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little Englander

(422 Posts)
obieone Mon 25-Apr-16 06:46:17

This subject has come up again on another thread.

What is wrong with little Englander? Or big Englander. Or little Welsher. Or big Welsher? Or little Scotlander? Or big scotlander. Or little Northern Irelander? Or big Northere Irelander? Or little Rep of Irelander? Or big Republic of Irelander?

Or little any other nation on earth? Or big any other nation on earth?

Maggiemaybe Mon 09-May-16 09:47:42

No, die kleine Engländerin wasn't patronising or sexist back in the day. I was called that often when I lived in Germany back in the 70s and was never offended. Why would I be? I was young, I was female, I was English! And if vonmichael says it was also applied to very good-looking English women, well I'm happy to take that compliment too grin

Alea Mon 09-May-16 09:14:02

Quite like pigs

"Dogs looks up to you, horses looks down on you, but pigs is equal"

(Fair enough, provide your own version of a "failed wind up", my point remains)

Anniebach Mon 09-May-16 09:03:20

Is it ever acceptable to describe a human being as an animal? No matter fat or thin, pig is insulting ,

Alea Mon 09-May-16 08:51:55

So is a wind-up only such if it is successful? Is not the attempt enough to justify the word? Similarly, if an insult falls wide of the mark because a person refuses to be insulted , is it no longer insulting?
So, "fat pig" is clearly fine in agricultural terms, but if applied to a person who says "I admit I am overweight and also a glutton" is it therefore acceptable?

I will rephrase. " I think vonmichael is attempting a wind up"

Or as I also said
good try, vonmichael

Alea Mon 09-May-16 08:44:59

grumpa, pause your finger on the vowel you want to use and you will be offered a variety of umlauts (umläuter?) to choose from. Without lifting your finger slide it onto the one you want. I found it takes perseverancesmile!

thatbags Mon 09-May-16 08:44:48

Except that no-one else seems to be 'wound up' wink

Anniebach Mon 09-May-16 08:44:46

Yes a single f is pronounced v but cannot be used in the written word because it doesn't exist .

There can be a slight difference in Welsh spoken in North Wales to South Wales but the grammar is the same, rather like the differences between north and South England,

Little Englander is not an insult and has nothing to do with twiggy or Carnaby .street, the Americans moved the feelings of teenagers around the world long before,

Seems English rose is confused with little Englander

Alea Mon 09-May-16 08:41:41

I think vonmichael is winding us up.
"Little Engländer/Engländerin " assuming a German background based on his name, is such a sexist, patronising description, worthy of the worst of the Eurovision Song Contest, with few if any political connotations. Whereas it is historically based on a principle of the 19th century, (paradoxically
for all those who connect it with Right Wing /BNP type sentiments) to describe a person opposed to the extension of the British Empire.
Good try, vonmichael

thatbags Mon 09-May-16 08:32:53

Good point, grumppa.

grumppa Mon 09-May-16 08:31:28

Is there a risk of confusion here because Englander (with an umlaut over the a that I can't find on my iPad at present) is German for an English person?

Welshwife Mon 09-May-16 08:29:14

If I remember correctly from my Welsh lessons - single 'f' is pronounced 'v' and double 'ff'is pronounced as the English 'f'. I found it a difficult language to try and learn but I think that was partly due to the fact that I was starting it from the position of having no Welsh at all whereas most of the other members of the class had done it to some extent at school. Also they did not teach it by telling us the sentence construction but by teaching phrases etc as a small child would learn it. I asked them to tell me the words which were nouns, verbs etc and the construction to use but the person taking the course actually refused. I did not feel that was helpful!
The pronunciation of 'y' is a hard one - several ways that can be said - some of which depend on the position of the letter.
As to the way all official documents are sent out in both Welsh and English that is fine by me but I know a good number of truly Welsh by parentage and birth people who have never lived outside the area in which they were born who feel it is a waste of money sending out double paperwork with everything. In South Wales until you get West of Swansea apart from words such as 'cwtch' you hear very little Welsh being spoken day to day but it is taught in school as a compulsory subject from reception classes till GCSE exams. Because there are a number of variations of the language depending on the area of Wales the version taught is an agreed one which it is hoped will become more prevalent as time goes on.

thatbags Mon 09-May-16 08:24:55

Interesting posts, vonmichael. It would seem that, as with many expressions used as insults, the Little Englander one was also used in neutral and complimentary ways, which just goes to show, again, that it's not words themselves that are insulting but how they are used. People insult; words are just words.

