Swingman writes:

around here (tucson) cinco de mayo is a big deal. really....

Probably bigger here in Texas ... BUT, it is a Mexican holiday, not an
American one, and still only a "marketing gimmick" in the latter ... at
least until we start celebrating Bastille day too, out of political
correctness.

Well, we've got a start...I'm trying to recall what came in the mail the other
day, some kind of small tool or something similar. The box is triple
linguistic. English, Spanish, French. WV is not exactly suffering from a major
influx of people who speak the latter 2 languages, and I checked and discovered
that most entry points to the nearest French speaking area are on the order of
700 miles away, give or take. There are plenty of Hispanics here. One
restaurant owner just got locked up for illegal transportation of his
co-linguists, plus money laundering. Doesn't seem to have hurt his restaurant
business a bit.

Charlie Self
"In our civilization, and under our republican form of government, intelligence
is so highly honored that it is rewarded by exemption from the cares of
office." Ambrose Bierce