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IMMIGRATION EUPHEMISMS AND THE LANGUAGE PURISTS Email Print

In the state of New Jersey, McDonald's Restaurant had the audacity to put up a billboard that just so happened to be written in Spanish. Local citizens and politicians were outraged.
There are those who try to disguise the illegality of illegal immigrants by describing them simply and innocently enough as "undocumented workers."  

IMMIGRATION EUPHEMISMS AND THE LANGUAGE PURISTS
From July 9th, 2006

In the state of New Jersey, McDonald's Restaurant had the audacity to put up a billboard that just so happened to be written in Spanish. Local citizens and politicians were outraged. They said, "We can't stand for this." They are demanding that McDonald's take down the billboard. It seems pretty silly to me, in a country that's supposed to be known for its diversity. Here's a joke: In its own defense, McDonald's maintains that it in no way was trying to advertise to Spanish-speaking people. It was only trying to give them directions on how to get to work.
Do you know how to say Big Mac in Spanish? El Maco Grande. I'm just making that up, but it can't be too far off.  
Shouldn't McDonald's be allowed to advertise in Spanish when McDonald's is probably the one of the few restaurants which illegal immigrants can actually afford to eat at?---and we're talking strictly DOLLAR MENU here. McDonald's ALREADY advertises in Spanish on Spanish language cable channels that are packaged all across this country, and has been for over a decade. Should we ban Spanish language television as well? What's the difference? Looking ahead, I think that it may get to the point where they post traffic signs here in both English AND Spanish. As offensive as that would be to the English language purists, or racists, as some would call them, if it prevents traffic accidents and saves lives, what other reason beside self pride would there be to not do it?
We haven't actually been able to spread democracy throughout the world, but we have already accomplished the next best thing. We have managed to spread unhealthy, artery-clogging, obesity-causing McDonald's restaurants all throughout the world. After all, we don't want to be known as the only fat ass nation. And to some extent, this levels the playing field in the international Olympics.
Euphemism:  substitution, doublespeak, softened expression, polite term
There are those who try to disguise the illegality of illegal immigrants by describing them simply and innocently enough as "undocumented workers."  I tried to adopt this approach the other night when I was cited for driving without a license.(I'm being satirical here) "Sorry, officer, but you've got it all wrong---I'm not driving illegally, I'm simply an undocumented operator. I'm out here driving the kind of cars that wealthier Americans don't want to drive, so I'm actually helping the economy. I still pay the gas tax, so who am I really hurting in the end?" The police aren't gonna buy it, and neither should we.
"Excuse me, but I'm not really robbing this bank, I'm only making a perfectly legitimate unauthorized cash withdrawal. I wouldn't normally take these measures, but there are no jobs left out there for legal American citizens. Don't I, just like the illegal immigrants, have the right to seek a better life, even if it means bending a few laws?"


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