Word: englishness
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
LANGUAGE IS LIKE money. It is an acceptable medium used to communicate and conduct business with others. A five dollar bill is useful because it is always accepted and recognized. Standard English is important, not because it is intrinsically better or more pleasing to the ear than slang, but because--like legal tender--it is universally accepted...
...society where only those who could afford the best education could figure out the nation's currency, leaving the rest to develop a substandard bartering system. Similarly Americans should not tolerate the rapidly developing situation where the majority of the public communicates in a substandard slang and standard English is the property of the privileged. Slang confines those without a decent education to lives of limited expectations. Without a mastery of standard English, they will never be able to hold any but the lowest level jobs or to appreciate fully American culture and heritage...
Although he has become a folk hero in his native country, controversies have attended his career. Noting his fondness for Western literary forms (all of Soyinka's work is written in English), some African critics have accused him of shunning his ethnic origins. Such complaints may continue, but the Nobel Prize is likely to make Soyinka an even more formidable spokesman on his continent. The day after it was announced, Nigeria awarded him its highest national honor...
...their adopted hometown of Edmonton, Alta., the immigrant Ghermezian brothers -- Eskandar, Nader, Raphael and Bahman -- are figures swaddled in rumor and mystery. Fiercely privacyminded, they refuse to divulge their exact ages and are rarely photographed together. Their rapid-fire conversations in Farsi and French often befuddle English-speaking business peers. But from behind that fog, the four Iranian natives have created one of Canada's biggest and most spectacular real estate baronies and are quickly expanding their razzle-dazzle fiefdom southward. Before long, U.S. consumers will get a full exposure to the revolutionary marketing flair of the Ghermezians, who have...
...final draft of the Philippines' new constitution was presented last week to President Corazon (Cory) Aquino at Malacanang Palace. "Democracy is safe with this constitution," she said after receiving two copies of the 59-page document, one in English, the other in Pilipino. The charter will be put to a nationwide plebiscite...