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

["David Murphy" <murphy_d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

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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