The British burned down Washington D.C.???? Exactly 200 years ago today????

[JohnnyAnger]

I am part Norwegian, in actual fact.

Same here - my grandmother was half Norwegian/half German, the whole family were a bunch of illegal immigrants. All the Norwegian lot pretended to be from the Shetland Islands, which I guess made sense at the time as they still had Scandinavian accents back then.

 

[belamyi]

It's no myth, the Vikings were given land by the Merovingian kings gave them land - slowly they become more and more French, but they were of Viking stock. There are plenty of clear links between what the Normans spoke and Norse languages - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_language#History

Mr. Anger, we all studied the full history of the Normans, but it's rather sad to try to ignore the closer, middle part by jumping directly to the older one: the Normans invading the Anglo-Saxon kingdom were a full-fledged French power when they started assimilating the Anglos, and they could claim to be Vikings, like they could claim being Roman, like being sons of Eve... right after considering themselves "French"

 

[belamyi]

From my understanding, the War of 1812 is typically viewed by British historians as a footnote to the Napelonic Wars, which is completely inaccurate.

True, but it is a way of stating its irrelevance even for the directly concerned

 

[belamyi]

BTW, Mr. Anger, Mr. nice, Mr. Chicken..: I am a man of parts myself

 

[JohnnyAnger]

Mr. Anger, we all studied the full history of the Normans, but it's rather sad to try to ignore the closer, middle part by jumping directly to the older one: the Normans invading the Anglo-Saxon kingdom were a full-fledged French power when they started assimilating the Anglos, and they could claim to be Vikings, like they could claim being Roman, like being sons of Eve... right after considering themselves "French"

True - before I was jumping more to the bait of the idea that the elite of the Norman empire were not from Scandinavia originally. I do fully accept that by the time they came to England, they were Frenchmen.

 

[unloadonme]

True - before I was jumping more to the bait of the idea that the elite of the Norman empire were not from Scandinavia originally. I do fully accept that by the time they came to England, they were Frenchmen.

I don't accept that. They were certainly from what is now France, but I think it's too tenuous to describe them as French in 1066. There's an interesting chapter on all of that in 1000 Years of Annoying the French by Stephen Clarke. He argues that the Normans had at least as much in common with the English as they did the French.

 

[ChickenGuy]

Same here - my grandmother was half Norwegian/half German, the whole family were a bunch of illegal immigrants. All the Norwegian lot pretended to be from the Shetland Islands, which I guess made sense at the time as they still had Scandinavian accents back then.

I thought you were Dutch? Lol.

I'm assuming now you're an authentic English Brit who just lived in Amsterdam for a while.

P.S. Shetland is pretty much the only part of Scotland I've never been to. Their accent does sound Scandinavian.

I was in Orkney for a year as a 16-year-old when my dad had work up there.

BTW, Mr. Anger, Mr. nice, Mr. Chicken..: I am a man of parts myself

Come on then, out with it.

My top 3 guesses:

part-French
part-Italian
part-Portuguese

 

[chrisrobin]

"The Star Spangled Banner" was inspired by the War of 1812.

"And the rocket's red glare,
The bombs bursting in air.
Gave proof through the night
That our flag was still there.

"There" was Fort McHenry (in Maryland), for what its worth.

 

[belamyi]

I don't accept that.

Of course not: you are an Old Yorker

There's an interesting chapter on all of that in 1000 Years of Annoying the French by Stephen Clarke. He argues that the Normans had at least as much in common with the English as they did the French.

Obviously, they both were Northern barbarians with some shavings of Latinity/Romanity/Civilization, but then, the Anglo-Saxon were not English either, and so you are agreeing with me that the English didn't exist until the XVIIIth century, give or take a few decades, not before those orange Dutch expelled those French Stuarts.

 

[belamyi]

I thought you were Dutch? Lol.

I'm assuming now you're an authentic English Brit who just lived in Amsterdam for a while.

P.S. Shetland is pretty much the only part of Scotland I've never been to. Their accent does sound Scandinavian.

I was in Orkney for a year as a 16-year-old when my dad had work up there.



Come on then, out with it.

My top 3 guesses:

part-French
part-Italian
part-Portuguese

As a kid I liked to think: part-North African, part Central-African, part Middle-Eastern, part who-the-heck-knows... even my parents wondered were my facial features and auburn hair came from

 

[belamyi]

"The Star Spangled Banner" was inspired by the War of 1812.

"And the rocket's red glare,
The bombs bursting in air.
Gave proof through the night
That our flag was still there.

"There" was Fort McHenry (in Maryland), for what its worth.

Damn your avatar and sigpic are mesmerizing and they are not even actually my type

 

[belamyi]

Of course not: you are an Old Yorker



Obviously, they both were Northern barbarians with some shavings of Latinity/Romanity/Civilization, but then, the Anglo-Saxon were not English either, and so you are agreeing with me that the English didn't exist until the XVIIIth century, give or take a few decades, not before those orange Dutch expelled those French Stuarts.

Argh! I forgot to add: that would explain why the English came into being only when Britons did so... and the reason why an English national sentiment, remotely comparable to the Scottish or even the Welsh one, is more non-existent than merely misty.

 

[JohnnyAnger]

I thought you were Dutch? Lol.

No, I just lived in Amsterdam for a bit to study - to my shame I am fully English!

 

[belamyi]

As a kid I liked to think: part-North African, part Central-African, part Middle-Eastern, part who-the-heck-knows... even my parents wondered were my facial features and auburn hair came from

In fact, after discovering my profile at around fifteen (yeah, what a big deal, isn't it) through double-mirroring triangulation, and after noticing more and more Nordic people's features and profiles, I came to realize I can too Northern or too Southerner, but never properly, Western, Central Europan

Maybe that is why I always felt a secret interest in both African and Nordic languages...

 

[belamyi]

No, I just lived in Amsterdam for a bit to study - to my shame I am fully English!

And you were the reason why Hark! recently got so drunk and upset to the point of feeling ashamed of himself...

 

[JohnnyAnger]

And you were the reason why Hark! recently got so drunk and upset to the point of feeling ashamed of himself...

Say what???

 

[palbert]

British embassy sparks anger for tweet celebrating 1814 White House burning [The Guardian]

(The Tweet)Commemorating the 200th anniversary of burning the White House. Only sparklers this time!

Now that shows real class. Not!

 

[SLOPPYSECONDS]

ooh dear

thankyou

 

[Kulindahr]

I don't accept that. They were certainly from what is now France, but I think it's too tenuous to describe them as French in 1066. There's an interesting chapter on all of that in 1000 Years of Annoying the French by Stephen Clarke. He argues that the Normans had at least as much in common with the English as they did the French.

I'd agree with that. Northmen conquered and gave the area the name Normandy (north-man-dy), while other northmen conquered smaller bits over in England, so when William crossed the channel to invade, he was facing distant kin.

I once ran across an alternate history I truly enjoyed, where William also conquered Wales, and then Ireland, with the help of the Scots who became part of the kingdom by marriage. In the novel, he had three sons; one inherited the combined throne, one went back to rule Normandy, and the other went off and took over Iceland. At the time the actual story was set in, the combined forces of those united realms were fighting to knock the French back out of Normandy, which they'd taken a chunk of, and William's grandson, the High King, had gotten the Danes to join in, so there were English, Irish, Welsh, Scots, Normans, and Danes all fighting the French.

 

[Kulindahr]

British embassy sparks anger for tweet celebrating 1814 White House burning [The Guardian]

Now that shows real class. Not!

I want to know who got to eat the cake. They should have sent it to Obama. If he'd eaten some, the Republicans could all be screaming about it.