tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5288939.post8118294739168196645..comments2007-12-07T10:40:26.234-05:00Ted Rallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15206037144515105918noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5288939.post-10232212294406822662007-12-06T18:57:00.000-05:002007-12-06T18:57:00.000-05:00Curious, Ted, have you not posted my dictionary info that shows "assimilate to" is valid English?<BR/><BR/>I say, I've been reading your comic since I came to this country and discovered it in a local independent newspaper in 1997, I know you're capable of admitting an error.<BR/><BR/>It's not that I don't agree with your point that many so nativist American-borns don't mind taking over another country and not speaking the local tongue, but his grammar wasn't as wrong as you said.<BR/><BR/>And many of us who have come to this nation legally and above board resent people coming illegally and not "assimilating into" the nation.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5288939.post-45041211687690260202007-12-05T16:45:00.000-05:002007-12-05T16:45:00.000-05:00It is alot like using the word 'conservative'. If we are talking about cultural conservatives, and I come in and say "Ron Paul is a conservative too". I would be profoundly wrong, even though Ron Paul is actually conservative. The problem is that I was attempting to enter a conversation about <I>cultural</I> conservatives.<BR/>In the study of crystals, perhaps, you could properly say "assimilate to" with reference to a whole becoming like a part.<BR/>In the social sciences, when you say "assimilate" it is more like saying "absorb". <BR/>Saying that the smaller expects the larger to "absorb to" the smaller, demonstrates that you have committed the worst possible sin, in any language: you have gotten the meaning wrong.<BR/><BR/>In America, when you are in an arguement in elementary school, it is valid to use the dictionary alone to make your point. <BR/>In this case, if you don't understand that you are talking about <I>cultural assimilation</I>, when you say "assimilate", you are going to make an ass of yourself.<BR/>Since Lyons was referring to cultural assimilation, his use was incorrect.<BR/>Since he was attempting to make a larger point about how other people should learn english, he made an ass of himself.Angelohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06412789587317769889noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5288939.post-27967609120186642592007-12-04T23:09:00.000-05:002007-12-04T23:09:00.000-05:00Ah, so basically you didn't like his use of 'to'. <BR/><BR/>I didn't understand, because i looked up assimilate on Merriam-Webster's dictionary web-page, and it said:<BR/><BR/>"usage: When assimilate is followed by a preposition, transitive senses 2a and 2c commonly take 'to' and 'into' and less frequently 'with'; 2b regularly takes 'to'; sense 3 most often takes to and sometimes with. The most frequent prepositions used with the intransitive sense are to and into."<BR/><BR/>So since the dictionary said 'to' was OK, I didn't know what you were complaining about. It seems to me you're just talking out your ass because you disagree with his point about we, the horrible foreigners.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5288939.post-27134753157847266022007-12-03T23:58:00.000-05:002007-12-03T23:58:00.000-05:00Hi foreigners. Welcome to Rall.com!!!<BR/>It is so good to make your acquaintance!<BR/>Here is your free english lesson:<BR/><BR/>assimilate - to bring into conformity with the customs, attitudes, etc., of a group, nation, or the like; adapt or adjust: <I>to assimilate the new immigrants</I>. NOT to assimilate <I>to</I> the new immigrants.<BR/><BR/>Saying "they expect us to assimilate <B>to</B> them" is bad english. period.<BR/><BR/>even if he left out the the extraneous "to", he would have been making no point.<BR/><BR/>You can't assimilate "to" something. Lyons was probably just regurgitating something he heard from his parents. His parents probably heard it on the radio.<BR/><BR/>His real mistake was not knowing the significance of the word. Assimilating a new group of immigrants is exactly what civilized countries do.Downtown6http://www.blogger.com/profile/06224009393477092284noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5288939.post-45871131386798124242007-12-02T19:47:00.000-05:002007-12-02T19:47:00.000-05:00to be specific: <BR/>Ted Rall said "When are anti-immigration Americans like Lyon, presumably an American citizen who was born in the United States, going to learn English?"<BR/><BR/>What was wrong with this Lyon man's English? Tell us, please! We don't get your joke!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5288939.post-16045376095846830172007-12-02T19:44:00.000-05:002007-12-02T19:44:00.000-05:00Agreed, Ted Rall said something about "how come this soldier doesn't speak English", but didn't make it clear what was wrong with the man's English.<BR/><BR/>Native speakers, ENLIGHTEN US POOR FOREIGNERS!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5288939.post-744907866537013552007-11-30T21:25:00.000-05:002007-11-30T21:25:00.000-05:00Yes yes, we get it! But what is grammatically incorrect with "They come here to live and expect us to assimilate to them. It's our country." I'm foreign too and I'd really like to know.<BR/><BR/>(sorry for being off topic)a foreign personnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5288939.post-34077488560520366252007-11-30T15:25:00.000-05:002007-11-30T15:25:00.000-05:00ANONYMOUS 8:05P.M. The point is that the soldier objects to Illegals not assimilating while the American army tries to make Iraq like America. Ok???Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5288939.post-1742224706129271572007-11-30T13:43:00.000-05:002007-11-30T13:43:00.000-05:00fouad, that's interesting. I was wondering what effect it woud have had on me if I saw the last panel first...<BR/>I guess what you are saying is that it does not matter. You could read it backwards.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5288939.post-6091786972714515292007-11-30T03:42:00.000-05:002007-11-30T03:42:00.000-05:00Let Me just say as an avid Rall Reader, I've learned over time to always look at the comics panel by panel, statement by statement. And as for this latest masterpiece; the VERY second I looked over to the last panel and saw the aliens,that the shop patrons were referring to, wearing American combat uniforms and carrying M16's I nearly died laughing, I didn't even need to look at the glass to get the joke. I'm mostly fond of your cartoons and writing because you present an excellent refreshing point, but work like this reminds me of why I became a Rall Regular in the first place. <BR/><BR/>p.s. I woke my wife up w/ my very loud laughing - shes really mad at me now =(Fouadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120261727093178587noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5288939.post-83975978967169881162007-11-29T20:05:00.000-05:002007-11-29T20:05:00.000-05:00A different anonymous here, can anyone PLEASE help an "ESL" speaker and tell me what the man in the quote said wrong? This was in the post about "Nativists on Parade"? I'm still curious what his great error was that people were laughing at so highly.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5288939.post-44560988828692352132007-11-29T18:28:00.000-05:002007-11-29T18:28:00.000-05:00Heard a good one at work the other day. Our boys are fighting in Iraq to keep us from becoming a muslim nation. God Bless America!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5288939.post-83794894371423272922007-11-29T16:45:00.000-05:002007-11-29T16:45:00.000-05:00Nicely done. I hope it gets reprinted widely.Kevin Moorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00743155275284609835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5288939.post-11525941234395830962007-11-29T15:07:00.000-05:002007-11-29T15:07:00.000-05:00very timely coming a day after a republican debate where they continue to focus on illegal immigration.<BR/><BR/>also very funny!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5288939.post-15851362993009415872007-11-29T14:37:00.000-05:002007-11-29T14:37:00.000-05:00how do you stop people from looking at the last panel first?angelonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5288939.post-82140805735459677412007-11-29T13:04:00.000-05:002007-11-29T13:04:00.000-05:00"I'll admit it. I was very happy with the way this one turned out."<BR/><BR/>As you should be, you clever, witty guy! Love it!forksmugglerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06320469446812169384noreply@blogger.com