I can't even?

Stumbled across this little text discussing the development of "internet English" as a dialect. Viewing it as a rapidly emerging dialect or own language.

Podcast: History of the English Language

This podcast is a history one rather than a linguistics one, but he does go into a lot of etymology. It is made by an amateur and sometimes that is very noticeable, but IMO he does make a fair effort and I have found every single episode interesting so far. (Although one or two I was mostly incensed because he said stuff like "arctic animals like penguins" which is point-and-laugh material.) Overall though, I like it and can recommend it, and one of the things that really please me is how he brings up the different views held by various sources. Of course I keep going off on mental sidetracks connecting things he say to other Germanic languages while listening, but that just means more fun, eh?

Available on the homepage linked below, i-tunes, and probably a few more places.

http://historyofenglishpodcast.com/

A Horror For Any Linguistic Purist to Behold, in Any Language, Anywhere

TEXT SPELLZ

The Status of English in the USA

English has never had official status in the US. I was interested, therefore, in finding out which states, if any, had made English their official language. To my surprise, there were roughly half of the states with English having the designation of "official language." Even more surprisingly, such states as California and Florida, both with relatively large, Spanish-speaking Hispanic communities, have declared English as their official language.

Now, I know that the increasing prevalence of Spanish (and for that matter, other languages too) is upsetting various groups of people, most notably the hard-line Conservatives. And since there _is_ no federal official language, a lot of these same people are making it their business to have English claim that status.

How do I feel about it? I'm ambivalent. Really rather straddling the fence on this one--I just can't decide. Anyone who reads this: I would love to read your responses and get your takes on the situation. Should English be a federal official language?


Here's a link for a website advocating English as our federal official language:

US English | Making English the Official Language


I would like to hear opinions from everybody, regardless of which country they come from, or are living in now.