Sarkozy's wife is hot, and their food is delicious. Napoleon was awesome too. DeGaule didn't take any gak, and they have Descartes. Without cognac there would be fewer rap videos too.
dogma wrote:Sarkozy's wife is okay, and their food ranges from 'meh' to nasty. Napoleon was the only awesome personality since Charlamagne. DeGaule took all the credit for liberating Paris, and they have Descartes who wishes he was as awesome as Issac Newton. Because of cognac we have all these damn rap videos too.
Truly, it was a superior nation.
Fixed that for you
This humorous hateful message brought to you by Hat Land. Independent from Hat Kingdom since 1034!
Actually no Napolean was from an Island nation that was captured by the french. But he was born when they conquered it.
And we make fun of it because they failed during world war 1 & 2.
Though the italians failed more in my opinion. Retreating during the african war in world war 2 because they used all of their water to make pasta HA!
And then having tanks that travel 10 miles per a day when advancing, then when retreating traveling 50 miles......
(That is all 100% historical fact by the way except the Napoleon stuff that is mostly false.)
Ahtman wrote:Australian wine is fine for those who know little about wine.
French wine is for people who know even less than that, but think they are experts
However, to return slightly to topic - France is OK. Been there a few times and the people there were pretty much the same as the people anywhere else.
Asherian Command wrote:And we make fun of it because they failed during world war 1 .
Err, what?
remilia_scarlet wrote:
And, now this is nsfw
Spoiler:
70% of french women are bisexual
I'm sure 80% of the French male population would be pleased with that, but I think more reasonably that you're talking about another country called France...(or possibly a lesbian club with the same name )
I drink beer more often, but they have excellent wine and vodka.
I also always liked the quote from Quicksilver.
Elsewhere, the same amount of labor might've made a keg of butter or a week's worth of firewood; here it was spent on raising a block several inches, so that it could be carted into the city and raised by other workers, higher and higher, so that Parisians could have rooms higher than they were wide, and windows taller than the trees they looked out at. Paris was a city of stone, the color of bone, beautiful and hard — you could dash yourself against it and never leave a mark. It was built, so far as Jack could tell, on the principle that there was nothing you couldn't accomplish if you crowded a few tens of millions of peasants together on the best land in the world and then never stopped raping their brains out for a thousand years.
The French are cool, but I do always permit myself a chuckle at pretentious Americans who are in love with France.
Besides, Spain is better. Better food, better-looking women, better art, better weather, better beer, friendlier people.. the list goes on. Plus, they have a nap in the middle of the day!
My impression of france was that the people were not all that friendly when I went there, and also that they make little effort with foreigners. I used to work in a port town in Ireland, and we'd get a lot of continentals coming through with very poor english. But the over-riding response was to be patient, friendly and helpful. When I was in France, my attempts to communicate in French were met with open scorn, rude tutting and tsking, or refusal to acknowledge that I had spoken. I also got chased by a gang of youths with machetes for being "english" (I am not joking).
This tallies with the experiences of my friends who visited Paris and found it to be one of the rudest cities they'd ever visited.
Though, an addendum- that attitude seemed to come mostly from younger french people. All the old people I met were lovely. And I have made friends with a good few french people who I have met travelling around. So it's possible that my visit unluckily hit upon a population of rude hicks that are not representative of the nation. But I have to say my experiences have given me a negative veiw and I wouldn't want to live in France as an English speaker.
Edit to add: Oh, and I dislike their stances on a lot of Euro Zone issues. Sarkozy pisses me off no end.
Da Boss wrote:When I was in France, my attempts to communicate in French were met with open scorn, rude tutting and tsking, or refusal to acknowledge that I had spoken.
The trick, as with most language games, is to be better at it than most people. There is nothing like correcting a native French speaker regarding his use of French. Honestly, even if you're wrong, the sheer flabbergast is totally worth it.
Da Boss wrote:When I was in France, my attempts to communicate in French were met with open scorn, rude tutting and tsking, or refusal to acknowledge that I had spoken.
The trick, as with most language games, is to be better at it than most people. There is nothing like correcting a native French speaker regarding his use of French. Honestly, even if you're wrong, the sheer flabbergast is totally worth it.
