TV commercials

Does anybody besides me remember the one-sponsor TV Show--such as Chevrolet for the Dinah Shore Show, Texaco for Milton Berle, etc.? Nowadays, I count as many as 11 commercials between "We'll be right back," and the actual being back. I record most shows--like ER--so I can rush through the commercials. Anything on HBO is worth the price of HBO because I know I'm going to see an uninterrupted show. Even the Bill Moyers Journal on PBS has to tell me who sponsors the show, so I can go toast a bagel before the program actually starts. Someday I'm going to sit patiently through an actual present-time show and time exactly how much of the hour is programming and how much is commercials. Aw c'mon--I'm a capitalist, but this is really getting to be too much. One day I'll watch a commercial or ten and a tv program will actually start! Like going to a fight and a hockey game breaks out. Or is it soccer? Whatever. Can you tell I'm pissed?

llanguages

Yesterday as I was opening a frozen dinner, I saw that the instructions were in three languages--English, Spanish and French (I think). It got me to wondering, what's next? Farsi? Arabic? Chinese? There won't be room on the wrapper for all the languages which might be needed by the consumer. Bigger packaging, thus killing more trees?

My father-in-law, bless his soul, immigrated from Italy to here when he was 17. His name is on the Wall of Fame at Ellis Island--I put it there. He earned his citizenship in the US by serving in WWI. Never was anything but English spoken in his house. His kids were going to be Americans. It's a shame that he didn't speak Italian at home and English everywhere else, because my husband did not learn Italian--except for a colorful variety of swear words!

I can't for the life of me learn what makes it so impossible for immigrants to learn at least broken English. Spanish is supposed to be very easy to learn. Why is it so difficult to go from Spanish to English?