CompuServe Messages

Invasion? Maybe, but didn't we all? The Indians invaded from Asia, then the Spaniards and Portuguese invaded from Europe, followed closely by the English, French, Dutch, even the Swedes. For a period between the Civil War and the Twenties most major cities looked and sounded like a Disney exhibit with the original languages in tact (and smellier). Old bubbly Lawrence Welk was born and raised in North Dakota and didn't speak English until he was 13 and never with complete command. The U.S. doesn't have an official language but it does have a de facto one which the children and grandchildren absorb as the one for everyday use no matter what they speak in the home. That's the way we got where we were. Having absorbed, conquered, or whatever about 20% of the U.S. from Spanish-speaking nations we've always had a substantial hispanic population and it's where new Spanish speakers feel most at home. The only thing new here is that we had a period from the end of WWII through the early Sixties when immigration was severely restricted and most of the older cultural ghettoes had become tourist attractions (Little Italy, Chinatown, etc.). Now that we're back to substantial waves, we're actually back to the U.S. norm for most of its history.