Are British stereotypes offensive?
But the Anglo Saxons themselves were conquered in 1066 by the Normans. And even today most of Britain's aristocracy and upper class is of Norman descent.
So the A/S oppressed the world, but the Normans are "the oppressors of the oppressors".
So ... the Anglosaxons were considered safe to lampoon. But maybe we all should be sensitive to Anglosaxons, and ...all start having fun hating on the Normans for a change!
Technically the language of the Anglo-Saxons was north western germanic.
The ancestors of the normans were north-western germanic (not French)
Old English is north-western germanic
English is classified as a north-western germanic language
Nothings changed
Even if this were true its 100 percent irrelevant.
There is no "northwest germanic language family"
There is..."North Germanic" (basically all Scandanavian languages.).
There is "west Germanic" (German, Dutch, Frisian, English, Scots, Afrikaans, Yiddish).
And there was "east Germanic" (Gothic) which is now extinct.
Around 600 AD the Anglo Saxons came from the north sea shores of Jutland, Germany, and the Netherlands, and kicked the Celts out of the south eastern parts of Britain and became the English. And their West Germanic language became old english.
Then the Normans conquered in 1066 and imposed French upon the nation.
The Normans were descended from Vikings from Scandanavia but by the time they invaded the province of northern france that became their home they had assimilated to speaking French (though it was an odd Norse influenced kind of French). ''
The Normans were reason the purely Germanic early English became this modern hybrid of Germanic and Romance that English is today.
While the Normans ruled England the language of the court was not... any Scandanavian language, nor was it Anglo Saxon English. It was French. If you dont grasp that then you dont grasp British history, nor the basics about the evolution of the English language.
Oh crap! I messed up sentence 8, and its too late to edit.
I meant "the Normans were Vikings from Scandanavia who seized the province of northern france that now bears their name "normandy". But by the time they invaded England in 1066 they had assimilated to the French language. Though they did have an odd Norse inflected dialect of French.
Yeah, I've got a fairly good grasp. The culture of England is linked to the geography, religious/spiritual beliefs and language of the region.
Geographically England falls into the cultural sphere + Languages of the germanic region ranging from north of France to southern region of Scandanavia. There was common movement of people from this regions into britain going back to the Palaeolithic era.
The Introduction of Latin and the catholic church into England did have an impact on theology/language but this largely influenced the upper class. Neither Norman French or Latin was ever spoken by 95% of the English masses. The Normans ruled England by proxy appointing fuedal lords among the English.
Whatever you are trying to spin, English remains classified as a N/W german language with its closest relative being Frisian.
The food/drink of the English falls into the same geographic sphere (British cuisine has no resemblance to France or the Mediterranean).
The majority of English follow the protestant faith since the middle ages. The spiritual roots of Englands beliefs come from the germanic gods of whom Thor and Odin still have days of the week named after.
I am sure genetically the English are mongrels but culturally they aint.
I think the English should be referred to as Anglo-Celtic not Anglo-French. French words entered our vocabluary but that's really about it.
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Yeah, I've got a fairly good grasp. The culture of England is linked to the geography, religious/spiritual beliefs and language of the region.
Geographically England falls into the cultural sphere + Languages of the germanic region ranging from north of France to southern region of Scandanavia. There was common movement of people from this regions into britain going back to the Palaeolithic era.
The Introduction of Latin and the catholic church into England did have an impact on theology/language but this largely influenced the upper class. Neither Norman French or Latin was ever spoken by 95% of the English masses. The Normans ruled England by proxy appointing fuedal lords among the English.
Whatever you are trying to spin, English remains classified as a N/W german language with its closest relative being Frisian.
The food/drink of the English falls into the same geographic sphere (British cuisine has no resemblance to France or the Mediterranean).
The majority of English follow the protestant faith since the middle ages. The spiritual roots of Englands beliefs come from the germanic gods of whom Thor and Odin still have days of the week named after.
I am sure genetically the English are mongrels but culturally they aint.
None of what you're contradicts anything I said. And you cant even keep track of your own argument.
I never said that the Normans "genetically contributed" much to England. Though they still are the majority of Britain's ruling class.
you're the one doing spin, and are being dishonest.
Seriously..whats with these lies of yours?
I suppose that you are so ill informed that you dont realize that you're lying.
The highest levels of corporate government and society in general in Britain are occupied disproportionately by people with Norman surnames. That is a fact.
American pundit Roy Bount Jr. wrote a witty column about his own Norman surname, and about how "we [Normans] are the opressors of the Oppressors".
