Melania Trump Plagiarized Her Convention Speech From Michelle Obama

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Nov 30, 2006
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Got video links to those? There is a difference between a still photo of someone waving and the video showing Ingraham actually holding the salute for a moment directly toward Trump.
You got to be fn kidding me. And all this time I thought nobody could really be that fucking stupid. Unbelievable!
 

fskimospy

Elite Member
Mar 10, 2006
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You got to be fn kidding me. And all this time I thought nobody could really be that fucking stupid. Unbelievable!

Seems like what he said was pretty accurate. Why do you think he is stupid? If you have any video of Clinton doing something similar to what Ingraham did I'd be very interested to see it too! Maybe we're both dumb that way.

You see it's things like this that always get conservatives in trouble. Just laugh it off and say 'yeah, she did give a fascist salute of sorts there, that was stupid'. Don't try and cook up other stupid crap like this. There's nothing good that will come out of it.
 

agent00f

Lifer
Jun 9, 2016
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What on earth are you even talking about?
My wife speaks 4 languages. (And yes, perfectly fluently as she's lived for much of her life in countries where each of the languages is spoken. (English is actually her *least* fluent language, yet she could probably ace you or me at an English exam.)

My kids already speak 2.

Many people I know of speak multiple languages. Outside of the US, it's not only possible (DUH) but fairly common.

My wife and I were concerned once with our first child not picking up english fast enough, as he was much more fluent in my wife's native tongue- we wondered were we handicapping him in some way living in the US, so we asked our pediatrician. (By the way, the pediatrician is fluent in multiple languages). She told us no worries at all, kids can easily pick up up to 6 languages at once from the earliest ages, their brains are just wired for it. Learning multiple languages- not only not harmful, but good for a kids brain.

Only an American who's never met many foreigners could possibly think knowing several languages is any big deal.

Seems different people just have different personal standards for fluency. I know quite a few foreigners and a limited number can speak multiple languages natively at any sort of adult level.

Also, fluency in similar languages is substantially easier. Fluent speakers in both asian and western languages are for example pretty rare.

On a side note, kids aren't particularly better wired for language acquisition, they just don't feel shame for making mistakes.
 

agent00f

Lifer
Jun 9, 2016
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Isnt this effectively common practice?

White House: Obama didn't plagiarize speeches - he was 'inspired'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J60qDBRI6Ps

Everyone’s criticizing Melania Trump for her speech at the RNC, but LOOK what Obama did….THREE TIMES!
http://ilovemyfreedom.org/everyones-criticizing-melania-speech-look-obama-twice/

Michelle Obama Plagiarized Her 2008 Democrat Convention Speech From the Denzel Washington movie John Q (2002): "When you say you're going to do something, you do it. Because your word is your bond, son. It's all you have." So Michelle stole it from a movie script. (Fast forward to 2:10)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=iIZl3ETOLz8

Depends on what's meant by "this". For example it's not terribly uncommon to quote a popular work. It's somewhat less common to share ideas with friends but not terribly so, and fairly uncommon to copy entire paragraphs from predecessors.
 

Zaap

Diamond Member
Jun 12, 2008
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Seems different people just have different personal standards for fluency.
Different people's "standards" sounds like a bunch of horseshit.

Living in a country where they all speak French for years, and yourself speaking perfectly fluent French, able to easily converse with anyone in the native tongue, is fluent.

Living in a country where they all speak Swedish for years, and yourself speaking perfectly fluent Swedish, able to easily converse with anyone in the native tongue, is fluent.

Living in a country where they all speak Spanish for years, and yourself speaking perfectly fluent Spanish, able to easily converse with anyone in the native tongue, is fluent.

Living in a country where they all speak English for years, and yourself speaking perfectly fluent English, able to easily converse with anyone in the native tongue, is fluent.


Some dumb 'standard' whereby maybe they couldn't pass a top university level exam in each of the native languages (that even many of the natives probably couldn't either) is a horseshit standard of 'fluency'.

And like I said, I'd easily put my wife up against MOST Americans at a college-level English exam. She'd probably best most native speakers, and it's her LEAST fluent of 4 languages.
 

Perknose

Forum Director & Omnipotent Overlord
Forum Director
Oct 9, 1999
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What on earth are you even talking about?
My wife speaks 4 languages. (And yes, perfectly fluently as she's lived for much of her life in countries where each of the languages is spoken. (English is actually her *least* fluent language, yet she could probably ace you or me at an English exam.)

My kids already speak 2.

Many people I know of speak multiple languages. Outside of the US, it's not only possible (DUH) but fairly common.

My wife and I were concerned once with our first child not picking up english fast enough, as he was much more fluent in my wife's native tongue- we wondered were we handicapping him in some way living in the US, so we asked our pediatrician. (By the way, the pediatrician is fluent in multiple languages).

Being fluent is like being pregnant. You either are or you're not. It's a common misconception of people who don't fully understand either term that there are degrees of either. There are not. Slacker misunderstanding of the English language ftl. :colbert:

She told us no worries at all, kids can easily pick up up to 6 languages at once from the earliest ages, their brains are just wired for it. Learning multiple languages- not only not harmful, but good for a kids brain.

