It’s a good week for…

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Bigots. Everyone is using gays as a convenient scapegoat. Ann Coulter is on the rampage (she’s a bigot against liberals. How fun would it be to lock her and Michael Moore in a room – he’d eat her).

And this morning I read a great story about how Philly Cheesesteak institution Geno’s Steaks has a sign in there window stating “This is America – When ordering Speak English”. Being a life-long Philadelphian, I can see the irony in some idiot from South Philly with a 9th grade education, telling people how to speak english. Oh I can hear it now: “Yous guys needs to speak good english. Hey Geno, gimme a boddle of woorder widdat cheesesteak wid wiz to go.”

Note to any traveler coming to Philly: no self respecting Philadelphian gets their cheesesteaks from Geno’s. Geno’s Cheesesteaks suck. As do Pat’s and Jim’s. If you want a good cheesesteak, try Tony Luc’s or just go to the Italian Market and try one there. Don’t give a bigot your business.

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  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/391619 Scarlet

    I have to disagree on the cheesestaks! Whiz with! BUT, I’m also from where we actually put vegetables (lettuce, tomato) on ours so they’re all good to me;)

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/9081238 Spencer

    Cheesesteak hoagies. You go to a good steak shop here in Philly, you can always order a cheesesteak hoagie (lettuce, tomato, onions, mayo). That’s good stuff.

    AS for the whole whiz thing – that’s a south Philly thing. No one I know (and I’ve lived here for all of mt 37 years) puts cheese whiz on the their steaks. Matter of fact, you might not be able to get it outside of south philly. No it’s either provolone or american – nothing else.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/391619 Scarlet

    Yeah, I’m not a cheesesteak snob (just NO green peppers or mushrooms, YUCK!) but my (south) Philly friend did make fun of me when I asked about lettuce and tomatoe. And Whiz is good but it’s not how I would always want them.

    Man, Now i’m hungry.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/12226909 radiocynic

    (Sorry, unintelligible typo in previous deleted post…)

    Moore and Coulter locked in a room — they’d probably have a very entertaining discourse, if a moderator would intermittently duct-tape their mouths. I like Michael Moore, but faced with the inspiration of each other, neither one would EVER be capable of shutting up.

    Agreed, Spencer, provolone or American. I’ve tasted Cheez Whiz somewhere along the line, but never on a cheesesteak. And it’s comin’ up on 46 years in Philly for me!

    One admission, though, (and it wasn’t just because of the politics…) When the campaigning John Kerry was lambasted in the press, having mistakenly order a cheesesteak with Swiss cheese (a horrific faux pas in South Philly) I may be the only one that was thinking “sounds pretty good; I’ll have to try that…” For me, any steak, with any cheese, can’t really be a bad thing.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/11887977 Cyn

    Ah, come on — the sign didn’t say you had to speak PROPER English.

    It’s hamhanded, but I can kinda understand where it’s coming from — like this dude’s parents or grandparents came from Italy and they had to learn to speak English and assimilate…so why can’t everyone else?

    It’s been repeated over and over in the course of this country’s history that earlier immigrants pick on more recent immigrants (like Irish – who came over in the late 1800s discriminated against Italians who came over in the early 1900s.) The oppressed become the oppressors. My grandfather’s family changed their Italian surname to a German one shortly after arriving in Philadelphia to escape discrimination…and my Italian aunt married a guy from an Irish family and never told him she was Italian because his family hated Italians!

    But I digress…

    Anyway, the owner was on TV this morning saying business has never been better, so he has no intention of taking the sign down.

    And hey — Pat’s is somethin’ unto itself! I haven’t been for many years, but I remember loving “cheese without” — super-drippy whiz & the great hot sauce you added yourself. What a mess to eat, but it tasted so good…a unique experience.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/9081238 Spencer

    But in years past our country’s policy was to welcome immigrants with open arms – give us your weak and hungry and all that. Now we put up barriers both literally and figuratively to isolate ourselves. So when an immigrant does come to this country I’m sure they feel anything but welcome.

    This guy has every right to serve whomsoever he wants to, and his heart is in the right place, being patriotic, but we need to remember the whole idea of a melting pot isn’t assimilation, but integration.

  • Grace

    Spencer, I think you might be rewriting history a bit. If you look through the writing and rewriting of American laws concerning immigration, you might be unpleasantly surprised. And don’t forget that many early non-European immigrants weren’t exactly welcomed with open arms. The only reason the early Chinese immigrants ended up here is because white Euro-Americans needed laborers to build our railroads. Most African Americans can thank slavery. And how about just a mere 60 years ago when we rounded up all the Japanese Americans and put them in internment camps during WWII? Perhaps the “official” policy was to welcome everyone, but what was happening in reality was somewhat different. And that dates waaay back. Humans are comfortable in state of fear, and we fear what we do not know. I don’t expect that a resolution of the current immigration debate will alleviate the immigration debate for future cultures. Just choose a team and throw frightened looks at the other team! It seems to be the only way most sheep–I mean, people–know how to behave.

  • Grace

    OH! And the best cheesesteak I ever had was in Pittsburgh. Sorry, Philly. But grease soaked buns and fake steak chop is kinda gross.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/9081238 Spencer

    Grace – I agree with you. I wasn’t ignoring history, but if you re-read my post, I specifically worded my thought to indicate the official policy was to welcome everyone. Reality was indeed different. Blacks, Jews, Italians, Irish, Chinese, Russians, Mexicans, Germans just to name a few have all experienced bigotry when their groups came to this country in droves. I think my point is that it seems that now the official policy of the government and the will of the people have coalesced and now the goal is to make it as hard as possible. And it’s understandable. For all of our problems, this is by default the best country in the world. The advantages and freedom we have attract people from all over so therefore limits are necessary.

    But I think the point I’m actually stealing from Randy is that if you make it overly hard for someone to come to this country, when they arrive they don’t feel any great desire to become a part of the great melting pot. The country didn’t want them anyway.

    Oh – and only some one from Pittsburgh would think that the best cheesesteak is made there. ;)Remember, my only Pittsburgh food experience was the famous Permani Bros. sandwich; what a crock!

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/9081238 Spencer

    Sorry Randy, I gave you credit for an idea I read in the paper.

    Take it anyway, you make a lot of excellent points that I never credit you for.

  • Grace

    Good points, good points. Good discussion overall. (Except the Pittsburgh thing… Yinz don’t know good samwiches!)

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/12226909 radiocynic

    Hey, thanks Spencer. If I’m going to be mis-credited with something, it’s always nice to have it be something I agree with like that!

    I’ve moved my official long-winded rant on this subject up to your “My Fellow Americans” topic.

  • ME

    Pittburgh hoagies are way better than Philly hoagies, you need to go to the pizza shop in East Liberty

  • Spencer

    Can you friggin Pittsburgh people give us a break? You’ve won 5 superbowls to our none. Have won I don’t know how many Stanley Cups.

    Philadelphia is a significantly better food town than Pittsburgh – I know you guys want to compete there, but there isn’t a comparison. Sorry.