South Carolina Offended*
Lawmakers in South Carolina want to ban foreign languages at the workplace — a rule that would leave some foreigners speechless, from farm workers in work cloths to Boeing engineers from China or Russia.
Two Palmetto State Tea Party state representatives introduced a bill on Thursday that would bar American citizens as well as foreigners from speaking foreign languages on the job during working hours.
One of the lawmakers, Missy True, cited a summary of the proposal as saying that many foreigners do not know English and “speak amongst themselves in their own language at the workplace during work hours, which makes the American population indignant.”
The concern about damaging relations with Boeing suggests the proposal is unlikely to pass in its present form. Governor American, said “I understand Ms. Missy’s concerns and would never speak Punjabi in the office. However, this bill would cast a chill on South Carolina’s investment climate. Though the bill means well and reflect popular opinion, it needs to be repackaged in more acceptable terms before I would sign it into law.”
* a parody based on a legislative proposal in the Russian parliament.