Did anyone see UK MP George Galloway...

[metadigital]

Must...resist...urge to...kill person...referring to England...as Britain...GRR...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

A division of the United Kingdom, the southern part of the island of Great Britain. Originally settled by Celtic peoples, it was subsequently conquered by Romans, Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Danes, and Normans. Acts of union joined England with Wales in 1536, with Scotland in 1707 to create the political entity of Great Britain, and with Ireland in 1801 to form the United Kingdom. London is the capital and the largest city of both England and the United Kingdom. Population: 46,220,955.

Some have speculated that Greenland might actually have been Green when it was discovered. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That is not very plausible. Global temperatures have fallen since then, and the iceshelf on Greenland is many thousands of years old.

[Reveilled]

Must...resist...urge to...kill person...referring to England...as Britain...GRR...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

A division of the United Kingdom, the southern part of the island of Great Britain. Originally settled by Celtic peoples, it was subsequently conquered by Romans, Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Danes, and Normans. Acts of union joined England with Wales in 1536, with Scotland in 1707 to create the political entity of Great Britain, and with Ireland in 1801 to form the United Kingdom. London is the capital and the largest city of both England and the United Kingdom. Population: 46,220,955.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Blighty: Slang term for Britain.

[metadigital]

Must...resist...urge to...kill person...referring to England...as Britain...GRR...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

A division of the United Kingdom, the southern part of the island of Great Britain. Originally settled by Celtic peoples, it was subsequently conquered by Romans, Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Danes, and Normans. Acts of union joined England with Wales in 1536, with Scotland in 1707 to create the political entity of Great Britain, and with Ireland in 1801 to form the United Kingdom. London is the capital and the largest city of both England and the United Kingdom. Population: 46,220,955.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Blighty: Slang term for Britain.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

blighty

[Lucius]

(If you click on the underlined words, they link to other websites. This is called Hyper-linking, and is the revolutionary concept that the World Wide Web is built upon. )

 

LOL, what I meant was how their flag had anything to do with the other cross banners!

 

I included it because I remember my History teacher telling us that it was one of the first recorded examples of "marketspeak"; Erik The Red called it Greenland in the hope of convincing settlers to go there, despite it being one big glacier. Also it was once a Danish territory. You guys certainly conquered a lot of territory -- then lost it all.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

True, I've been to Greenland myself some years ago with my high school class, there's nothing green about it. But the water taste refreshingly... fresh. :D

Greenland was originally Norwegian though, we just kept it when Norway was ceded to Sweden after Napoleon (whom we were foolish enough to call our ally) was defeated.

 

Edit: What Reveilled said too, but my post was delayed as I had to rush outta the house for 5 mins. :D

[metadigital]

It's on my todo list, read up on Scandinavian history: it sounds really interesting. (I was amazed at hoe interesting Dutch history is, and how little of it we Commonwealth citizens are told about: Britain lost the Spice Wars of the Far East pretty badly ...)

[Darth Flatus]

PWNED!!!

 

although i thought it was like that too

[Cantousent]

Talk about a weird way for an off topic thread to go off topic. I've never before opened a thread and seen a list of flags. Cool, though.

[Reveilled]

Must...resist...urge to...kill person...referring to England...as Britain...GRR...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

A division of the United Kingdom, the southern part of the island of Great Britain. Originally settled by Celtic peoples, it was subsequently conquered by Romans, Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Danes, and Normans. Acts of union joined England with Wales in 1536, with Scotland in 1707 to create the political entity of Great Britain, and with Ireland in 1801 to form the United Kingdom. London is the capital and the largest city of both England and the United Kingdom. Population: 46,220,955.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Blighty: Slang term for Britain.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

blighty

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

On the other hand, there's the fact that just about every result "blighty" produces on Google uses it to refer to Britain:

 

Result 1:

"...Blighty was the inevitable British soldier

[Darth Flatus]

MD helps derails threads but in an informative and educational manner

[Hildegard]

.........as war continues in the north.......

[metadigital]

Must...resist...urge to...kill person...referring to England...as Britain...GRR...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

A division of the United Kingdom, the southern part of the island of Great Britain. Originally settled by Celtic peoples, it was subsequently conquered by Romans, Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Danes, and Normans. Acts of union joined England with Wales in 1536, with Scotland in 1707 to create the political entity of Great Britain, and with Ireland in 1801 to form the United Kingdom. London is the capital and the largest city of both England and the United Kingdom. Population: 46,220,955.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Blighty: Slang term for Britain.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

blighty

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

On the other hand, there's the fact that just about every result "blighty" produces on Google uses it to refer to Britain:

 

Result 1:

"...Blighty was the inevitable British soldier

[Lucius]

It's on my todo list, read up on Scandinavian history: it sounds really interesting. (I was amazed at hoe interesting Dutch history is, and how little of it we Commonwealth citizens are told about: Britain lost the Spice Wars of the Far East pretty badly ...)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

There's a lot of Sweden vs Denmark/Norway in Scandinavian history, far too many wars than I'm able to list here off the top of my head.