Sadly, I am most definitely not better at french than the french I was making an honest go of it though. I'm not one of those english speakers who thinks communicating with non-anglophones is talking loudly and slowly.
An Italianman, a Frenchman and an Englishman are all together. Needless to say, for whatever reason, a Genie grants them all one wish..................
The Italian speaks up first "I want every Italianman to have at least 2 beautiful Mistresses, a wardrobe for his clothes the size of a house, and a Ferrari on the driveway, because Italy is great" With a click of his fingers, 'poof' his wish is granted.....
The Frenchman goes next "Every Frenchman should have the right to only work 20 hours a week, retire at 45 on full pension, own a vineyard. France should be for French people only, remove all the forieghners from my country, build a 200m wall around its boarders for protection!" With a click of his fingers, 'poof' his wish is granted.....
The Genie turns to the Englishman, "And what dreams can I grant for you?", The Englishman replies "Before we get onto that, tell me about this wall. Nothing gets in or out, is that right?". "Yes", replies the Genie. The Englishman smiles and simply says.............
TheSecretSquig wrote:An Italianman, a Frenchman and an Englishman are all together. Needless to say, for whatever reason, a Genie grants them all one wish..................
The Italian speaks up first "I want every Italianman to have at least 2 beautiful Mistresses, a wardrobe for his clothes the size of a house, and a Ferrari on the driveway, because Italy is great" With a click of his fingers, 'poof' his wish is granted.....
The Frenchman goes next "Every Frenchman should have the right to only work 20 hours a week, retire at 45 on full pension, own a vineyard. France should be for French people only, remove all the forieghners from my country, build a 200m wall around its boarders for protection!" With a click of his fingers, 'poof' his wish is granted.....
The Genie turns to the Englishman, "And what dreams can I grant for you?", The Englishman replies "Before we get onto that, tell me about this wall. Nothing gets in or out, is that right?". "Yes", replies the Genie. The Englishman smiles and simply says.............
Well, I do have to give the frogs some props: Without them, the USA would not exist in its current state, nor would I have access to one of the most awesome things ever: Modern gunpowder.
Asherian Command wrote:And we make fun of it because they failed during world war 1 .
Err, what?
remilia_scarlet wrote:
And, now this is nsfw
Spoiler:
70% of french women are bisexual
I'm sure 80% of the French male population would be pleased with that, but I think more reasonably that you're talking about another country called France...(or possibly a lesbian club with the same name )
Erm wasn't Charlemagne a Frank? I am pretty sure he was from what would now be classed as Germany.
Anyway, IMO french are kinda in two camps the insular 'wee eight zee Angleesh' ones who are also way cool and smoke cigerettes and drink coffee/absinthe and the welcoming kind who smile encouragingly while you mangle their language but are less cool. Also i must say though i like the french they are in my experience pretty racist, the amount of times i've heard 'Les Arabs' (French derogatory term for any Algerian/african immigrant) in a casual conversation has been pretty shocking.
Perkustin wrote:Erm wasn't Charlemagne a Frank?
I am pretty sure he was from what would now be classed as Germany.
Anyway, IMO french are kinda in two camps the insular 'wee eight zee Angleesh' ones who are also way cool and smoke cigerettes and drink coffee/absinthe and the welcoming kind who smile encouragingly while you mangle their language but are less cool. Also i must say though i like the french they are in my experience pretty racist, the amount of times i've heard 'Les Arabs' (French derogatory term for any Algerian/african immigrant) in a casual conversation has been pretty shocking.
The Franks occupied both Germany and France. Also they originated before the concept of nationalism so the idea of being loyal to one's country would be foreign to them.
AvatarForm wrote:MJ was not Australian... I believe he was from your neck of the woods...
It's always an Aussie whose mind leaps to pedophilia.
I find it difficult to choose from the many USA slurs based upon truth to throw back at you...
Why dont you just admit that you know very little about wine instead of attempting to deflect yet again.
How am I supposed to take the opinion of someone who actually thinks Australian wine is better than average? As or slamming the USA, you realize this is about French wine right? I mean it is in the title and everything.
AvatarForm wrote:MJ was not Australian... I believe he was from your neck of the woods...
