Re: Hang out with...

Hang out with a couple of Mexicans and wait until they start saying shit to each other in Spanish when they know you don't understand.

Irrelevant - if people who share another language you don't, speak in that language, then they mean for the conversation to be private from you, and you should respect that as much as you should if they, for instance, started hiding under jargon ("wassup, LiGga??", anyone??), acronyms ("they call them LGs", anyone??) or plain old whispering to each other's ear ("I left you a chat memo", anyone??)

If the demand that people speak English is linguistic oppression

The demand is not - and I want to make my position very clear on that: the demand is not. But the way the demand is phrased, in turn, can be linguistic oppression - "it's not worth saying it at all" <<<--- wtf is that???

then the above is lin[g]uistic elitism (a very appropriate term as most Mexicans are not colour-blind) and is just one of many manifestations of their own atavistic, intrinsic racism (disclaimer: not all, just many).

Yeah, I can accept that.

However, tell me, didn't Aquinas teach in Latin, not French, not Occitan, not Italian??? :p

I'm just being defensive here btw. As a polyglot, I cannot help but take personal the linguistic elitism accusation.

Nevertheless, LOD's friend was not Mexican, so the response was GODDAMN not fucking racist.

So, if LOD's friend had been hearing but had signed to her, the response wouldn't be anti-deaf??? What if he had been, say, a Black Louisianan who had learned some Cajun French??? That is exactly why I tried to decenter it from Spanish / Mexicans into any language / any community linked to it.

If you and a buddy were sitting around and he started talking to you in [whatever language you don't speak, which is neither of your native, ethnic language] and you were in a joking mood, and said something like "hey, watch your language!" (or something) your jaw would drop in disbelief if he stormed out in a huff, calling you racist.

And that depends on what tone I use to ask them to speak in a language I know. "Save it for someone who cares" probably calls for an equally rude response.

And as a former Mile End resident, I would certainly not say that in response to hearing a language I don't speak myself.

(I know it's bad form to interject into other people's fights, but I don't care :p)

I know. I forgive ya!!