 

But I haven't heard of these Spice Wars before, was this the actual name of the conflict?

[Reveilled]

Well, you may be right, but the dictionary.com states categorically that England is a part of Britain, and Blighty refers to England. Anyway, my intentions were honorable (I think my name harks from Scotland: certainly my father took the Scottish heraldry of our name).

 

So no offence intended.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Some taken.

 

Nah, it's okay, I just get ludicrously worked up over any apparent reference to Britain as England, or visa-versa. I even sent an angry e-mail to the White House once over their website's consistent error in this regard. "Bush attends Queen Mother of England's funeral?" :angry:

[metadigital]

It's on my todo list, read up on Scandinavian history: it sounds really interesting. (I was amazed at hoe interesting Dutch history is, and how little of it we Commonwealth citizens are told about: Britain lost the Spice Wars of the Far East pretty badly ...)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

There's a lot of Sweden vs Denmark/Norway in Scandinavian history, far too many wars than I'm able to list here off the top of my head.

 

But I haven't heard of these Spice Wars before, was this the actual name of the conflict?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Read Nathaniel's Nutmeg for a humerous recounting of the era: it was either side of the coronation of Elizabeth I. Or just go to the Rijks museum.

 

It takes place around present day Indonesia, where these exotic spices were indigenous. (Nutmeg was used as a preservative.)

 

The Dutch were better sailors and traders and such, England just sent a ship every now and then, fluked a single big haulage and lost out big time. (A lot of the English sailors died from scurvey.)

[Walsingham]

Are these forums usually so educational?

[Reveilled]

It depends on who is derailing the thread. Sometimes we'll derail a thread into a pile of crap, other times, we'll derail a thread into a lovely discussion on the evolution on the English language. The initial threads aren't so very educational, though...

[Darth Flatus]

...it depends on the derailer

[Lucius]

Very interesting, it appears there were four Anglo-Dutch wars around 1600-1800, I know very little of these but I just read about the English getting hammered by the Dutch at the end of the Second war, where their fleet moved up the Thames and "where they burnt four capital ships, and towed away the Royal Charles, pride and normal flagship of the English fleet."

 

That's kinda humiliating, really. ^_^

 

Edit: I read this on Wikipedia, my all time favorite site for quick historical references.

[Cantousent]

...And yet the Dutch declined and England became an increasingly powerful nation.

[Lucius]

Yes, quite, thank you. I couldn't have stated the obvious any better myself.

[metadigital]

That was more down to Elizabeth I and her decisive leadership. She inherited a total shambles of a Kingdom, practically bankrupt and certainly out-gunned (and one of the smallest populations in Europe). Henry VIII had a penchant for expensive tapastries (costing as much as a battle ship) and he had the largest wrdrobe of fine clothes (no pun intended). (The Mary Rose was sunk in his reign.)

 

The Netherlands were just an upstart Spanish colony, IIRC, until they rebelled (I think England helped them a bit there, but covertly).

 

It was not until the Spanish Armada was defeated that England even looked like being a big noise in the geopolitical arena.

[Lucius]

The Commonwealth and the United Provinces were even allied against the Spain, no? They just turned upon eachother when Spain was no longer a key player.

[metadigital]

The Commonwealth and the United Provinces were even allied against the Spain, no? They just turned upon eachother when Spain was no longer a key player.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Absolutely, "My enemy's enemy is my friend" ... until that particular enemy is disposed of, then we can have a brawl over what's left.

 

Incidentally, the world would have looked a lot different had France won a battle in Canada in the nineteenth century: that was the critical point in history when Britain gained ascendancy and the French civilization was forced to adopt things like Greenwich as the world standard ( :D ).

 

I can't remember the battle exactly, but there was a book I was going to buy and read about it ... sometime after the War of independence in the US, and the French and British were fighting over Canada ...

[Reveilled]

The Commonwealth and the United Provinces were even allied against the Spain, no? They just turned upon eachother when Spain was no longer a key player.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Absolutely, "My enemy's enemy is my friend" ... until that particular enemy is disposed of, then we can have a brawl over what's left.

 

Incidentally, the world would have looked a lot different had France won a battle in Canada in the nineteenth century: that was the critical point in history when Britain gained ascendancy and the French civilization was forced to adopt things like Greenwich as the world standard ( :D ).

 

I can't remember the battle exactly, but there was a book I was going to buy and read about it ... sometime after the War of independence in the US, and the French and British were fighting over Canada ...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'd take a guess at the French and Indian War, which masqueraded as the Seven Years War in Europe. I don't remember the exact details, but the names sounds right for the description.

 

EDIT: After checking some, the French and Indian war ended with France ceding Canada and all lands east of the Mississippi to Great Britain, and Spain ceding Florida. However, this preceded the War of Independence, and was in fact one of the primary causes of it due to the huge debts it caused, which Parliament had to pay off through taxation.

[metadigital]

I seem to recall the war was naval, and off the coast of Canada ... dang, I'll have to look it up (it was published in the last 18 months in the UK). The title of the book was just the year "1852" or something like that.