It's always an Aussie whose mind leaps to pedophilia.
I find it difficult to choose from the many USA slurs based upon truth to throw back at you...
Why dont you just admit that you know very little about wine instead of attempting to deflect yet again.
How am I supposed to take the opinion of someone who actually thinks Australian wine is better than average? As or slamming the USA, you realize this is about French wine right? I mean it is in the title and everything.
Your previous post possessed nothing to refute that Aussie wine is superior to French, and all to do with attacking Aussies... I simply responded to you in kind and requested that you stay on topic or gtfo
I would like to make a few remarks on the topic of wine.
It’s true that quite a lot of French wine is pish, however the French produce more wine than any other country so it stands to reason that they will produce more pish too.
I haven’t drunk much bad Australian wine, though I think it is mainly the better stuff that gets exported to the UK so maybe I have missed out on some stinkers.
I don’t like Australian wine as much as I used to. The alcohol content has got too high. 20 years ago, the average strength of a bottle of wine was 12.5%, It’s more like 14% now. That extra amount of alcohol does my head in.
The other thing about a lot of Australian wine is that it’s very in your face. There is a lot of fruit and flavour, but not so much depth and complexity, except in the most expensive bottles.
These are factors shared by a lot of New World wines, e.g. from south America. We’re also seeing the style being adopted by some of the Old World wine producers, even including the French. It’s a popular style associated with drinking wine by itself.
We can’t blame anyone except consumers for either of these trends (fruitiness and increased strength). Producers have to sell to the market.
I prefer to drink wine with food, and find the better quality French wines to be good drinking with food, less good as a beverage by themselves.
Lastly, regarding blind tastings; people very rarely eat and drink blind and one’s expectation of an experience changes the perception of the experience. That’s why champagne is still de rigeur for important celebrations. The production method and taste is basically the same for cava and other good sparkling wines, but only champagne is champagne.
May I say that we people dont love Brittain over here?
Because for example the Brittain news:
Brittain welcomes Obama
The queen and a daily trip
[insert soe other Brittain related stuff here]
To be short, there is olny stuff about Brittain on the news there.
thenoobbomb wrote:May I say that we people dont love Brittain over here?
Because for example the Brittain news:
Brittain welcomes Obama
The queen and a daily trip
[insert soe other Brittain related stuff here]
To be short, there is olny stuff about Brittain on the news there.
Before trying to insult a fellow nation, at least get the spelling right. "Great Britain". or if you prefer, "UK". I know they are actually two separate things, but most people don't know or care. and don't forget the caps.
As to the subject matter, I see it not as hate, but as friendly insults. its the same with Australia. I don't hate Australians, but the quip about it being a nation of British criminals (I know it is not) will probably not go away for a long time.
I guess its the British sense of humour. derogatory jokes are the mainstay. try not to get too offended when a Brit calls a Aussie a "Dundee", or a German a "Kraut". we just find that as a joking way to encourage conversation. not that I would in this day and age, but some still do.
airsoftmanic wrote:Before trying to insult a fellow nation, at least get the spelling right. "Great Britain". or if you prefer, "UK". I know they are actually two separate things, but most people don't know or care. and don't forget the caps.
As to the subject matter, I see it not as hate, but as friendly insults. its the same with Australia. I don't hate Australians, but the quip about it being a nation of British criminals (I know it is not) will probably not go away for a long time.
I guess its the British sense of humour. derogatory jokes are the mainstay. try not to get too offended when a Brit calls a Aussie a "Dundee", or a German a "Kraut". we just find that as a joking way to encourage conversation. not that I would in this day and age, but some still do.
Well, kind people, take a look at the BBC news. While the international news has: 'DSK has been arrested!'
UK BBC news has: 'Kitten falls out of tree in Londen!' because there aint other news from da UK..
Automatically Appended Next Post:
purplefood wrote:
thenoobbomb wrote: The UK strikes back...pansies! You dont even have coffeeshops in the version of drugs!
Whilst the legalisation and thus regulation of drugs may be a good thing it seem... rather un-British to do so...
Still it would be cool if we did it.
