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Jul. 26th, 2006 01:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
violachicSo speaking of Right-Winged Nutjobs.....
There's an urban legend that's been going around for years whose punch line (really, that's the most appropriate term here) goes something like "If English was good enough for Jesus, its good enough for my kid!" It always ends a story about some small town who wants to institute either bilingual education, or foreign language requirements of some kind, over protests of some of the parents of the schoolchildren. I first heard it in college, and the teller of the story seemed to recount it as if it were from her home town. Of course, we guffawed, and mocked such ignorance over our college-cafeteria chicken-fried-steak that no one could eat without gagging.
In the following years, the story would come back to me, and be retold by multiple people. Each time, some details were different- the location (everywhere from Alabama to California, Texas, Arizona, etc), the language issue, etc- but the "punch line" was always the same. I came, then to suspect that perhaps this story was, truly, an genuine Urban Legend.
However, from time to time I get curious about it, and have tried sort of half-heartedly on occasion to try to track it down. Snopes never seems to turn back results, unless my search efforts have been missing some key word or phrase.
So today- you know, since I have all this extra time on my hands- I started googling it. This site attributes the quote to former Texas Governor Ferguson, and report that the quote was "If English was good enough for Jesus Christ, then it is good enough for Texas children", upon instituting teaching Spanish in Texas public schools.
Ah,but this site did not satisfy me! Who was this Governor Ferguson, in what exact context was it said, and what year? So I googled "Texas Governor Ferguson", and got this. Not helpful. But then I also spied this. Very interesting, very interesting. Miriam Amanda Wallace Ferguson, the first woman governor of Texas, who ran for governor after her husband was impeached in his second term. (God help us if that would be the case if we actually do get to impeach Bush!) Well, it had to be one of them, there were no other Fergusons listed.
But still not finding an answer enough to satisfy all my curiosity, I kept hunting. And when Snopes and Google let you down, where do you turn next?
Wikipedia, of course! And what did I find on Wikipedia? Well, when I searched the words "if english was good enough for jesus", I got directly led to another page about Miriam Ferguson. And hidden in the tiny bottomest right hand corner of the page was a link to "quotes by..."
And, sure enough, this is what I found: If the King's English was good enough for Jesus Christ, it's good enough for the children of Texas!. And a link to an example gave us this article on a site from the UCLA Center for International Relations.
Well, okay. There are still some vagarities in the details. But as for me, I feel as if my search for an Urban Legend has come to a satisfying end.
aren't well all glad that I don't have to work, and can go on extended Internet Wild Goose Chases on a daily basis? Just be glad I don't post stories about ALL of them....
There's an urban legend that's been going around for years whose punch line (really, that's the most appropriate term here) goes something like "If English was good enough for Jesus, its good enough for my kid!" It always ends a story about some small town who wants to institute either bilingual education, or foreign language requirements of some kind, over protests of some of the parents of the schoolchildren. I first heard it in college, and the teller of the story seemed to recount it as if it were from her home town. Of course, we guffawed, and mocked such ignorance over our college-cafeteria chicken-fried-steak that no one could eat without gagging.
In the following years, the story would come back to me, and be retold by multiple people. Each time, some details were different- the location (everywhere from Alabama to California, Texas, Arizona, etc), the language issue, etc- but the "punch line" was always the same. I came, then to suspect that perhaps this story was, truly, an genuine Urban Legend.
However, from time to time I get curious about it, and have tried sort of half-heartedly on occasion to try to track it down. Snopes never seems to turn back results, unless my search efforts have been missing some key word or phrase.
So today- you know, since I have all this extra time on my hands- I started googling it. This site attributes the quote to former Texas Governor Ferguson, and report that the quote was "If English was good enough for Jesus Christ, then it is good enough for Texas children", upon instituting teaching Spanish in Texas public schools.
Ah,but this site did not satisfy me! Who was this Governor Ferguson, in what exact context was it said, and what year? So I googled "Texas Governor Ferguson", and got this. Not helpful. But then I also spied this. Very interesting, very interesting. Miriam Amanda Wallace Ferguson, the first woman governor of Texas, who ran for governor after her husband was impeached in his second term. (God help us if that would be the case if we actually do get to impeach Bush!) Well, it had to be one of them, there were no other Fergusons listed.
But still not finding an answer enough to satisfy all my curiosity, I kept hunting. And when Snopes and Google let you down, where do you turn next?
Wikipedia, of course! And what did I find on Wikipedia? Well, when I searched the words "if english was good enough for jesus", I got directly led to another page about Miriam Ferguson. And hidden in the tiny bottomest right hand corner of the page was a link to "quotes by..."
And, sure enough, this is what I found: If the King's English was good enough for Jesus Christ, it's good enough for the children of Texas!. And a link to an example gave us this article on a site from the UCLA Center for International Relations.
Well, okay. There are still some vagarities in the details. But as for me, I feel as if my search for an Urban Legend has come to a satisfying end.
aren't well all glad that I don't have to work, and can go on extended Internet Wild Goose Chases on a daily basis? Just be glad I don't post stories about ALL of them....