Well agreed all around.:thumbsup: But "pick up" is the key term here.

As I said, you can have a working knowledge, to various degrees, of multiple languages. True fluency in more than two languages simultaneously is another matter. "Close enough" doesn't count! Able to dazzle for the first four minutes does not equal fluency.

Only an American who's never met many foreigners could possibly think knowing several languages is any big deal.

Again with the clear confusion of the term "knowing" or "pick up" with fluency! :colbert:

I "know" five languages myself (plus a little Italian and some dialects of German and French and Greek), but I am presently only fluent in ONE.

Actually, I was only ever fluent in one, even though Germans often mistook me for a German, French praised my French (no small feat there), and mainland Greeks were astounded and took me around to their friends for my "fluency" in the Cretan Greek dialect.

I spent years living abroad in different countries. I have never thought, nor have I ever stated, the knowing several languages is any big deal. Fluency is another matter entirely. Got that?

Btw, good on you with your kids. Citizens of the world 'n all. :thumbsup:
 

Blackjack200

Lifer
May 28, 2007
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Or you could try minding your own business. It made perfect sense in the context of the conversation I was having with openwheel. Your and Perknose's inability to properly parse my statement is not my concern.

Not sure if I should respond now or wait for your third edit.
 

Zaap

Diamond Member
Jun 12, 2008
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I spent years living abroad in different countries. I have never thought, nor have I ever stated, the knowing several languages is any big deal. Fluency is another matter entirely. Got that?

Well of course I get that, but just because you aren't fluent doesnt mean others aren't. (And PLENTY of other people.)

I have one friend I once joked with about this- his native language is Farsi. He grew up in a Soviet sat. state, so learning Russian was mandatory. (This is ANYTHING but uncommon.) When the walls came down, he moved to Sweden- he learned to speak fluent Swedish there, his Swedish wife can attest to it.

I joked with him once, AHAH! That's only 3 motherfucker! Gotcha!

He just looked at me and said, "Yeah, you got me."

In perfectly fluent English, of course. Otherwise I could not have been conversing with him.

Btw, good on you with your kids. Citizens of the world 'n all. :thumbsup:
My 2 boys just got back from two months in Europe! Now it's a chore getting them to speak English again!
 
Nov 30, 2006
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Seems like what he said was pretty accurate. Why do you think he is stupid? If you have any video of Clinton doing something similar to what Ingraham did I'd be very interested to see it too! Maybe we're both dumb that way.

You see it's things like this that always get conservatives in trouble. Just laugh it off and say 'yeah, she did give a fascist salute of sorts there, that was stupid'. Don't try and cook up other stupid crap like this. There's nothing good that will come out of it.
And I'm sure she clicked her heels as well. This is a new low for you...which is saying something.
 

Perknose

Forum Director & Omnipotent Overlord
Forum Director
Oct 9, 1999
46,865
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Your and Perknose's inability to properly parse my statement is not my concern.

Wow. You made a simple mistake, but now think we're mistaken?

Here's what you wrote, ""There's plenty of Americans that can fluently speak Spanish and every other widely spoken language on the globe..."

There is only ONE way to "properly parse" that statement in, you know, the English language. ONE. Only ONE.

Do you really not understand that you made a simple grammatical mistake that anyone who didn't sleep through 5th grade English grammar could spot?

If so, you're like Trump, never able to admit your own mistakes, no matter how small, even when they're right out there for eveyone to see.

But, hey, little buddy, there's hope for you yet, as this English grammar site illuminates:

Don’t be afraid of boring a child with too many easy exercises. Easy exercises build confidence. When the learner can analyze and parse two-word sentences, you can proceed to sentences with adjectives.

:biggrin:
 

DrPizza

Administrator Elite Member Goat Whisperer
Mar 5, 2001
49,601
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www.slatebrookfarm.com
By the definition of fluency - the ability to express oneself easily and accurately (or articulately), I disagree with Perknose about it taking most of one's life to become fluent in their native language. That's a ridiculous proposition, unless one wishes to say that the majority of people in American are not fluent in English. You don't have to be considered a wordsmith to be considered fluent. Most sources indicate that the average American is fluent in English by the age of 12 or so. I have no problem believing that someone is fluent in 3, 4, or more languages, if they were brought up with those languages being spoken around them. If someone were to claim that at the age of 40, despite knowing only one language, they decided to buy hooked-on-phonics tapes or whatever the hell those language tapes are, and became fluent in multiple languages, I'd have doubts.
 
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fskimospy

Elite Member
Mar 10, 2006
87,934
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And I'm sure she clicked her heels as well. This is a new low for you...which is saying something.

I can understand how people asking you to actually back up the things you say makes you angry, because it's pretty clear that you can't. Now you're resorting to the old DSF playbook where if you're backed into a corner you start attacking the integrity of the people who pointed out you said something stupid.