Now all British people go to my pretty homeland, the Netherlands! For both drugs and the prostitues.. And getting drunk. Ah, well, thats just the UK, I think..
My point is that nearly everyone in the UK thinks that they are the centre of the world, and most important. And Ive been there a lot on holiday
Nearly everyone in the uk? Have you met 'nearly everyone' in the uk? Cos i haven't and i've been here for 30 years. Maybe you just met a bunch of British ass hats, we do have quite a lot of them, and i assume France does too.
thenoobbomb wrote: Well, kind people, take a look at the BBC news. While the international news has: 'DSK has been arrested!'
UK BBC news has: 'Kitten falls out of tree in Londen!' because there aint other news from da UK...
thenoobbomb wrote:Ah, well, take a look at TV in your country...
The news reports what it wants to report...
We don't control it... why are you watching our news if it annoys you so much?
Britain isn't to blame if your news channels decide to report our news we do the same thing with America and i don't mind it. I like the insight into another culture i wish they did it more often actually.
It's kind of hard to understand all the French hate, really. I mean, among other things, we gave the world movies, food cans, vaccines, and bikinis. Can you really ask more of a nation ?
thenoobbomb wrote: Well, kind people, take a look at the BBC news. While the international news has: 'DSK has been arrested!'
UK BBC news has: 'Kitten falls out of tree in Londen!' because there aint other news from da UK...
HudsonD wrote:It's kind of hard to understand all the French hate, really. I mean, among other things, we gave the world movies, food cans, vaccines, and bikinis. Can you really ask more of a nation ?
thenoobbomb wrote:May I say that we people dont love Brittain over here?
Because for example the Brittain news:
Brittain welcomes Obama
The queen and a daily trip
[insert soe other Brittain related stuff here]
To be short, there is olny stuff about Brittain on the news there.
To just rub the front page of BBC News in your face again...
-Mladic removed from Hague court
-Japanese man admits Hawker's death
-Thai PM-elect to 'form a coalition'
-Turkey recognises Libyan Rebels
-Japan finds Pacific rare earths
-India's sharp-shooting granny
So sorry, clearly we do take interesting stuff from other nations... are you just resentful that we don't cover all the windmills you guys presumably build (I wouldn't know, I don't get the opportunity to read about other countries after all...)?
thenoobbomb wrote:Ah, well, take a look at TV in your country.. Anyways, the French are a bunch of wine-drunk, bread wielding c*cks.
Okay the bread-wielding has got me in stitches. i need to stop before my boss sees me choking on my orangina.
Dont forget their cool hats! [dont laugh]
Nah, the French are worse then Brittish. They are mostly a bit.. well, discriminating to other European countries.. Oh! Wait thats the Wallonia part of Belgium!
The French are worse than who? I don't recognise that country... where is it?
Its a little island in the Atlantic ocean. Its full of canibals, eating eachother!
I think you're taking the whole 'don't call us Great Britain' thing a bit far. It's a legitimate point that said country doesn't exist, but I believe it is still perfectly acceptable to refer to the citizens of the United Kingdom as 'the British'.... after all, said Kingdom originally spanned the entirety of the isles and I doubt that the Irish want to be sullied by a name commonly associated with their Anglo-led oppressors.
thenoobbomb wrote:Ah, well, take a look at TV in your country.. Anyways, the French are a bunch of wine-drunk, bread wielding c*cks.
Okay the bread-wielding has got me in stitches. i need to stop before my boss sees me choking on my orangina.
Dont forget their cool hats! [dont laugh]
Nah, the French are worse then Brittish. They are mostly a bit.. well, discriminating to other European countries.. Oh! Wait thats the Wallonia part of Belgium!
The French are worse than who? I don't recognise that country... where is it?
Its a little island in the Atlantic ocean. Its full of canibals, eating eachother!
thenoobbomb wrote:Well, they all dont have work and are now rioting! Maybe I cant go there on holiday next week! I was just hungry for the flesh from there..
That sounds bad... i'd avoid it. It would be an awful awful shame to see you get eaten.
