Formerly secret documents unearthed from the National Archives have showed Britain and France considered a "union" in the 1950s.
BBC story here. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6261885.stm)
I'm glad this didn't go thru. I mean, if the sheer pompousity of the french and the sheer pompousity of the english merged, they might form a supercritical mass of sheer pompousity that could envelope the world in a suffocating cloud of smug that might choke out all life on earth.
Quote from: Dominus NoxI'm glad this didn't go thru. I mean, if the sheer pompousity of the french and the sheer pompousity of the english merged, they might form a supercritical mass of sheer pompousity that could envelope the world in a suffocating cloud of smug that might choke out all life on earth.
No, I think there would exist a narrow zone of habitable land between the cloud of Anglo-French smugness and the cloud of Utter-Twatness eminating from Dominus Noxville.
So Dominus, your path is clear - don't stop being a twat, all human life depends upon it.
Quote from: Dominus NoxI'm glad this didn't go thru. I mean, if the sheer pompousity of the french and the sheer pompousity of the english merged, they might form a supercritical mass of sheer pompousity that could envelope the world in a suffocating cloud of smug that might choke out all life on earth.
Written like a true xenophobe, Poxy! Exactly how many English or French people do you know in person then?:D
Quote from: Dominus NoxI'm glad this didn't go thru. I mean, if the sheer pompousity of the french and the sheer pompousity of the english merged, they might form a supercritical mass of sheer pompousity that could envelope the world in a suffocating cloud of smug that might choke out all life on earth.
British, not English.
Pomposity, not pompousity.
Dominus Nox never ceases to amaze me. He's the living embodiment of all the bad things that come to mind when you think about "stereotypical U.S. citizen."
Is good to remember that not everyone goes according to stereotypes, of course. I'm hoping to read some day the opinion of Nox about Spanish people. I'm really curious about which weird characteristics he thinks we have.
Quote from: ImperatorIs good to remember that not everyone goes according to stereotypes, of course. I'm hoping to read some day the opinion of Nox about Spanish people. I'm really curious about which weird characteristics he thinks we have.
Doubtless you are all evil conquistadors who play Spanish guitar with a rose between your teeth when serenading pretty, dark haired flamenco dancers on their balconies :D
(And you were expecting the Spanish Inquisition, weren't you?) :D
Quote from: O'BorgDoubtless you are all evil conquistadors who play Spanish guitar with a rose between your teeth when serenading pretty, dark haired flamenco dancers on their balconies :D
You have forgotten about how all the men wear goatee, but yes, it's quite accurate :D Have you lived here, by any chance? ;)
Quote from: O'Borg(And you were expecting the Spanish Inquisition, weren't you?) :D
Indeed. You totally got me there :D
Quote from: Dominus NoxI'm glad this didn't go thru. I mean, if the sheer pompousity of the french and the sheer pompousity of the english merged, they might form a supercritical mass of sheer pompousity that could envelope the world in a suffocating cloud of smug that might choke out all life on earth.
I'm gutted because not only would our combined imperial interests have been enough to rival the US in terms of GDP, our political might would have meant there was a third way between the USA's blatant capitalism and the Soviet Unions Stalinist totlitarianism. It would have been a good place to live.
Plus this alt-history might have given us a world where mr and mrs Nox never dropped their son on his head for entertainment.
Quote from: ImperatorDominus Nox never ceases to amaze me. He's the living embodiment of all the bad things that come to mind when you think about "stereotypical U.S. citizen."
Really?
See as an American he's kind of pathetic to me, but definitely not the example of what's wrong. He's pretty uneducated, obviously pretty young, and he strongly craves attention. To me he is the average teenager.
To me the bad things Euro's tend to think of as bad, pale to what is really wrong in this country. Apathy. Loud and obnoxious is annoying. Opinionated can be a bother. Some of the self righteousness can be hard to stomach-but those are all things you can find in any stereotype, in any culture.
For a country that claims to hold freedom in such high regard we've managed to deny said freedoms to a significant portion of our citizens for a significant portion of our history. For a country that started out as an amazing social experiment with such lofty ideals, look at what we've become?
As a patriot, a man who has served his nation, as a man who has worked in the public service all his life I am pretty disappointed most of the time. Not with kids like Nox, their the by product. But the rich white old people who set the rules for this game.