I wish I could say this is a new low for you, but it's the same old low! Can you at least try to be a little less predictable when acting like a childish idiot?
 

runzwithsizorz

Diamond Member
Jan 24, 2002
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Seems like what he said was pretty accurate. Why do you think he is stupid? If you have any video of Clinton doing something similar to what Ingraham did I'd be very interested to see it too! Maybe we're both dumb that way.

You see it's things like this that always get conservatives in trouble. Just laugh it off and say 'yeah, she did give a fascist salute of sorts there, that was stupid'. Don't try and cook up other stupid crap like this. There's nothing good that will come out of it.

So now 3 people in this thread are doubling down on stupid. :colbert:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACclN3UDrdo
 

DrPizza

Administrator Elite Member Goat Whisperer
Mar 5, 2001
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Look up the definition of trilingual: ability to speak 3 languages fluently.
Look up the percentage of the world's population that is trilingual: 13%.

Or maybe the people who determined that 13% of people are trilingual aren't fluent enough in English to understand what trilingual means. :p

http://ilanguages.org/bilingual.php

But given that Trump has exaggerated Melania's other achievements, I have my doubts that she's truly fluent in five languages.
 
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agent00f

Lifer
Jun 9, 2016
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Being fluent is like being pregnant. You either are or you're not. It's a common misconception of people who don't fully understand either term that there are degrees of either. There are not. Slacker misunderstanding of the English language ftl. :colbert:

Personally I find that arguing over semantics isn't particular productive, especially over distinguishing levels of ability. For example, Trump considers himself smart/educated, and in all fairness he very well might be compared to many of his fans, but this is clearly a relative comparison.


Different people's "standards" sounds like a bunch of horseshit.

Some dumb 'standard' whereby maybe they couldn't pass a top university level exam in each of the native languages (that even many of the natives probably couldn't either) is a horseshit standard of 'fluency'.

And like I said, I'd easily put my wife up against MOST Americans at a college-level English exam. She'd probably best most native speakers, and it's her LEAST fluent of 4 languages.

Similar, this person sees things much like Trump. It might very well be that the wife speaks various languages better than the standard he's used to. This line makes it pretty evident the standards we're going by here:

In perfectly fluent English, of course. Otherwise I could not have been conversing with him.

It's particularly telling this was made after Perknose explained his take on language abilities.
 

Joepublic2

Golden Member
Jan 22, 2005
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Wow. You made a simple mistake, but now think we're mistaken?

Here's what you wrote, ""There's plenty of Americans that can fluently speak Spanish and every other widely spoken language on the globe..."

There is only ONE way to "properly parse" that statement in, you know, the English language. ONE. Only ONE.

Do you really not understand that you made a simple grammatical mistake that anyone who didn't sleep through 5th grade English grammar could spot?

If so, you're like Trump, never able to admit your own mistakes, no matter how small, even when they're right out there for eveyone to see.

But, hey, little buddy, there's hope for you yet, as this English grammar site illuminates:



:biggrin:

You're right; it looks like I phrased that incorrectly.
 
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runzwithsizorz

Diamond Member
Jan 24, 2002
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I hadn't seen that video until just now. Holy shit. And, there's no freaking way Hillary ever did anything like that, else we'd never had heard the end of it from the Republican Party. Hell, there would be hearings over it.
So now 4 people in this thread are doubling down on stupid. The Republican party did not accuse Hillary of such a thing, because it did not happen.
NOR DID IT HAPPEN WITH LAURA INGRAHAM!!! See the difference here?
And as long as you folks are being stupid, why not accuse Trump of being a closet homo? ---- Oh wait :whiste:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iz00pV_Lcgw
 

fskimospy

Elite Member
Mar 10, 2006
87,934
55,285
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So now 4 people in this thread are doubling down on stupid. The Republican party did not accuse Hillary of such a thing, because it did not happen.
NOR DID IT HAPPEN WITH LAURA INGRAHAM!!! See the difference here?
And as long as you folks are being stupid, why not accuse Trump of being a closet homo? ---- Oh wait :whiste:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iz00pV_Lcgw

Uhmm, the video you linked pretty obviously shows her doing exactly that.

I don't think she meant to give a fascist salute, but saying she didn't do it is basically saying 'who do you believe, me, or your lying eyes?'
 

Pens1566

Lifer
Oct 11, 2005
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Uhmm, the video you linked pretty obviously shows her doing exactly that.

I don't think she meant to give a fascist salute, but saying she didn't do it is basically saying 'who do you believe, me, or your lying eyes?'

Yes. In fact she does it, then realizes that she did it and changed it abruptly.
 
Nov 30, 2006
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Uhmm, the video you linked pretty obviously shows her doing exactly that.

I don't think she meant to give a fascist salute, but saying she didn't do it is basically saying 'who do you believe, me, or your lying eyes?'
My God you're right...she did it a CPAC too!!! I'm now convinced that she really is all about nazi salutes!!! Thanks for opening my lying eyes!!!

14:08
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iIchSdslGo