Thread: UK more nostalgic for empire than others

For every Cecil Rhodes, there must be another few cecils to make his tea. Blessed are the Teamakers. What would Bernard Montgomery have become, without willing staff to make his full monty in the morning? Or Genghis Khan, without his volunteered maidens?

Originally Posted by Eddie Booth

before, it was like having to work out your finances using Roman numerals- possible but takes a long long time

You mean the Hindu-Arabic numerals?

Originally Posted by Eddie Booth

It was a massive benefit to the colonies suddenly to have English to think

Aside from the dense proposition you illustrate, English is a West Germanic language . . . again those Germans, eh . . . had to give you lot

Originally Posted by Eddie Booth

an advanced western language to think in.

Ah, history . . . wonderful thing

Originally Posted by panama hat

English is a West Germanic language

A bastard lanquage. Quite ugly sounding, but due to cultural imperialism, a winner

Originally Posted by Eddie Booth

Why don't the poll go ask the Hong Kong-erz about nostalgia

Why are so many proponents of White superiority intellectually and genetically inferior examples of their own race?

Originally Posted by AntRobertson

Why are so many proponents of White superiority intellectually and genetically inferior examples of their own race?

They were huffing glue when young..

Originally Posted by helge

A bastard language. Quite ugly sounding

So how does the literary heritage of your language compare would you say?

How does it stack up against Shakespeare, Dickens, Wordsworth et al?

(Let's...umm..gloss over numpty, eddie and the like.)

I love the English language- it is an unabashed whore!!

We beg steal, borrow and adopt from anyone, everywhere- which is why we have the richest, most profound and expressive vocabulary of any language.
Those of you who have inherited or adopted our gift, should be truly grateful. I kneel before thee, Chaucer and Shakespeare, Keats and Dickens. We carry your torch.

Originally Posted by cyrille

Shakespeare, Dickens, Wordsworth and the like?

Like=Cartland ?

We have nothing, Cyrille, nothing

I kinda like your Jeffrey Archer. How's he doing ?

Originally Posted by AntRobertson

Why are so many proponents of White superiority intellectually and genetically inferior examples of their own race?

Indeed. Quite true, as we've too many examples on display within this beloved venue.
And this seemingly paradoxical affliction is almost befitting to be of a commonplace paradigm.

Cheers, Anty!!

Originally Posted by helge

We have nothing, Cyrille, nothing

I kinda like your Jeffrey Archer. How's he doing ?

I'm sure you have something...but it looks like it may not be to your taste.

Jeffrey Archer will hopefully be back inside soon.

Quite true, as we've too many examples on display within this beloved venue.

Oh sorry, this is a Thai forum. So your Beloved Leader said that Thai would become a World language. And I believe, according to Thai sources, that the Thai actually built Angkor Wat.
TBH, there are two things the rest of the world (especially prickly Anglo's) can actually learn from Thai culture- although they are one and the same really. Diplomacy, and Prostitution.

Originally Posted by sabang

You might be surprised how many of the Colonized admit the same thing.
I gave up long ago trying to justify colonialism- let's just say it was a product of the times. But we were the best at it.

Hong Kong?

We didn't actually invent colonialism, international trade, slavery, globalisation, insurance, exploration etc. There were others before us. Maybe we just did it a bit better, assisted by our expertise as mariners. The industrial revolution is not ours alone- those Germans have always been damn good mechanics too (better these days). The sacrocancy of a trusted rule of law and independent, impartial tribunal goes back to Greek times. We adopted civil rights, didn't really invent them at all. And Parliament. And democracy. Separation of Power we were pretty instrumental in though.

Maybe the greatest gift is the English language, and plain old fashioned order via an organised bureaucratic structure, and rational infrastructural investment. Just cross the border from Malaysia to Thailand and if you fail to see what I mean, you are blind. Or america to mexico.

Originally Posted by AntRobertson

Have you considered getting help for either your spelling and grammar or issues with alcohol and insecurities (possibly related)?

I have.

