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Habla Espanol? Debate rages over pizza promotion

BY Josh Kerns  on May 23, 2012 @ 12:04 pm (Updated: 1:55 pm - 5/23/12 )

cedargrove



A promotion offering free pizza for anyone ordering in Spanish is causing indigestion for Enlish-first advocates



Quieres pizza? Some people don't, at least in Spanish. What was supposed to be a light hearted promotion is facing plenty of backlash. Several groups attacked the 'free pizza' offer to anyone ordering in Spanish at Pizza Patron in Dallas on June 5.

"I think people are sick and tired of picking up a phone and having to wait and press "line 1" if you want English and "line 2" if you want something else," said Peter Thomas of the Conservative Coalition in an interview with Ross and Burbank.

Thomas calls the campaign discriminatory and says it's just the latest in an ongoing erosion of the English language.

"You just keep turning your back a little here a little there and it just keeps going on and on and it keeps building up and pretty soon we'll find it gone," Thomas complains.

"I don't think that there's this huge problem with people not learning English in this country because you occasionally have to press 1," counters co-host Luke Burbank.

"If a company wants to make a business decision for whatever reason to have you speak Spanish or English, why shouldn't they be free to do that in a free market state?" asks co-host Dave Ross.

Thomas insists he has no problem with people speaking any language in their homes, but argues for laws mandating English.

"It just surprises me that a self described conservative would want to enforce a language requirement which you couldn't really enforce unless you expanded the government in a way I don't think even you would be comfortable with," Ross argues.

What do you think?

Josh Kerns, MyNorthwest.com Reporter
Josh Kerns is co-host of KIRO Radio's Seattle Sounds (Saturday nights 7-8) and a digital content producer for MyNorthwest.com.
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Comments (20)


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  • Dancar wrote...
    Interefering with Business
    May 23, 2012 1:11 pm
    Funny how those who say they less government regulation of business want to regulate how businesses talk to their customers.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • daveismenotyou wrote...
    Where do you see the call
    May 23, 2012 9:07 pm
    for more regulation? Complaining is not a request for more regulation dingaling
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • ron prevost wrote...
    Come on - Pizzas are ITALIAN.
    May 23, 2012 1:46 pm
    Lots of Anglos like pizza, but not that popular with Hispanics. Sounds like a good promotion for new clients. Next week, they might try Russian. .......................... This is ONLY a problem because some people hear 'Spanish' and think 'illegals'.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • mnpat wrote...
    Bussiness will do whatever to reach their customers,
    May 23, 2012 2:55 pm
    And I don't care if they speek or advertise in 10 different languages.....but our goverment should be supplying forms and speaking in one language, the American language.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • SeattleD wrote...
    First force english on the redneck hillbilly yokels
    May 23, 2012 6:42 pm
    Have you ever seen the "swamp" reality series on tv? They have to translate that garbling into english captions.

    And 90% of rednecks can't read and have to sign their names with an X. If it is against the law to not know english then you have to pretty much throw the whole southeast U.S. into prison.

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  • Forrest wrote...
    Good point Seattle D
    May 23, 2012 8:09 pm
    And the Southeast US is where most of the Evangelical conservatives come from.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • daveismenotyou wrote...
    We should nuke the whole south!
    May 23, 2012 9:08 pm
    Because clearly jerkoffs like you are so much better and smarter than the a holes down there, eh? You are not prejudiced at all, are you?
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  • Oly80 wrote...
    sure sounds...
    May 24, 2012 11:34 am
    like you are, dave.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Chuck Gould wrote...
    The founders should have puts wheels on the Constitution....
    May 24, 2012 5:45 am
    that would make it easier for one group or another to wheel it out and parade it around when it suits their purpose, and easier to put it back into the garage- well out of sight, when it does not.

    When issues like this come up, just about the best place to look for the answer is in the Constitution. Like it or not, that's the document under which we have mutually agreed to govern ourselves. Somebody's ox, on one side or the other, gets gored every time we use the Constitution. Anti-gun people want to ignore the 2nd Amendment, and a variety folks operating from perspectives of exclusion and discrimination,(sometimes claiming to be the "real Americans")always want to ignore the 1st.

    Just like "freedom of religion" doesn't really just mean that you are free to worship in the Christian church of your choice, "freedom of speech" doesn't really just mean that you are allowed to say almost anything you want as long as you say it in English.

    Speaking Spanish, Greek, French, Russian, German or Farsi is a form of speech. It's protected under the 1st Amendment of the US Constitution. Maybe that's why they didn't put wheels under the Constitution- it needs to be out in plain sight at all times, regardless of the issue in question.

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  • anotherfencewalker wrote...
    I like this quote:
    May 24, 2012 7:28 am
    "If you want english, press 2 now"..
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • rastaj wrote...
    Listen to allllll the whiners.
    May 24, 2012 11:42 am
    They whined when the lost the election....they whined when katie couric interviewed Sarah Palin and she made herself look stupid. All they do is whine, and listen to FOX....Now this. IF YOU DON'T LIKE WHAT THE BUSINESS IS DOING, DON"T EAT THERE!! This is a capitalistic society. Whiners........
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • istj04 wrote...
    The NEXT Civil Rights issue!
    May 24, 2012 12:09 pm
    Looks like people are gonna have to start SUING to have businesses communicate (and NOT DISCRIMINATE!) in the majority language of the country in which the business is located!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • artimus wrote...
    I will defend to the death
    May 24, 2012 12:37 pm
    Peter Thomas' right to not get a free pizza. What a tool.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • SeattleNative wrote...
    @ ron prevost
    May 24, 2012 12:49 pm
    Sure, I bet that pizza chain is just LOADED with Russian-speaking employees.

    Can't imagine why people would hear "Spanish" and think "illegals" in Texas. I mean, being that 70% of all births...that's more than 11,000 of the 15,000+ PER YEAR...at Parkland Hospital in Dallas are to anchor babies, why would anyone think "illegals"?

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • ron prevost wrote...
    Native - lighten up.
    May 24, 2012 1:11 pm
    I'm also sure the pizza store is much, much, much more interested in selling pizzas than debating who is legal and who is not. .. Surely you aren't going so far as to say stores can't SELL STUFF to 'illegals' ??? .. And having a promotion to order in Spanish is no more discriminatory than ordering in Serbo-Croation, .. And for all I (or you) know, there might be a LOT of Russian speakers in the Dallas area. Certainly they can't all have moved to South King County.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • okisoji wrote...
    seriously
    May 24, 2012 12:50 pm
    from the caption: "A promotion offering free pizza for anyone ordering in Spanish is causing indigestion for Enlish-first advocates" Enlish-first. 'Nuff said.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • ron prevost wrote...
    BINGO - LOL, okisoji
    May 24, 2012 1:15 pm
    Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Is MYNW now using 'illegals' as posters ???????
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