Alea Mon 09-May-16 08:11:46

confusedconfusedconfused

vonmichael Mon 09-May-16 07:42:29

Do you remember * Twiggy ** in her glorious time?? Who of you does?? The little Englander was also a synonym very good looking young English girls of that time.
In a time where Penny lane and Carnaby street moved the feelings of the Teenage generation round the world. What a great time it was.

vonmichael Mon 09-May-16 07:35:43

O I'm so sorry but I think the definition of a little * Englander * is been used in the English speaking countries round the world.
I first came into touch with that expression when I had to do little repairs on my car made in England 1968. It's is ( was ) the name of a tool cos English screws had different measurements from those here on the Continent.

trisher Sat 30-Apr-16 13:51:27

There may have been Scots, Irish and Welsh amongst the people who instituted the rule of the British but we should also realise that many of the people who claimed to be from these countries were in fact English settlers who had been installed to ensure that there was no rebellion. That these people then involved themselves in spreading the policies of imperialism is understandable. It is also understandable that after years of English rule the natural inhabitants of these countries would have accepted the ideas that had been instilled in them. They weren't spreading the Welsh or Gaelic language, it was English.
Obama's mum probably taught him to ignore mad men and drunks calling him names.

Jalima Sat 30-Apr-16 13:17:39

He doesn't have to reply, I was just thinking what I would say if someone was derogatory about my heritage directly to my face.

Otherwise a dignified silence if it is not a remark made directly to someone.

Anniebach Sat 30-Apr-16 13:15:00

Why should Obama have to reply, it was said by a man who is intent on being PM , it should have not been said

Anniebach Sat 30-Apr-16 13:13:13

Yes there were Welshmen but under English rule , this is not accepted by some English . No use denying the treatment of Scotland, Ireland and Wales, everything fine until these three countries wanted equality

Jalima Sat 30-Apr-16 13:04:09

Presumably the Scottish, Irish and Welsh imperialists, together with the English, - ie the British imperialists - were the ones who prevented the Maori and Aborigianal languages from being used, many of which are now lost as a result.

Many Aboriginal languages are lost because up until the 1970s government policies banned and discouraged Aboriginal people from speaking their languages. Members of the Stolen Generations were one such group.
In many cases, children were barred from speaking their mother tongue at school or in Christian missions.
“Sometimes Aboriginal parents also thought that their language would hold their kids back, so they wouldn’t use it,” Professor Michael Walsh, an expert on Aboriginal languages, says [1].
Early attempts to document Aboriginal languages usually focused on simple word lists for novel items such as weapons and animals.
First Fleet officer William Dawes is a notable exception. He recorded conversational snippets of the Dharug language spoken around Sydney that tell of the social and cultural contexts, personalities, actions and feelings of the Aboriginal people he interacted with [2]. Dawes was taught by a 15-year-old Aboriginal girl named Patyegarang

I have read a book about Dawes - an Englishman from Hampshire.

Not everything is black and white, it was British not English imperialism. And the British were not the only imperialists.

Jalima Sat 30-Apr-16 12:58:34

www.educationscotland.gov.uk/scotsandaustralia/impact/index.asp

Although Macquarie is seen as a more benign Governor, Aboriginal people were killed, children taken from their families, land rights given to the British. Macquarie was a Scot - one of many.

There were Welshmen amongst Cook's crew on his early voyages. Francis Wilkinson of Bangor in Caernarfon was master's mate on the Endeavour, and, although there is no evidence that he came to Australia, David Samwell (poet and physician with the bardic name of Dafydd Ddu Feddyg- Black David the Doctor) was the medical officer aboard the Discovery who witnessed Cook's death in the Sandwich Islands (now Hawaii) in 1779.

web.aanet.com.au/soulpsychology/welshaustralian/Historyindex.htm

Jalima Sat 30-Apr-16 12:42:47

In the interests of fairness and following on from trisher's post, not all imperialists were English. Surely this is evidenced by the vast number of Scottish, Welsh and Irish placenames around the world.

www.history.ac.uk/reviews/review/1302

www.historytoday.com/blog/2012/06/scotland-and-british-empire

when he called Obama half Kenyan it was imperialism raising it's ugly head again
I still think the best way to deal with something like that if it was meant as an insult would be to say 'Yes, and I am very proud of my heritage'. Pricks their balloon.

Anniebach Sat 30-Apr-16 11:58:19

What a fair view on this trisher.

When a country has been stopped from speaking in their own language , then fight to have their language recognised it is natural to be protective of it and to get upset when it is still dismissed by some or criticised fir speaking it

trisher Sat 30-Apr-16 11:46:42

There is no doubt that the suppression of a language was closely linked to British Imperialism in all the countries that comprised the British Empire. The reinstatement of these languages also links with the resurgence of such a country's independence. It isn't useful to condemn this resurgence or to deny it has a place in today's society. If a minority of people speak a language that doesn't mean it should never be used. To deny people the right to use a language because it was taken from them is being a "Little Englander".

Anniebach Sat 30-Apr-16 08:47:51

Yes it does Absent, I have been told on here often - it's in the past- but it isn't , the invasion by the Vikings cannot be compared with imperialism , who has talked to people who suffered under the Viking invasion ! But this is what gets dragged up