English and Chinese to Become Official World Languages

[Herb Stahlke]

This raises the question of language-related April Fool's pranks.
When I was an undergrad at Concordia Senior College, Ft. Wayne, IN,
part of the Lutheran pre-theological school system, the editor of the
student newspaper came up with one.  At the time, Church of Sweden
theologians were making quite a splash, so he published an article
that starting the next Fall all students would be required to study
Swedish.  Raised quite a ruckus on campus.

Herb

On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 9:28 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: English and Chinese to Become Official World Languages
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> You might tell us where this appeared.  The Onion?
>
> Joel
>
> At 4/2/2012 03:23 PM, Tom Zurinskas wrote:
>>Is this an April  joke?
>>
>>English and Chinese to Become Official World Languages.
>>After much deliberation, the General Assembly of the United Nations
>>has passed a resolution calling all governments to adopt English and
>>Chinese as official languages. All countries will be expected to
>>teach young children in either English or Chinese by 2018.
>>
>>Some countries argued that only Chinese should be the official
>>language because it was the language of the future, but opponents
>>claimed that the difficulty in learning Chinese characters would
>>present too much of an obstacle, and that English was needed as an
>>easier alternative.
>>
>>There was also much debate about whether British English or American
>>English should be the world standard. The main concern was to try
>>and decide which of the two is easier to learn. Those in favor of
>>American English argued that American spelling is simpler and more
>>rational, so would be easier for young children.
>>
>>However, after a great deal of research and a heated discussion that
>>went as far as the Security Council, it was decided to adopt the
>>variant of British English used in rural areas of South West
>>England, particularly in Dorset. This means that instead of learning
>>'I am . . ., You are . . ., He is . . .' everybody will learn the
>>simpler 'I be . . ., You be . . ., He be . . .' It was felt that
>>this would provide a much easier alternative for those who find
>>learning Chinese characters too difficult.
>>
>>All United Nations documents and international treaties will use
>>this variant of English from 2015 and Thomas Hardy novels will
>>become recommended reading for UN officials and international lawyers.
>>
>>
>>
>>Tom Zurinskas, Conn 20 yrs, Tenn 3, NJ 33, now Fl 9.
>>See how English spelling links to sounds at http://justpaste.it/ayk
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
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