| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
PC Parrot
Joined: 11 Dec 2009
Posts: 459
Location: Moral Police Station
|
 Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2014 3:32 am Post subject: Re: English, parrot fashion |
 |
|
| grahamb wrote: |
From the Concise Oxford English Dictionary:
Generalise: Make a general or broad statement by inferring from specific cases.
Many: a large number of.
Most: the majority of; nearly all of.
Saying "so many English people" is hardly a generalisation.
By the way, the 2011 census showed there were 53 million south Britons, not 30-40 million.
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171778_270487.pdf
|
Nice try grahamb, but the problem with your generalising arises not in the 'many' but in the 'you':
| Quote: |
Why do so many English people get hot and bothered over the question of an independent Scotland? Are you afraid of going it alone? Look on the bright side: if an independent Scotland fails, you'll have the last laugh.
|
I see two possible readings of 'you'.
(1) 'you' refers to 'you English people who are hot and bothered' - including those contributing to this thread.
Or
(2) 'you' refers to English people - including those contributing to this thread.
My reading is the second, which makes your statement a sweeping generalisation. Why the second meaning?
Well, if you intended the first, you would be referring to posters on this thread who were hot and bothered. But there are no hot under the collar Sassenachs on this thread. You would have made them up in your mind, and you would be addressing people that didn't exist. This would mark you as being stark-raving-mad, which I am not convinced you are.
There is a third possible reading, but I think you have more sophistication that a 3rd grader and wouldn't resort to such Kindergarten rhetoric.
On the subject of the 30-40 million, unlike you, I wasn't assuming that I could talk for all English people, so I thought instead that I would talk on behalf of only 30-40 million of them.
Last edited by PC Parrot on Thu Mar 13, 2014 3:50 am; edited 1 time in total |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Sashadroogie
Joined: 17 Apr 2007
Posts: 11061
Location: Moskva, The Workers' Paradise
|
| Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2014 3:49 am Post subject: |
|
|
So much confusion!
What we need is a nice dialectical analysis, rooted firmly in materialism. All of these jingoistic displays are nothing but smoke and mirrors, obscuring the deadening hand of the Piggies.... Erm, deadening trotters, or hooves. You get what I mean.
Think I need a nice dialectical single malt. Breakfast time after all. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
grahamb
Joined: 30 Apr 2003
Posts: 1945
|
| Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2014 9:34 am Post subject: One for the road |
|
|
Never mind Marx, George Orwell's the man. If I may be permitted to paraphrase him, Two legs good, four legs hopelessly drunk!  |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Teacher in Rome
Joined: 09 Jul 2003
Posts: 1286
|
| Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2014 10:42 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I don't see what all the fuss is about. If the Scots want to devolve, fair play to them. It strikes me that few Scots want to be part of the UK, and a large majority (at least of those I've met) have nothing but scorn for their English neighbours. And who can blame them. "Governed" by a load of Etonians for whom they never voted (something we at least have in common) and their assets systematically stripped...
In a perhaps related point, the longer the EU goes on, the more I think we'll see separatism and a rejection of cultural hegemony. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Sashadroogie
Joined: 17 Apr 2007
Posts: 11061
Location: Moskva, The Workers' Paradise
|
| Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 6:05 am Post subject: |
|
|
| What about Welsh independence? How about a Cornish republic? The Isle of Man? Maybe a Kingdom of Yorkshire? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
grahamb
Joined: 30 Apr 2003
Posts: 1945
|
| Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 1:34 pm Post subject: Independence for everyone! |
|
|
Yes, yes, yes, no.
Sasha, I can't believe that you would advocate imposing a bourgeois monarchy on the socialist people of Yorkshire. I shall denounce you to Comrade Putin, so pack your winter woollies and get ready for a long holiday in Siberia. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
grahamb
Joined: 30 Apr 2003
Posts: 1945
|
| Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 1:43 pm Post subject: You, you and you |
|
|
Wriggle all you like, PC Parrot, I stand by my earlier comments.
By the way, it's Sasunnach with a "u". It's Gaelic for Saxon and its use as a pejorative is a fairly modern phenomenon. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
PC Parrot
Joined: 11 Dec 2009
Posts: 459
Location: Moral Police Station
|
| Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 1:59 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I didn't think you would be persuaded by rational argument.
And regarding Sassenach, I'm using the English spelling thank you very much.
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/Sassenach
You will notice that they say in Scottish Gaelic it should be written 'Sasunnoch' - unless, that is, you are saying Sasunnach is the plural. I'm all ears. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
grahamb
Joined: 30 Apr 2003
Posts: 1945
|
| Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 5:39 pm Post subject: Argument |
|
|
"I didn't think you would be persuaded by rational argument."
Well, at least you (singular) tried.
I think you (singular) mean the anglicised spelling.
"they say in Scottish Gaelic"
Not another generalisation! 
Regarding the Gaelic spelling, the LearnGaelic dictionary gives the singular as Sasannach, the plural being Sasainnach.
http://learngaelic.net/dictionary/?abairt=sasannach&men=false
I'm happy to admit my mistake.
All ears? Live long and prosper. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
scot47
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 15343
|
| Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2014 11:43 am Post subject: |
|
|
| The Politically Incorrect Parrot is taking an interest in the National Question ? How droll ! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
grahamb
Joined: 30 Apr 2003
Posts: 1945
|
| Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2014 4:00 pm Post subject: Droll |
|
|
| Those ex-City types know what's best for us! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
fat_chris
Joined: 10 Sep 2003
Posts: 3198
Location: Beijing
|
| Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2014 2:58 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Sashadroogie wrote: |
| What about Welsh independence? How about a Cornish republic? The Isle of Man? Maybe a Kingdom of Yorkshire? |
And North London as well!
Warm regards,
fat_chris |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
grahamb
Joined: 30 Apr 2003
Posts: 1945
|
| Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2014 6:25 am Post subject: Free for all |
|
|
| If Crimea can do it, so can Norf London. Welcome aboard! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
