It might be hard to understand the source of people’s discomfort when people speak a language other than English in America, but it’s a very real and unfortunately frequent occurrence. Fortunately, for every person trying to intimidate non-native English speakers, there are others who are quick to support their right and come to their aid.
Such was the case in a Los Angeles grocery store where Thanasi Papoulias and wife Sophia Antonopoulos-Papoulias were in a checkout line speaking in their native Greek, though they also speak fluent English.
For whatever reason, this rubbed a fellow customer the wrong way. So she interrupted them to suggest they “speak fucking English. This is America.”
She continued to take issue with the couple who were ostensibly doing nothing other than speaking to each other in Greek.
Thanasi, befuddled by what was taking place, managed to get his phone out during the incident to record the tail end of the woman’s rant. Fortunately, the couple didn’t have to wait too long for the interaction to draw to a close, since the manager of the store was quick to kick out the profane woman and restore the peace.
Thanasi commented on his Facebook video post:
So this just happened…
Sophia and I were in line at the market, and naturally, speaking Greek. Out of nowhere this lady behind us decides to give us a modern history lesson and tells us, “Speak F*@king English, this is America.” Furthermore, she demonstrated her well-versed use of the English language by using every swear word to describe us and how we don’t belong here. Imagine if we were with our kids.
Huge props to the manager for kicking her xenophobic, racist ass out. I only caught the tail-end on video, but you’ll get the point.
Seriously. This. Just. Happened. It’s 2017. #SMH
Proving he’s got a pretty great sense of humor about what could have been a scarring interaction, Thanasi took his blog to recount the story there as well.
The title?
“Bye Felecia: Being Told To Speak F*$&ing English.”
Looks like that lady picked the wrong dude to mess with.
