Re: Language Usage (was Don in DC for Prez)

[DAsmussen@xxxxxxx]

Bruce,

In a message dated 98-11-19 12:02:48 EST, you write:

> "WRONG! WAY wrong!" strikes me as a bit strong as clearly it all
>  depends on the definition of "used".  If "used" is defined as being
>  the mother tongue of speakers, then Chinese (Mandarin specifically)
>  does win based on the 1990 Universal Almanac with 825 million speakers
>  (English is a far second with 450 million).
>  
>  If, on the other hand, we define "used" as being the official language
>  of a country then English comes in first with 87 and Mandarin way, way
>  behind with 3 (with a lot of other languages between these two).
>  
>  By careful definition of "most used" I suspect we could come up with
>  a wide variety of language "winners".

In the immortal words of Harry S. Truman, there are three types of lies.
Lies, "Damn" lies, and statistics.  So, just how many of those Mandarin
speakers can actually read and _write_ the language?

Curious,

Dean Asmussen
Enterprise Systems Consulting, Inc.
Fuquay-Varina, NC  USA
E-Mail:  DAsmussen@aol.com

"Acceptance of prevailing standards often means we have no standards of our
own." -- Jean Toomer
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