Originally Posted by Neverna

37% reported that they think it neither something to be proud nor ashamed of
32% said empire was more something to be proud of
19% said it was more something to be ashamed of
12% said they didn't know

Is it not possible to be ashamed of it but also proud that you did colonisation (& decolonization) better than others?

Originally Posted by Plan B

Is it not possible to be ashamed of it but also proud that you did colonisation (& decolonization) better than others?

What metrics would you use? And how does one 'do' colonisation better. I guess some 'did' slavery better than others as well.

The sphere of influence regarding military, banking, illicit activity, and covert intelligence is still as predominant today as it ever was.

They didn't grow tea.

We stole that from China.

There's another way to look at it. The ex-Colonies are mostly our friends. Suppose we couldnt have done that bad. We even get to sit through those excruciating Commonwealth Games every four years, while waiting for the Olympics.

Originally Posted by Plan B

Happiness.

India, Pakistan, Afghanistan etc etc etc . . . yup, superbly happy people - and ever so happy that the Brits colonised them

Originally Posted by Plan B

Many others in Aus, Canada would concur. I get to live in a great place and I don't have to pretend to be French. Yay!

Sure, ask the Aboriginals or Inuit how happy they are that they were decimated - that's your idea of being 'better'?

As for pretending to be French, I'm sure the French will survive that . . . quite happily.

Originally Posted by Plan B

That's prolly why the Spanish/French/Germans/Portuguese/Italians lost.

Interesting - how do they 'lose'?

I guess the Brits have the Falklands and France has Tahiti, New Caledonia etc . . . yea, you win.

Afghanistan

We never colonised that lot.

Incidentally, do you regret the fact we didn't leave orrstralia to the aborigines PH?
And did we do the right thing by rejecting Hawaii's application to join the Empire?

Originally Posted by helge

A bastard lanquage.

Oh, absolutely. Adaptable, taking words frm anywhere to suit - that's how a language develops and thrives.

I was responding to the superiority claimed by Booth towards others:

Originally Posted by Eddie Booth

a big advantage of colonial membership is having an advanced western language to think in.

Originally Posted by panama hat

English is a West Germanic language . . . again those Germans, eh . . . had to give you lot

an advanced western language to think in

Originally Posted by sabang

Chaucer and Shakespeare, Keats and Dickens

No doubt great writers and thinkers, but pronouncing superiority based on that is a bit simplistic, or have you not heard (I know you have, just making a point) of Proust, Hugo, Zola, Camus, Voltaire, Dumas, Jules Verne, Brecht, Grass, Goethe, Heine, Hölderlin, Novalis, Schoppenhauer, Blixen Kierkegaard, H. K. Andersen etc etc . . . just to name some French, Danish and German ones . . . plus I don't know many Italian or Spanish or others.

How is the colonial period taught at British schools? (Honest question as I don't know)

Originally Posted by Plan B

Some put pineapple on pizza.

The monsters!

Originally Posted by panama hat

Proust, Hugo, Zola, Camus, Voltaire, Dumas, Jules Verne, Brecht, Grass, Goethe, Heine, Hölderlin, Novalis, Schoppenhauer, Blixen Kierkegaard, H. K. Andersen etc etc . . . just to name some French, Danish and German ones . . . plus I don't know many Italian or Spanish or others.

PH...you're picking from an entire continent there.

Country by country, nowhere compares to the UK in literary history.

Originally Posted by panama hat

India, Pakistan, Afghanistan etc etc etc . . . yup, superbly happy people - and ever so happy that the Brits colonised them

They weren't happy to begin with. No change there.

Originally Posted by panama hat

Sure, ask the Aboriginals or Inuit how happy they are that they were decimated - that's your idea of being 'better'?

Hey, that's the doing of your lot. Maybe one day you'll get around to sorting that out?

Originally Posted by panama hat

As for pretending to be French, I'm sure the French will survive that . . . quite happily.

Well, they're only happy when they're protesting something, which they've been doing a lot of recently, so I'll give you that. They're prolly quite happy atm.

Originally Posted by panama hat

Interesting - how do they 'lose'?

You really do have to learn how to read better.
They didn't get the tea!!!