Let's Make "American Geography" The Official Geography Of Idaho
An Idaho state senator has introduced a bill to make English the state's official language:
The Senate State Affairs committee voted 7-2 on Friday to debate the plan next week, with Republicans beating back an attempt by Democrats on the panel to kill the measure. The Democrats had argued it's divisive and would do nothing to change the existing situation, in which nearly all Idaho affairs are conducted in English in a state where the population is overwhelmingly white.[Emphasis mine] Normally, I'm against bills that seek only to "make a statement" and not actually do anything, but if this bill could help state senators learn the meaning of the word "neighboring", I'm all for it. Maybe the bill could mandate that state senators answer a test question something like this, and anyone who answers "G" would have to take a remedial geography class:
Sen. Mel Richardson, R-Idaho Falls, said his bill is modeled after laws in neighboring Utah and Arizona and would make English the state's "official language."
Q1: Given this map, which is a neighboring state to Idaho?
A. Utah
B. Montana
C. Wyoming
D. Nevada
E. Oregon
F. Washington
G. Arizona
posted by Bubblehead at 10:53 AM
6 Comments:
/tongue in cheek/
Maybe the the authors were thinking that Arizona neighbors Idaho like the people who live two blocks down the street are in my neighborhood, but our blocks don't touch each others. We do not share a block border, just a neighborhood.
Or maybe they mean ideological neighbors. Maybe the authors recognize Arizona as a neighbor in a Red State sort of way, so although their geographical borders don't touch, their ideological borders are touching.
Or maybe they just don't know what a neighboring state is.
I like the quiz you posted.
good job
2/24/2007 2:06 PM
Bubblehead, thanks for the post. My favorite part of the article is, "Richardson said little would change with his bill."
So why do we elect these people?
2/24/2007 2:21 PM
Probably meant for Utah and Arizona to be combined into a single region, which we could then name "Xenophobiland". Then, Xenophobiland would in fact neighbor Idaho.
2/24/2007 2:23 PM
Joel,
I don't think neighbor must mean "adjacent". Or?
You can have a neighbor who lives across the street; or even two houses up from you.
In common parlance, I can go visit my neighbor without that being a next-door neighbor.
Right?
best,
Dale
2/24/2007 7:26 PM
Dale,
That's fair, but I'm wondering if he would also call California (which is much closer) a "neighboring" state...
2/24/2007 7:34 PM
California a neighboring state?
How about a neighboring foreign country?
:)
best,
Dale
2/25/2007 6:59 AM
Post a Comment
<< Home