I think it's because he keeps saying "Brittish" rather than "British". abit grammar nazi-ish but i suppose it does take additional effort to add the extra "t".
anyway, back on topic. the French have great places to fish. some of the carp and catfish are proper whoppers over there.
airsoftmanic wrote:I think it's because he keeps saying "Brittish" rather than "British". abit grammar nazi-ish but i suppose it does take additional effort to add the extra "t".
anyway, back on topic. the French have great places to fish. some of the carp and catfish are proper whoppers over there.
It seems half of the UK goes to there, albeit it is their hated nemesis.
I think you're taking the whole 'don't call us Great Britain' thing a bit far. It's a legitimate point that said country doesn't exist, but I believe it is still perfectly acceptable to refer to the citizens of the United Kingdom as 'the British'.... after all, said Kingdom originally spanned the entirety of the isles and I doubt that the Irish want to be sullied by a name commonly associated with their Anglo-led oppressors.
I'm fine with calling us British. It's the first thing i use. The reason i'm doing this is because of the reason below. I despise it when people spell a name consistently wrong especially when they claim to see so much of out television.
airsoftmanic wrote:I think it's because he keeps saying "Brittish" rather than "British". abit grammar nazi-ish but i suppose it does take additional effort to add the extra "t".
anyway, back on topic. the French have great places to fish. some of the carp and catfish are proper whoppers over there.
Entirely French. Napoleon spent his formative years in Corsica, which was French territory as of they year of his birth. Not that its relevant to his leadership of France, and the French army.
The few french people I have met are actually pretty nice people. Granted they have heavy accents, but then I immagine if I were to learn french I would have one too. As far as their country I wouldn't know, never been there.
I dont really have anything against the french other than when i was there some people were rude to me, but there are rude people all over the world and it is wrong to base an opinion of a country off a few D***wads.
As for history, USA would not be around if not for them, but WWII would have had a very different outcome without the US where we played a major role in their liberation, so we have helped eachother out. As for liquor, Beer is great(go to school in wisconsin), Rum is good, Gin is crazy, wines alright, whiskey is great, thank you Ireland and Scotland!
also, Dogma, do you EVER say anything good about theUS? I know it is your right to talk crap about the US, what i tell people at school who talk crap about the US is "STFU or GTFO(shut the feth up or get the feth out)"
Albatross wrote:Well yes, some of the 'Founding Fathers' were British-born. Are they not American?
Don't tell Palin.
All of their families were weren't they? I read a book once that said the war for independance was "essentially a civil war"
So George Washington is from the North East of England really.. thats why he could fight.
Its not really a loss if we lost to other English people surely?
Score another in the win box!
We can concur. Which makes me wonder, when did the different regions start developing different accents? Which one was closer to "British" at the time? I know there are regions in Appalachia that linguistically are supposedly closer to 1700s English than current British.
Albatross wrote:Well yes, some of the 'Founding Fathers' were British-born. Are they not American?
Don't tell Palin.
All of their families were weren't they? I read a book once that said the war for independance was "essentially a civil war"
So George Washington is from the North East of England really.. thats why he could fight.
Its not really a loss if we lost to other English people surely?
Score another in the win box!
We can concur. Which makes me wonder, when did the different regions start developing different accents? Which one was closer to "British" at the time? I know there are regions in Appalachia that linguistically are supposedly closer to 1700s English than current British.
Was actually discussing this with my girlfriend on the way to work this morning. Short answer is: nobody knows. It was thought for a while that the Southern US accents were descended from Northern English accents, but this is thought to be bunkum now. Various mixtures of nationalities in the various regions no doubt played a part. One interesting thing, many words that differ in US and UK English date back to the split. For example, around the time of the revolution, it was popular in Britain and it's colonies to use the word 'Fall' for Autumn. After the split, the Americans kept on using it, whereas the British went back to saying Autumn.
I saw some unit from the French army when I was in Haiti after the earthquake last year.
The were driving around in their flatbed trucks in tanktops, shorts, and boots....
And as silly as they looked, we looked like even bigger dumbasses in long sleeve jackets with under shirts and pants tucked into our boots when it was 110+ F*
I must admit that i don't mind the French (for shame!).
The first time went to Paris without family it was cool, in a we were 14 attending a business studies seminar and spent the whole weekend drinkin and carousing. We only got thrown out of one bar which was quite friendly of them IMHO.
