freecounterpoint: Philly cheese steak

Sunday, July 02, 2006

Philly cheese steak

Horror! Geno is not multiculti. Given a choice Cheese Whiz, American or Provolone, though, what would you do? Is this really cheese, or some chemical ersatz?

9 comments:

The Darkroom said...: This reminds me of the post yesterday about the muslim-only fest. With the added similarity that in both cases, it won't be a big loss. All bigots if you ask me.; 7/02/2006 9:38 AM
My Frontier Thesis said...: First, I prefer mine with provolone, and second, I think it's fine if he wants to leave the sign up.

Let me add a personal note here:

While I understand that it's great to have one language throughout the 50 states, I also think it's a good idea for Yankees to learn a second language, if anything so we know how to speak English and don't make comments like this: "This is America... The predominant language here is American," he said.

English, of course, is the predominant language. H.L. Mencken made a case about the distinctiveness of American English some time ago (adding supplements and new editions throughout the years), but I doubt the person quoted here was thinking of the Baltimore Sage when he made that comment.

My great grandparents wouldn't allow their children to speak Swedish, only English. Now their grandchildren go and pay a university to teach them the second language.; 7/02/2006 11:29 AM
Tecumseh said...: From the 3 choices, Provolone does sound the closest approximation to real cheese, indeed. But, melted Provolone? Sounds dubious to me. But I'll give it a try,
when next in Philly.

As for Geno, yes, he doesn't sound like a sophisticated guy. But hey, he's just in the business of making sandwiches, no rocket science needed for that. Let him be.

But yes, knowing more than one language is good -- ideally, one should know at least 3 or 4, I'd say. There's a lot of lip service paid to that in the US, but mostly it's baloney. And, what's the big deal -- anyone can do it, with just a bit of effort, no?; 7/02/2006 1:50 PM
The Darkroom said...: Oh, this is about the benefits of expanding one's horizon by learning another language ? Sorry, I thought it was about bigotry, narrow-mindedness and exploiting hot political issues to one's financial advantage.; 7/02/2006 4:33 PM
My Frontier Thesis said...: Exploiting political issues to one's financial advantage... hmmm, at least his consumers have a choice to purchase a sandwich, but only in English, so yes, this article is connected to language.; 7/02/2006 9:47 PM
The Darkroom said...: I have a hunch though that the same concept transposed to another place (e.g. a restaurant in Paris where english speakers would not be served) would have you guys all bent out of shape.; 7/03/2006 9:02 AM
My Frontier Thesis said...: Pepe, I'm all for native languages and polylinguists. When I visited Italy, Austria, and Hungary for the first time back in 2000, I was embarrassed that I didn't know more than four or five Italian words. Libertarians are not as reactionary as Bill O'Reilly or Michael Moore.

This reminds me too: A group of Japanese tourists asked me to explain where the various museums and government buildings were in Vienne. You know how it is with us round-eyes: we all look the same to those Asians.; 7/03/2006 12:08 PM
Tecumseh said...: Did you try the Wiener schnitzel? Hope they din't put melted Provolone on top of it!; 7/04/2006 9:15 AM
My Frontier Thesis said...: No, unfortunately we only had about three days in Vienne, and all of us were brand new to the city. We then decided on Budapest -- what a beautiful city.; 7/04/2006 3:33 PM