman, there are three types of lies.
> Lies, "Damn" lies, and statistics.  So, just how many of those Mandarin
> speakers can actually read and _write_ the language?
>
> Curious,
>
> Dean Asmussen
> Enterprise Systems Consulting, Inc.
> Fuquay-Varina, NC  USA
> E-Mail:  DAsmussen@aol.com
>
> "Acceptance of prevailing standards often means we have no standards of our
> own." -- Jean Toomer
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--
John Earl   johnearl@toolnet.com

PowerTech Toolworks  206-575-0711
PowerLock Network Security www.toolnet.com
The 400 School   www.400school.com
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