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Tuesday, September 21, 2010

No No


No No

Geography lesson:  Texas and Mexico share a border of something like 1,200 miles.

Movement lesson:  More people immigrate from Mexico to Texas than from Texas to Mexico.  (Legally or not.)

Linguistics lesson:  We don’t speak the same language!

What happens when two very different cultures start mixing together?  It’s not actually all that bad.  We can go down the street and pick up some amazing (and as far as we know, authentic) Mexican food.  We have Taco Trucks, which are basically like ice cream trucks, except they sell burritos.  Depending on how you look at it, those migrants add to our work force, too! 

This can be good for businesses, as well.  A diverse population is also a diverse market.  (I’m making my way to my point, here.)  And dealing with a multi-lingual market demands some special accommodations.  We have English and Spanish radio stations and billboards.  We have aisles at most grocery stores with many Mexican products and ingredients.  Unfortunately, cultural progression is not immune to ignorance.

I was paying for my groceries at CVS the other day and at some point after I swiped my debit card, I got the usual “Is this the amount you would like to put on your card?” prompt.  Here are your possible selections:



Do you really think that someone who speaks Spanish but not English couldn’t translate “No” without any help?  THEY’RE EVEN SPELLED AND PRONOUNCED EXACTLY THE SAME!  I don’t think it’s assuming too much to omit the second “No” on their credit/debit prompts.  No one is going to be left scratcing their heads without it.

For the record, I’m not really offended on any level.  I just think it’s funny how sometimes accommodation defies common sense.

14 comments:

Unknown said...

lol. you know what they say, common sense is very uncommon.

Cole Garrett said...

Yep, and no doubt, we see it every day!

Anonymous said...

At least someone who really didn't know better will realize that No is No in both languages and maybe learn something new that day!

Leigh said...

LOL Valid argument.

THUNDERCAT said...

Food from trucks of any cultural background give me the bubble guts :)...

Cole Garrett said...

@ Thundercat

Even from ice cream trucks?

Boxxy said...

What kind of music does the burrito truck play when it drives around?

Cole Garrett said...

I'm not exactly sure. But I'll be it sounds like music from a Taco Truck horror movie once it passes and is moving away from you.

Ups Downs All Arounds said...

That is rather funny! I see things like that everywhere and wonder "why". Next time I see something like that, I will definitely submit it! HAHA!

Plum said...

They should've put the second "No" in German or something just to be confusing.

Holly said...

I love that you said accommodation defies common sense. I feel this way about having braille on drive-up ATM's. Sure, people may WALK up but....sometimes it's just OBVIOUS that it is a DRIVE UP ATM, you know? What blind person is going to WALK up to the ATM at the bank across from our mall that would require them to cross 2 HUGE parking lots and a busy intersection...really? It seems more of an issue of safety than anything...Meh. This post sort of reminded me of Seinfeld. Very entertaining. :)

Kate Weber said...

That's hilarious. Like Holly, I just don't understand the braille on drive up ATMs. Doesn't make sense.

Cole Garrett said...

I've thought that about braille Drive-Up ATMs before. I really wonder if it has EVER ONCE been used that way.

Sarah said...

Ohhh we used to have a guy in my tiny Texas town who sold tamales from the back of a truck. I've never had such good tamales in my whole life. We never had a problem with the no/no translation - thank goodness. Those language barriers can really be tricky.

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