The last time I went was for both of the Rugby World Cup semi finals. And even though we kicked french arse they were still a good laugh. Highlight was a load of french kids calling me Chabal on the tube, since I had longish har and a beard.
Unless they were calling me a Cheval? Hang on a minute those little wa.........
Charlemagne is actually Karl der Grosse (the Great) and he was German. Not only was he born around Aachen, but almost all scholars agree that he spoke a form of Germanic idiom, most likely Old Ripuarian Franconian. So yeah... Germans get KARL the Great, not the French.
However, as a toss to the French, not only should they receive credit for Napoleon (debatable I guess), but they should also receive Napoleon III (who was actually quite a good monarch, right up until he became addicted to drugs due to a bladder stone the size of a golf ball, which in turn played negatively on the fact that he had managed to concentrate so much power on himself) and Andre the Giant.
Manstein wrote:Charlemagne is actually Karl der Grosse (the Great) and he was German. Not only was he born around Aachen, but almost all scholars agree that he spoke a form of Germanic idiom, most likely Old Ripuarian Franconian. So yeah... Germans get KARL the Great, not the French.
However, as a toss to the French, not only should they receive credit for Napoleon (debatable I guess), but they should also receive Napoleon III (who was actually quite a good monarch, right up until he became addicted to drugs due to a bladder stone the size of a golf ball, which in turn played negatively on the fact that he had managed to concentrate so much power on himself) and Andre the Giant.
GO ANDRE!
Well according to Wikipedia Francia (486AD) is considered the first formation of France and the Holy Roman Empire (962AD) is considered Germany's first. But if you want to be completely honest neither France nor Germany as a nation existed until the 1800's. So to call Charlemagne either would be incorrect.
Manstein wrote:Charlemagne is actually Karl der Grosse (the Great) and he was German. Not only was he born around Aachen, but almost all scholars agree that he spoke a form of Germanic idiom, most likely Old Ripuarian Franconian. So yeah... Germans get KARL the Great, not the French.
However, as a toss to the French, not only should they receive credit for Napoleon (debatable I guess), but they should also receive Napoleon III (who was actually quite a good monarch, right up until he became addicted to drugs due to a bladder stone the size of a golf ball, which in turn played negatively on the fact that he had managed to concentrate so much power on himself) and Andre the Giant.
GO ANDRE!
Well according to Wikipedia Francia (486AD) is considered the first formation of France and the Holy Roman Empire (962AD) is considered Germany's first. But if you want to be completely honest neither France nor Germany as a nation existed until the 1800's. So to call Charlemagne either would be incorrect.
I was speaking from a purely ethnic point of view, not national identification.
Albatross wrote:Well yes, some of the 'Founding Fathers' were British-born. Are they not American?
Don't tell Palin.
All of their families were weren't they? I read a book once that said the war for independance was "essentially a civil war"
So George Washington is from the North East of England really.. thats why he could fight.
Its not really a loss if we lost to other English people surely?
Score another in the win box!
We can concur. Which makes me wonder, when did the different regions start developing different accents? Which one was closer to "British" at the time? I know there are regions in Appalachia that linguistically are supposedly closer to 1700s English than current British.
Yeah, It's a weird one, isn't it? I've heard tell that (whisper it) the American accent is closer to what English people may have spoken around the time of the American Rebellion/Treason/Revolution/English Civil War pt.II....whatever you want to call it. Then again, I've also heard it said that the 'brummie' accent (think 'Ozzy Osbourne') is the 'Old English' accent, and has remained largely intact due to Birmingham's geographical location, i.e. away from the coast. I know that my accent ('Smoggy' - Middlesbrough) is a mix of Nordic (proximity to the North Sea, historically part of Danelaw) and Irish (historically a major area of Irish immigration due to the the second-largest port in England after Liverpool. The two accents have a similar twang) , as well as North Yorkshire English.
I've heard very posh east-coast Americans that sound pretty much English. Anyone agree?
thenoobbomb wrote:May I say that we people dont love Brittain over here?
Because for example the Brittain news:
Brittain welcomes Obama
The queen and a daily trip
[insert soe other Brittain related stuff here]
To be short, there is olny stuff about Brittain on the news there.
