And if I knew it, I would take issue with that, agreed. But just hearing the language spoken between people and it not being directed to you shouldnt be offensive. I supose we need to clarify.
1. I am walking through a park, say Point Lookout. Some folks are at a nearby picnic table, speaking in a language that sounds Spanish. They are not looking at me or my daughter, should I be offended? Nope. Now, they are staring at us, and pointing, and laughing, maybe they are making getures towards the upper chests. Thats rude and most likely offensive, in any language.
2. I'm in Popeyes and while I am speaking the nice lady at the counter who understands me clearly and is herself perfectly understandable, I notice the guy up front speaking Spanish to the guys in the back, apparently not looking at me or referring to me. Offended? Of course not. Now, did the nice young lady turn to the other guy up front and say somethin in Spanish, at which point he looked at me and laughed, or smirked, that would be different.
3. Both of the above assume I do not know the language under discussion. Knowing the language, thats a big change. Then you are not relying on body language and facial expressions. Thats a complelty different scenairo.
Back when I was in high school, a buddy and I both worked a Holiday Inn. I was a busboy in the restaraunt, he was a bellhop. In the fall, the busloads of senior citizen leaf peepers would appear. He would have to unload the whole greyhounds worth of luggage while waiting for them to disembark. He stood there smiling and waving at the nice old ladies. they were in the bus and couldn't hear him of course. What he was saying was not nice, but they never knew that. All they knew was the nice young man was soooooo friendly waving and saying hello. They never took offense.
The point is that things are only an offense if you know someone is acting offensively.
. cognitive for the Win....