Blount, and I, were both being a bit tongue in cheek. But its based on a real fact- The Brits ruled a quarter of the land of the world at the hieght of their Empire. But the Normans ruled, and still do, rule Britain, as its aristocracy. So in effect the Normans are still "the oppressors of the oppressors". Thats the point I am making. Nothing you said contradicts that.
The influx of the French language almost doubled our vocabulary (the words "double" and "vocabulary" are both French words). The list of French words in English since 1066 is endless.
The English were not "Protestant since the Middle Ages. The Renaissance started around 1400 AD. There was no Protestantism at all anywhere in Europe until Martin Luther in 1519 (after the Middle Ages). The English common people fiercely clung to their Catholicism during the Reformation.
And why do you keep saying that "English is a Northwest Germanic language"?
There is no such thing as a "northwest Germanic language".
There are West Germanic languages, and there are North Germanic Languages. English is part of the WGL group. Though it is influence by the North via the Viking invasions, and also by the Romance languages via Norman and Latin.
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Related - the UK is currently going through its once every 10 year census. I filled mine in last week.
'No religion' jumped from 14.6% to 24.7% on the last one. Will be interesting to see how much more than increases on this one!
There has been a big push this time (unofficially) for people to check the box for no religion if they don't follow a religion, as it is believed in the past a lot of people just ticked Christian as they think that is the simplest thing to do in a country that is predominantly Christian
Related - the UK is currently going through its once every 10 year census. I filled mine in last week.
'No religion' jumped from 14.6% to 24.7% on the last one. Will be interesting to see how much more than increases on this one!
Our letter did not arrive until a few days ago. My Mum has to fill it in and there are fines if one does not by a certain date which I believe is today, BUT, my Mum does not like going online so it said to phone to get a paper version, so she immediately phoned and the lady on the other end was quite rude to her that my Mum asked for the paper copy.
She has not had the forms yet so she can fill them in? This is bad. How can they fine us a lot of money for something we have not even had yet? Other people had their letters weeks ago and ours only came a few days ago!
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I am not gonna list the endless factual errors you made -some of which I already listed.
The central point you made is this: The Norman Conquest caused nothing to change...because the Normans spoke the same "NW Germanic Language as the Anglo Saxons". That point is dead wrong.
You screwed the pooch publicly by showing basic ignorance, and then you try to cover up your mistakes with lies.
Dude ...you could just admit that you made mistake. Jeeze! A little honesty wouldnt kill ya.
Your false statement is based upon several other falsehoods.
You didnt realize that the Normans had lost their Norse language by the time they invaded Britain. That was a falsehood.
From that falsehood you claimed you the Norman conquest caused "nothing to change".
The fact is that the Normans were French speakers by 1066. And they replaced the Anglo Saxon with French in the English court after they conquered Britain.
And that resulted in influx of French terms into the English language. And thats a basic elementary fact. Virtually all words in English that have to do with governing, jurisprudence, and administration, are of French origin, and entered English as a result of the Norman conquest.
AND... you probably went to Wiki in response to this conversation to look up "Germanic Languages", and you probably learned the truth...that there is no such thing as "Northwest Germanic languages". Despite the fact that you did that you havent acknowleged your mistake.. Thats a DELIBERATE lie by omission.
It's kicking across.
There's ways it's kicking down (UK is basically US lapdog when it comes to war) and ways it's kicking up (UK used to own US) but basically... it's kicking across.
Kicking across and kicking up aren't racist.
I'd rather be called a cracker than a t**g. Both apply to me. Actually I've never been called wh***y, cracker, honky etc but it does apply. People saying the serious level so called sectarian (I see it as racist) stuff? They genuinely consider themselves above the people they're applying it to and it comes from a historical place of colonialism and oppression.
This is why the N word is one of the worst words of all, you're essentially calling them 'slave'.
Not really sure why the k word that rhymes with bike isn't given strong consideration as absolutely offensive too... justifies the holocaust!
If the US was to invade England and force English people to drink coffee and go to bars and watch baseball... it becomes a problem. Comedy would therefore be used to laugh at someone you're subjecting. That's when it becomes a problem. It opens them up to 'othering'.
And if black people took over the world and enslaved all the white people? The only anti-white 'slur' that would remain is wh***y. Black people would be the crackers in that situation... Cracker = crack the whip.
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The word cracker was used before the US had slaves.
https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch ... n-crackers
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Biscuitman
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