I'd like to point out that this person does NOT represent the Dutch's position on UK at all.
The UK is awesome.
Go smoke your brains out, doesn't seem to be much left of it anyway
Also, them coming here for drugs gives me (LEGAL BTW) money. So shush!
Manstein wrote:Charlemagne is actually Karl der Grosse (the Great) and he was German. Not only was he born around Aachen, but almost all scholars agree that he spoke a form of Germanic idiom, most likely Old Ripuarian Franconian. So yeah... Germans get KARL the Great, not the French.
Eh, it isn't really that simple. Charlemagne founded both the French and German monarchies. And his people, the Franks, combined with the Roman influenced Gauls to form what we call the modern French ethnicity. The Franks also fused, over time, with other Germanic tribes to form what we now call the modern German ethnicity. This is distinct from German nationality in that it extends beyond the borders of Germany, just as the French ethnicity extends beyond the borders of France, though less clearly so. You have to remember that "Germanic" is not an ethnicity, but an ethno-linguistic category whereas "Frankish" is an ethnicity.
Honestly, crediting either the French or the Germans with Charlemagne doesn't make much sense, as neither group existed at the time. Charlemagne was a Frank, whose actions served to create both the modern German and French ethnic identities.
The east coast isn't very posh, but then again the east coast ranges from Maine all the way down to Florida. Now if you want to say New England then that's where the majority of the 'posh' is located. New England was founded by puritans trying to escape England compared to the southern colonies which were founded for profit.
The south had more ties to England than the north because of this, in fact during the Civil War the british aided the CSA , and a lot of the plantation houses were modeled after European designs. The idea of the 'southern gentleman' also followed suit. As far as people hating the french, the english had good cause to as much as the french had cause to hate the english.
The English directly founded the south for economic reasons and were basically employed by the English and had closer ties to 'Father England' compared to the North. Hatred of the French is genetic and passed on to the South which thinks that all frenchmen wear perfume and wave white flags compared to most of the north which is more open to the french.
As far as the french go and my personal interactions with them, I will have to gauge them on the french-canadians who are snobby a-holes. I would know because half my family decends from Quebec, with some bit of Austrian in there as well.
Speaking of which, Austria also produces Riesling wine.
I will have to say this though, you Brits will have to get over people calling you Great Britain. We accept you calling us the United States and saying things like "I'm going to the states.". Which state, we have 50 of the damned things and then some territories for crying out loud! Although Texas counts as an independent country most of the time.
Albatross wrote:I've heard very posh east-coast Americans that sound pretty much English. Anyone agree?
People from Boston that really have the thick accent kind of do.
I'm not sure if I'd qualify them as "posh" though.
I'm thinking of 'old money' north-easterners.
It's true; I've encountered it, although it's a pretty rarefied subset, mostly rich old families around Boston and New York. Some families/social circles have it, and certain boarding/prep schools and univerisites reinforce it. It's usually accompanied by a more formal diction and style of enunciation. Even though the accent isn't really British, it's similar, and the word usage/vocabulary is sometimes a bit more similar to British English. You can get some sense of it often in movies set at prep schools (like Dead Poets Society) or in this social set, like Whit Stillman's Metropolitan.
Albatross wrote:Well yes, some of the 'Founding Fathers' were British-born. Are they not American?
Don't tell Palin.
All of their families were weren't they? I read a book once that said the war for independance was "essentially a civil war"
So George Washington is from the North East of England really.. thats why he could fight.
Its not really a loss if we lost to other English people surely?
Score another in the win box!
We can concur. Which makes me wonder, when did the different regions start developing different accents? Which one was closer to "British" at the time? I know there are regions in Appalachia that linguistically are supposedly closer to 1700s English than current British.
Yeah, It's a weird one, isn't it? I've heard tell that (whisper it) the American accent is closer to what English people may have spoken around the time of the American Rebellion/Treason/Revolution/English Civil War pt.II....whatever you want to call it. Then again, I've also heard it said that the 'brummie' accent (think 'Ozzy Osbourne') is the 'Old English' accent, and has remained largely intact due to Birmingham's geographical location, i.e. away from the coast. I know that my accent ('Smoggy' - Middlesbrough) is a mix of Nordic (proximity to the North Sea, historically part of Danelaw) and Irish (historically a major area of Irish immigration due to the the second-largest port in England after Liverpool. The two accents have a similar twang) , as well as North Yorkshire English.