Anyways, that's enough of my ranting.
Edit
I corrected my spelling a little. Damn wireless key board is on the fritz.
Quote from: Serious PaulReally?
Anyways, that's enough of my ranting.
You can rant more often like that Serious Paul.That seemed deep and heartfelt.:)
Quote from: StumpydaveI'm gutted because not only would our combined imperial interests have been enough to rival the US in terms of GDP, our political might would have meant there was a third way between the USA's blatant capitalism and the Soviet Unions Stalinist totlitarianism. It would have been a good place to live.
Yeah, we've a huge amount of common history (we used to take turns conquering each other - if you count D-Day, I believe it's their turn to invade us) and our kids already learn each others language in school. We'd get decent food and wine and they'd get decent sports teams and popular music
What was there to lose?
Quote from: StumpydaveI'm gutted because not only would our combined imperial interests have been enough to rival the US in terms of GDP, our political might would have meant there was a third way between the USA's blatant capitalism and the Soviet Unions Stalinist totlitarianism. It would have been a good place to live.
Plus, you might've gotten the Chunnel completed
years ahead of schedule. :)
!i!
Quote from: Serious PaulHe's pretty uneducated, obviously pretty young, and he strongly craves attention. To me he is the average teenager.
To me the bad things Euro's tend to think of as bad, pale to what is really wrong in this country. Apathy. Loud and obnoxious is annoying. Opinionated can be a bother. Some of the self righteousness can be hard to stomach-but those are all things you can find in any stereotype, in any culture.
For a country that claims to hold freedom in such high regard we've managed to deny said freedoms to a significant portion of our citizens for a significant portion of our history. For a country that started out as an amazing social experiment with such lofty ideals, look at what we've become?
As a patriot, a man who has served his nation, as a man who has worked in the public service all his life I am pretty disappointed most of the time. Not with kids like Nox, their the by product. But the rich white old people who set the rules for this game.
Anyways, that's enough of my ranting.
And a very interesting rant it is. I'n always interested in things like that, as I'm aware that most of we know about you North Americans comes through the stereotypical filter of Hollywood, news and similar. It's always a good thing to have the chance of knowing things first hand.
I agree with you in that both the good and bad things go farther our stereotypes. But I said that Nox comes out as a living stereotype, as for many Europeans I know (and take this just as my personal experience), most of the time Americans come out as spoiled teenagers. For the good and the bad. And it's always good to have a chance of knowing things first hand and shake the prejudice, the same way that I like when Pundit talks about Uruguay and breaks the preconceived ideas one could have about that part of the world.
Anyway, Paul, thanks for your post.
Quote from: ImperatorDominus Nox never ceases to amaze me. .
Well, it's pretty easy to amaze someone with a brain the size of a peanut.
Schooled! In yo' face!
!i!
Well, you can say whatever you want about my brain, but I'm still waiting for your enlightened opinions on Spanish. Please, tell me the truth about who we really are.
My first reaction was a quote from "Yes Minister" (http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/articles/y/yesminister_7777145.shtml):
QuoteSir Humphrey Appleby: Minister, Britain has had the same foreign policy objective for at least the last 500 years: to create a disunited Europe. In that cause we have fought with the Dutch against the Spanish, with the Germans against the French, with the French and Italians against the Germans, and with the French against the Germans and Italians. Divide and rule, you see. Why should we change now when it's worked so well?
James Hacker: That's all ancient history, surely.
Sir Humphrey Appleby: Yes, and current policy. We had to break the whole thing up, so we had to get inside. We tried to break it up from the outside, but that wouldn't work. Now that we're inside we can make a complete pig's breakfast of the whole thing: set the Germans against the French, the French against the Italians, the Italians against the Dutch. The Foreign Office is terribly pleased, it's just like old times.
James Hacker: But if that's true, why is the foreign office pushing for higher membership?
Sir Humphrey Appleby: I'd have thought that was obvious. The more members an organization has, the more arguments it can stir up. The more futile and impotent it becomes.
James Hacker: What appalling cynicism.
Sir Humphrey Appleby: We call it diplomacy, Minister.
That proposal doesn't surprise me too much, though it seems a century (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_iii#Demise) off (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_Eugene%2C_Prince_Imperial). ;)