The Great Christmas Debate

Yes, but he does it with such French style!

Set, you have to put it into context where he's coming from with all of this.
The French are currently seen as the sick man of Europe....the final basket case economy that's overdue a meltdown, because of the failed euro experiment.
Germany and France pushed this "one size fits all" currency, and in the process have helped push Greece, Spain, Ireland and Portugal into severe meltdown. Ireland have just about scraped themselves free of it for now, but it looks like France will pretty soon take its place.
All the while, Britain has stayed well out of the euro and many here forecast the meltdown years ago, and were haughtily scoffed at by the French in the process.
One thing the French do well is haughty arrogance, especially if they can aim it at the British.

Now, Britain has by far the best growth forecasts in the whole of the EU, and France is in serious trouble.
It is now Britain's turn to say I told you so, and Olly's nationalist pride is probably hurt, which is not surprising as it can't be pleasant.

In the meantime, the Dutch, Germans and Brits (me included) are now looking at all those nice cheap French properties, and a few thousand of us will probably settle there within a year or two, in addition to the many thousands of us that live there already.
Eymet in the Dordogne already has its own cricket team, most of the shops now cater for non French residents because their numbers are so great, and it is so common to hear English being spoken in the markets and bars, it's almost just like home.
The French pushed through a single trade market with free movement and residence, and now their chickens are coming home to roost as we buy up their land cheaply because their big euro experiment has all but ruined their economy.

No wonder Olly's a bit upset. I would be too if my country had worn economic blinkers through sheer obstinacy and pride.

Lovely countryside though, and the people are so friendly.

You are so concerned with making French more important than it is you ignore the reality. Yes, French was important but it doesn't make up half which was your original claim. Your 40% claim is also unsupported by facts. It seems you refuse to be content with 29%.

By the way since Latin makes up 29% of the English language it means English not only absorbed the entire Latin lexicon but it more than doubled it in size.

And you are seriously slow minded. Age perhaps?

That's right, when you can't support your silly thesis, stoop to personal remarks. You have not come even close to supporting your original thesis of half the language being derived from French, nor have you been able to support a claim that 40% of English words in common use are from French. I also see that you're trying to slip cultural heritage in here again. That's really what it's all about for you. You want to claim that language is evidence of culture. That if the English use words of a French origin, their culture originates with the French, too. You haven't substantiated any of your claims.

I guess it will not be time for you to spew out more disobliging personal remarks.

"The German originates it, the French imitate it and the Englishman exploits it...."


Shouldn't that be "The German plunders it, the French turn a blind eye to it and the Englishman liberates it" ?

Found a home for all those paintings yet?

At least we invented the Christmas tree.
And the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha is German as is the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg.

Keep insulting those you don't understand, Set.

Now there's a cultural source for the English--the Germans! The German House of Hanover ascended the English throne in 1714, almost 300 years ago--they've been unable to get rid of the Germans since then.

It's hilarious the delusion Olive Tree entertains about French cultural influences. The French love their cuisine--is he willing for them to take credit for toad in the hole, bubble and squeak, spotted dick, bangers and mash and Yorkshire pudding?

I didn't insult you, and that's hilarious coming from you. To say that you are delusional is simply to point out that you entertain delusions. If you feel insulted by that, rid yourself of your delusions.

As I said, the actual percentage does not matter much, it's the order of magnitude that matters.

About the size of vocabulary derived from Latin, it must be all these scientific names who add up. How many words are based on the Latin for milk (lac,lactis)? Lactose, lactoserum, lactic, lactiferous, lactase, lacto-intolerant, etc etc.

I'm not upset. You guys are, evidently. Oh the furor unleashed by an etymological discussion... You're afraid of your own words, as if they were a fifth column operating from within your minds.

You can do better than that. Come on! Try and use one of these difficult words of French origin... ;-)

There's no need to "do better." You're peddling delusions you cherish. When people dispute you, you response is nasty personal reflections. Grow up.

When people disagree with me politely, I respond to them politely. Aggressive, obtuse individuals such as yourself are not even worthy of contempt, let alone a reply.

There's also the question of the French language, as much as economic performance. My daughter's a linguist, she's currently studying German Spanish and Chinese Mandarin at university. She's also fairly fluent in Japanese. He French is about as good as mine, and the only reason she studied it, (at NVQ level) was because she's thinking of working for the EU.

French was what we studied at school, not today's kids.

You realise, that you're behaving like a stereotypical arrogant, angry, and more that a little obnoxious, Frenchman. Have you no sense of irony?

The last time you behaved like this was when you didn't get a joke, another character trait.

Are you really like this?

No, I realize that you are perceiving me through the prism of your prejudice. The more youtube videos you put out describing your derogatory outlook on other nations, the better. Spit it out! Get it out of your system.

No, you are acting out some sort of farce in your head. You're being quite absurd. Blame it on prejudice if you will, I really can't be bothered.

You really let Foofie get to you, he lit the blue touch paper and then walked away, as you went mental. He's never done that before. Now he'll be insufferable.

Watch the video, Rik Mayall is brilliant. It's really funny.

You are the one trying to brand this as a pissing context between two national prides. I always advise people who want to learn French to not lose their time with it and learn a USEFUL language like Spanish instead. French is just too complicated and too little spoken to be worth the trouble, unless one has a specific interest. I posted abundantly from scientific sources, in this discussion while YOU posted two or three vids with xenophobic overtones, not Foofie. Foofie's only mistake was saying out loud the reasons why my take was so adamantly and fervently resisted all along: pride and prejudice.

But facts are facts. You're entitled to whatever 'ambivalence' (your word) you hold against the French; you're not entitled to your own facts. Your idea that there were more Norse than French words in English was false and you now know that it's in fact the opposite, by FAR, whatever the numbers. Consider yourself educated on the matter.

thank you my dear friend

certainly the best sentence in this divine thread