English is not my mother tongue, but I do think that I've mastered it to an extent of a native speaker (if only that would happen with French and Spanish too!). The reason for the title of this blog is the book that I'm almost done with; Mother Tongue: The story of the English Language by Bill Bryson.
He is probably my favourite non-fiction author. He speaks to me when I read his books, and the subjects that he covers are of course, my favourite things like travelling and languages and culture. All of this written in a wonderful sense humorous light, laughing at himself and others when faced with strange circumstances, and pretty good sarcasm!
We all need to learn so much about each other, and appreciate the differences (if not appreciate the custom itself). Being judgmental and ignorant will get us nowhere. We may think that the smartly dressed man in a queue at the bank is there for business, and the other man who wears a navy blue jumper with a dirty yellow overalls seem like a questionable character. And then bam! The smart man takes out a gun, yelling and screaming at everyone to "get down or I'll shoot!" And the dirt guy would come to everybody's rescue.
That was a bad example. I actually wanted to say something about respecting a culture different to our own. Say it's Christmas (well it is Christmas), and you don't celebrate it, but everyone else around you does. If they want to play Secret Santa at work, join 'em! And when it's Hari Raya, bring some satay and peanut sauce to work, and ask them to try your food. It's not complicated.
There is a bozo named O'Reilly who works for Fox News (a horrible right-wing news network). I feel that he is a narrow-minded fascist, who has no respect for anyone who does not share his values (which are not great anyway). On the news, he was complaining about the Eidul-Fitri celebration in American schools, and comparing it with Halloween. Because the lunar calendar is different from the Gregorian calendar, of course the date for Eid is different every year. Therefore, things related to Eid should not be displayed in schools like Halloween, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and Easter.
More on this later. I need to get ready for work.. :)
About Yani
- Yani
- Looe, Cornwall
- obsessed with movies, books and socks. sucker for old songs and good-looking men. coffee addict. loves her white freelander. loves her looe home. loves sabah. loves her family and friends, A LOT! carnivore. sometimes thinks that she is a genius (not!) has excellent taste when it comes to shoes. believes that education should be free for all. not-so-hardcore environmentalist, but recycles as much as she can and avoid using plastic bags at the supermarket
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