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This blog is written in en-GB

shkspr.mobi

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Re: This blog is written in en-GB

#251

Post by contagiousflow »

throwaway2037 wrote: post #138
vitally3643 wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Certain cultures teach that diversity is a bad thing to be feared and extinguished. Diversity is only a good thing when your mind has been poisoned by "education" and "experience". It requires an open mind to see diverse experiences as a good thing, and certain cultures think having citizens with open minds is an unprofitable way to run a society.

> Certain cultures teach that diversity is a bad thing to be feared and extinguished. Ok, I take the bait. Which ones?

Have you never met a pro ICE person from USA?

Re: This blog is written in en-GB

#252

Post by TFNA »

fmajid wrote: post #211
freehorse wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Historically many (predominantly muslim) places in near and middle east have been very diverse, though maybe not exactly the kind of diversity usually conceptualised in the west. If anything, the idea of homogeneous nation states is more like rooted in the enlightenment.

> the idea of homogeneous nation states is more like rooted in the enlightenment. More precisely the Peace of Westphalia, which was a deal between the crowned heads of Europe to stop rocking the boat, and the absolute opposite of what the Enlightenment wanted since it was designed to consolidate royal political control. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_of_Westphalia

The striving for a linguistically homogeneous nation state in Europe is strongly associated with the French Revolution, which was one of the major expressions of the Enlightenment. It was then that a centralized government began strongly sanctioning regional languages that the monarchical regime had largely left alone (albeit out of any official use).

After that, the next big wave was the revolutions of 1848, which were inspired by national romanticism, but it’s valid to see that as an evolution of ideas that first arose in the Enlightenment. It certainly wasn’t out of any belief in royal absolutism.

Re: This blog is written in en-GB

#253

Post by drcongo »

dofm wrote: post #208
drcongo wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That one only works when the homeland is that beautiful.

I don't know. I mean it's not a longing for just a place, as I understand it. I am not even sure that hiraeth is necessarily longing for the beauty of a place or time. Hiraeth, it seems to me, could equally be a longing for the wordless Welsh expressions of emotion, or for rainy days, or damp, or a time that has passed, depending on where the bearer of the emotion is currently feeling it. (I am not Welsh, but it has…

That's an excellent description I think.

Re: This blog is written in en-GB

#254

Post by jowsie »

mghackerlady wrote: post #68
dukeyukey wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I (a Brit) moves to the US, I'd absolutely get a Yorkshire-branded tea caddy filled with teabags on my desk. Sometimes you need to live up to the stereotypes.

I've always wondered, do that many brits actually like tea or is it more of a cultural thing? I've very rarely had a tea I like (though, I've never had one I actively disliked), and I can't imagine that's the case for most people but it makes me wonder

The majority like it, though there's always a debate about the correct preparation method. I've always felt like a bit of an outsider whenever a brew is offered and I ask if they have coffee, and I've lived here all mi life.

Re: This blog is written in en-GB

#255

Post by dhosek »

tpoacher wrote: post #238
throwaway2037 wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Certain cultures teach that diversity is a bad thing to be feared and extinguished. Ok, I take the bait. Which ones?

Is it bait? I'm pretty sure it's a reasonably factual, albeit general claim. Asking chatGPT for country-specific examples for instance gives this: > Yes—some countries have (at various times, and in some cases still today) adopted policies aimed at making the population more “homogeneous,” through segregation, assimilation pressure, or exclusion/deportation. Concrete examples: - South Africa (apartheid era, 1948–1990…

I would edit the US item to remove “historical” given the current efforts to reinstate everything in parentheses and add new ones.

Re: This blog is written in en-GB

#256

Post by MrJohz »

tialaramex wrote: post #234
mghackerlady wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there an internationally agreed upon standard for designating AAV? I suppose it's a large and influential enough dialect it wouldn't hurt to have one

The main people who'd want such a thing would be linguists, so that they can label samples. The non-prestige dialects of a language don't usually attract official interest, not least because officially the people who understand that dialect could also understand a prestige variant. Scousers may not talk like King Charles among themselves, but if he speaks they're not confused about what the King is saying even if the…

In fairness, I think that's partly because AAV doesn't have the political and national identity that some other similar dialects have. I (as a lay person with no training in linguistics) feel like AAV and Scots are similar in terms of how far away from English they are, and many people would describe Scots as its own language, distinct from English.

Re: This blog is written in en-GB

#257

Post by ben_w »

dhosek wrote: post #245
Pooge wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Anything else is as bad as using mm:hh... Please tell me that's not a thing.

It is now.

In a moment of whimsy I briefly considered a date format where digits were sorted alphabetically.

2026-07-02-16-31-52 -> -----00011222235667

Hopefully it will remain a nonsense and never be seen in the wild, unlike the phone number field which I found on a real website which responded to scroll events to increase and decrease the value it contained.

Re: This blog is written in en-GB

#258

Post by dhosek »

kstenerud wrote: post #75
biofox wrote: post #28

I am the only Brit in the department I work in. No one gets the cultural references or British idioms I use, and I've found myself significantly changing the language I use to a very utilitarian and direct style to prevent the endless blank stares... reading this blog post just made me realise that this self-editing has made my interactions rather more 'flat' and unnatural, as they now lack spontaneity, with everythi…

I have a cunning plan: Sneak as many Brits into Hollywood as possible, and have them slip in as many British references into American films as they can. Over time, they'll effectively BECOME British, and Robert's your father's brother! Just whatever you do, don't mention the taxes! I did once, but I think I got away with it...

I got that last reference. That episode has the funniest exchange in the history of television:

—He keeps talking about the war.

—Well you started it.

—No we didn’t.

—Yes, you did. You invaded Poland!

Re: This blog is written in en-GB

#259

Post by jowsie »

SadErn wrote: post #15

My first thought after reading is that I fear for the author's safety. From the outside, this does not appear to be a safe time to express nationalism or cultural pride in the UK. The Internet is not free in the UK and decreasingly so in the rest of the world.

There's a rather large and easily understood difference between wanting to preserve your Britishness in the face of the Americans, and joining Lennon-Yaxleys band of gammon faced flag shaggers (though flying the flag is less of a signal while the footies on).

Re: This blog is written in en-GB

#260

Post by gib444 »

cmiles8 wrote: post #99

The ultimate irony is that many folks asking for things to be “more inclusive” are asking for someone else to modify their behavior to fit the requester’s preference and definition of the “right” way, which is the literal opposite of being inclusive. This blog calls that out brilliantly.

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