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[scrdest]

polish and urdu are fine

latin and english need to be replaced

i can see some logic behind this

but soon enough polish and urdu will stop being fine, won't they

You have obviously never learned Polish >.<

And that's a Pole saying that.

[Loud Whispers]

English is special though, what with it being the latin of our age.

I always get annoyed when I see Latin inscriptions in Scotland. If it was up to me, I'd have them all removed and replaced with Gaelic.

Why's that? I'd have thought you'd have liked them, what with them being one of the rare bits of surviving pan-european history that wasn't either science, plays or wars. I think it also goes without saying you'd replace english if it lost its practical value like latin?. Not realy politics, but at least interesting.

[TD1]

English is special though, what with it being the latin of our age.

I always get annoyed when I see Latin inscriptions in Scotland. If it was up to me, I'd have them all removed and replaced with Gaelic.

Would you also take Chinese writing down and replace it with English if you saw it?

I do not see what point removing Latin has, other than spite. A better alternative may be to put Gaelic up alongside it, no?

Ninja. Meh. Still posting this

[Owlbread]

You have obviously never learned Polish >.<

And that's a Pole saying that.

Nie mowim bardzo dobrze po polsku, albo rozumiem malo. Takze nie wiem, czy mowim po polsku lub po cescinu/ruscinu.

Why's that? I'd have thought you'd have liked them, what with them being one of the rare bits of surviving pan-european history that wasn't either science, plays or wars.

I'm not too big on pan-European history past the Neolithic era anyway.

I think it also goes without saying you'd replace english if it lost its practical value like latin?. Not realy politics, but at least interesting.

Well, I'd replace English with Gaelic or Scots for patriotic reasons more than anything else.

Would you also take Chinese writing down and replace it with English if you saw it?

No. I'm referring to things like Scottish government department mottos and such. The Chinese also didn't try to conquer and subjugate us in antiquity.

I do not see what point removing Latin has, other than spite. A better alternative may be to put Gaelic up alongside it, no?

The only reason why Latin would be there in the first place is because a nearly-conquered people began to look up to their conquerers as role models, treating their language as a prestige language and ignoring their own and allowing it to fall into disuse. It gives me the willies for some reason.

[smjjames]

Besides, latin is being used in science. Not so much as a language, but species names are latin (usually) and there are lots of other stuff with latin roots.

[nenjin]

Latin and its use can be taken as a example of Imperial Europe and Catholicism's conquest of Ireland and Scotland and the displacement of their culture. Goes all the way back to Hadrian.

[Helgoland]

The Chinese also didn't try to conquer and subjugate us in antiquity.

I think I've finally found out what rubs me the wrong way about your views: Why do you identify with the ancient Scots and not with the ancient Romans? On an abstract level, not a gut one, of course.

[TD1]

As the English language itself, it was a cultural change because of proximity to either oppression or close contact with foreign influence. I don't know, but I assume they weren't forced to write in Latin. A simple cultural change, and one associated with what the soon-to-be-catholic Scotland would see as the Holy Language of God.

You can see why it caught on.

[nenjin]

It was a regular feature of cultural dominance in the past to obliterate native languages (and traditions, celebrations, festivals, religions.....) by forcing children to learn, speak and write in their non-native tongue until it became their native tongue. Americans tried it with the Native Americans, and I have no doubt Roman Catholics of antiquity did it to anybody they assimilated.

A humorous yet probably pretty accurate example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIAdHEwiAy8

[smjjames]

Both latin and greek are the origins of a hell of a lot of root prefixes and suffixes.

Anyways, back to news stuff, evidently there are going to be thousands of observers for the vote coming up sunday, so, I wonder how many will be in the eastern part of Ukraine? I can understand them not being there for the separatist referendums, but this one is for the whole country.

The protestors (was going to say rebels, but um, protestors is a less, um, hot, way of describing them) have said multiple times that they were going to try and sabotage the vote in some way or other.

As the English language itself, it was a cultural change because of proximity to either oppression or close contact with foreign influence. I don't know, but I assume they weren't forced to write in Latin. A simple cultural change, and one associated with what the soon-to-be-catholic Scotland would see as the Holy Language of God.

You can see why it caught on.

The main reason why English caught on as a language is because of the British Empire. Edit: Or maybe you were talking about Latin, not English.

[MonkeyHead]

The Chinese also didn't try to conquer and subjugate us in antiquity.

I think I've finally found out what rubs me the wrong way about your views: Why do you identify with the ancient Scots and not with the ancient Romans? On an abstract level, not a gut one, of course.

Possibly as the Romans never really conquered most of what would come to be Scotland?

[Owlbread]

I think I've finally found out what rubs me the wrong way about your views: Why do you identify with the ancient Scots and not with the ancient Romans? On an abstract level, not a gut one, of course.

That's a marvelous question. It's hard because we know so little about the ancient Scots so I can't make many pronouncements on the things they considered important in contrast to the Romans, but considering we know what the Romans put value on and we know their actions (all of which I abhor) I feel closer to my ancestors than the people that tried to conquer them. The Romans represent virtually everything I hate.

The gut feelings are strong though. When I look at Scottish art and culture from that time, it just feels "right" - it's hard to describe.

Possibly as the Romans never really conquered most of what would come to be Scotland?

This is true, but I hear that was more because the Romans really couldn't be arsed with us anymore; we were just too much trouble and not worth it. They did try to build a large marching camp in my county though at Inchtuthil - the same kind of marching camp that developed into some of the biggest cities in Europe, including Vienna. Who knows, maybe if they'd stayed we could have had a very different sort of Scotland.

I'm glad that never happened, though.

[TD1]

It is almost certain that you are of Roman descent somewhere, Owlbread.

They did terrible things, true, but also wonderful things. They were the highest point of civilization up until more modern times. They spread that.

[ChairmanPoo]

Latin and its use can be taken as a example of Imperial Europe and Catholicism's conquest of Ireland and Scotland and the displacement of their culture. Goes all the way back to Hadrian.

...but Hadrian wasn't Catholic. Nor did he conquer Ireland, or Scotland, for that matter.

[smjjames]

It is almost certain that you are of Roman descent somewhere, Owlbread.

They did terrible things, true, but also wonderful things. They were the highest point of civilization up until more modern times. They spread that.

In EUROPE. Though the arabs also brought a significant degree of civilization.