I've heard very posh east-coast Americans that sound pretty much English. Anyone agree?
Id go one further and say that all English speakers who are posh sound the same!
Kiwis, Canadians, Americans, if you meet a really posh one, they all sound similar!
Basically posh is an accent. People think its English, (in the states they always think im Irish because English people talk like the Queen) but in a nutshell, I think posh IS an accent, as really posh English speakers sound the same regardless of nationality.
Remember American phscho? Patrick and all his posh mates sound like posh English!
Jesus! That is really super! How did a nitwit like you get so tasteful!"
halonachos wrote:The east coast isn't very posh, but then again the east coast ranges from Maine all the way down to Florida. Now if you want to say New England then that's where the majority of the 'posh' is located. New England was founded by puritans trying to escape England compared to the southern colonies which were founded for profit.
The south had more ties to England than the north because of this, in fact during the Civil War the british aided the CSA , and a lot of the plantation houses were modeled after European designs. The idea of the 'southern gentleman' also followed suit. As far as people hating the french, the english had good cause to as much as the french had cause to hate the english.
The English directly founded the south for economic reasons and were basically employed by the English and had closer ties to 'Father England' compared to the North. Hatred of the French is genetic and passed on to the South which thinks that all frenchmen wear perfume and wave white flags compared to most of the north which is more open to the french.
As far as the french go and my personal interactions with them, I will have to gauge them on the french-canadians who are snobby a-holes. I would know because half my family decends from Quebec, with some bit of Austrian in there as well.
Speaking of which, Austria also produces Riesling wine.
I will have to say this though, you Brits will have to get over people calling you Great Britain. We accept you calling us the United States and saying things like "I'm going to the states.". Which state, we have 50 of the damned things and then some territories for crying out loud! Although Texas counts as an independent country most of the time.
mattyrm wrote:
Basically posh is an accent. People think its English, (in the states they always think im Irish because English people talk like the Queen) but in a nutshell, I think posh IS an accent, as really posh English speakers sound the same regardless of nationality.
The general rule is that as you go up the socioeconomic ladder any accent that a person might have begins to get washed out due to higher levels of education, and a more diverse set of influences on speech due to greater opportunity for travel. So you get American English speakers that have more in common vocally with upper class Pakistani English speakers than, say, some guy from West Virginia.
dajobe wrote:
but nothing against mary poppins anyone!!! I WIN!
She lied to generations of children in claiming that a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down in such a delightful way. She's basically Pol Pot with an umbrella.
I have not yet seen anyone mention her yet so I will...
"Saint Joan of Arc, nicknamed The Maid of Orléans (French: ''Jeanne d'Arc'',[1] IPA: [ʒan daʁk]; ca. 1412[2] – 30 May 1431) is considered a national heroine of France and a Catholic saint. A peasant girl born in eastern France who claimed divine guidance, she led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years' War, which paved the way for the coronation of Charles VII. She was captured by the Burgundians, sold to the English, tried by an ecclesiastical court, and burned at the stake when she was 19 years old.[3] Twenty-five years after the execution, Pope Callixtus III examined the trial, pronounced her innocent and declared her a martyr.[3] Joan of Arc was beatified in 1909 and canonized in 1920.[2] She is – along with St. Denis, St. Martin of Tours, St. Louis IX, and St. Theresa of Lisieux – one of the patron saints of France.
Joan asserted that she had visions from God that instructed her to recover her homeland from English domination late in the Hundred Years' War. The uncrowned King Charles VII sent her to the siege of Orléans as part of a relief mission. She gained prominence when she overcame the dismissive attitude of veteran commanders and lifted the siege in only nine days. Several more swift victories led to Charles VII's coronation at Reims and settled the disputed succession to the throne." -Wikipedia
Come to think of it now, I'm pretty sure this girl was Abnett's inspiration for Sabbat...
The 
wow!
No, we do Deltaworks!
