🚀 go-pugleaf

On Sat, 21 Dec 1996 02:12:02 GMT, in sci.lang, CJCoker@Cris.Com (Chuck
Coker) [me] wrote:

> On Thu, 19 Dec 1996 16:32:54 +0000, in sci.lang, Julian Pardoe
> <pardoej@lonnds.ml.com> wrote:
> 
> > Reminds me of a bad joke (which I'm going to get wrong):
> > 
> > Q: What do you call a person who speaks four languages?
> > A: A polyglot.
> > 
> > Q: What do you call a person who speaks two languages?
> > A: A bourgeois nationalist.
> > 
> > Q: What do you call a person who speaks one language?
> > A: An internationalist.
> 
> The way I heard this joke, the last person was an American (United
> States citizen). :^)

Due to the amount of mail I've received on this, I thought I might
clarify, or at least tell the joke as I originally heard it.

Q: What do you call a person who speaks three or more languages?
A: Multilingual.

Q: What do you call a person who speaks two languages?
A: Bilingual.

Q: What do you call a person who speaks one language?
A: An American.

The joke is that Americans expect everyone else to speak English, even
when we travel to a non-English-speaking country. In other words,
Americans are so arrogant that they expect the world to conform to
them.

Chuck Coker
CJCoker@Cris.Com

BTW, I am an American (United States citizen).