As A Wise Man, Umm, Guy, Once Said

Yes, there never seems to have been much love lost between those two. It was Lord Raglan who so persistently referred to their common Russian ofe as "the French." That's understandable--he was a staff officer of Wellington during the earlier unpleasantness. I suspect the amity of the Scots and French stemmed from having a common foe. It could lead them astray, though. The French convinced them to invade England in 1346, saying that Edward III had taken his army with him to France. But Edward was an uncommon English king, which is to day, an intelligent one. He left small bodies of men-at-arms and archers across the north of England, and when the Scots invaded, the Archbishop of York, the nominal commander, was able to assemble a small army rather quickly. In large measure thanks to the archers (but not exclusively--that's an English historical myth), the Scots were defeated, and King David was made a prisoner. You just can't trust those perfidious Frenchmen.

If you haven't figured that out 10 years after the facts, you will never figure it out. You're a Bush believer. 'Nuff said.

I just chose to ignore the provocations... but I tend to agree with Izzy here: your history quite slanted and it's not the first time you bitch about the French in an oddly insistant way.

OK, Smart guy, outline the bias in any of the historical facts i listed--not the joke about John Cornewaille or the Quasi-war, but in the historical recital.

It's a shame to think that you intend to indulge the same kind of hysteria that Izzy is so fond of. I don't hate the French and i don't hate the English. I am contemptuous of Izzy, and i guess i can add you to that list.

Examples from recent posts:


I wonder if that makes for good wry humor or just bad and biased history...

Seems to me I've been on that list from day one.

I listen to Olivier for the easy reason that I tend to agree with him, get his views.

I listen to Izzy (we sort of know each other); I can get over it if he posts as malefactor, I've read his range. I learn from him.

I listen to setanta re descriptions of data.
He calls me a drunk and avoids me, over many years. He answered me in agreement once.
I have always almost liked him, but of course he doesn't give a ****.
I call him dry.

There are few kings of any nation who have commonly shown themselves to be intelligent, and that's just good history. I've already pointed out that the others were a part of the satire i made of American conservative bias toward the French--and you're ignoring that i've already said that.

As for how i've treated you (as you allege) since you got here, all i can say is "oh, poor bay-bee." Self pity is always a refuge of those who don't really have an argument, but if you want to think yourself abused, that's fine with me.

If that's what you meant, you should have said: "Edward was an uncommon king..."


Oh yeah? Maybe for one or two of them, but certainly not for the last one about the Royal Navy.


I'm actually okay about being on that list... take pride in my enemies and all that... :-) Plus I am in good company: it's the fate of all of us mere A2K mortals to be on that list of yours...

It sure as hell wasn't the worst thing that ever happened to me and it makes for a great story when the conversation turns to France, but whether it was a common experience or not for Americans in Paris (and based on what I have read and heard I would say it wasn't too uncommon) it didn't leave me well disposed towards the French.

I suspect that if you experienced similar behavior from Americans you would have kept mental note of it, and while I could assure you that all Americans weren't as rude as the ones with whom you came in contact, your experience would likely continue to color your judgment of us. But maybe not, maybe you're a lot more forgiving than me or don't hold grudges.

As for firing back, whether or not you believe you can, you wouldn't be. My providing some of the details of my Parisian experience was in a response to Walter, and it wasn't offered as evidence of how all French are arrogant and mean-spirited. If it says anything more than what the people I met were like, it is an explanation for my admitted bias as respects France and the French, in general. Usually a bias like that isn't very reliable, but what can I say? I own it.

I agree, Finn, that a bias isn't very reliable. But this bias against the French/France has been building up since ... centuries. On both sides.

All those nearly 50 years I'm visiting France now, I've always had had only good experiences ... most might be founded in the fact that I had had good ones in the very beginning when I expected a not nice attitude because of me being a German.

As i was discussing England, i referred to an English king--i realize such distinctions escape, but i have not found you to be very logical nor very reasonable. The comment about the Royal Navy is, once again, just good history. I refer you to The Naval War of 1812, Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., New York, 1881 (in print, as it has been since 1881). The Royal Navy was sufficiently convinced of his scholarship that when they were writing a history of their service in the 1890s, they commissioned Roosevelt to write the article on the American War.

No, most people at A2K are not part of any such list. Once again, self-pity, in the form of such claims, is just a dodge, a way of avoiding the issues of your accuracy and your biases.

Did you ever go through puberty Malvolio?

Honest question.

You're like a sulky twelve year old blaming everyone else for what you've done. You can't blame Agincourt for American francophobia.

And like a twelve year old you try to claim it was a joke. Unfortunately none of your jokes are funny, so that doesn't work either.

You were hostile to me from the off when you found out I was English, similarly with Ollie and Snood. And now you're starting to believe your own lies.

Here's a joke for you, first pick a victim so full of hubris that he can't see anyone else would find him ridiculous. Choose a topic he self styles himself as an expert in. Tell an outrageous lie, and see if he swallows it, once he does keep telling more and more outrageous lies until he bites.

Lava Bread Mary strike any bells? You swallowed that hook line and sinker, and I knew you would. It's almost too easy.

So i see you admit to being a turd-stirrer. While the candor is refreshing, there's nothing for you to be proud of there. You also adopt the same self-pity line that Olive Tree does. I was not hostile to you or to him from the beginning. My history with Snood goes back to long before your arrived, and in particular to a series of private messages in which he used on me a vicious racist epithet, apparently thinking he was entitled to do so because of the color of his skin.

One way in which Olive Tree is superior to you is that doesn't indulge hysteria the way you do. In the thread about Queenie and Gerry Adams, one of our Canadian members made a comment, and i responded that the North American news media has a pro-British bias--which is true. Your response was to accuse me of being opposed to the peace process, to be promoting stereotypes about the Irish and to hating the English. None of that can be extracted from the observation that the North American news media has a pro-British bias, but hysterical accusations are your stock in trade. You don't pursue them either, you just throw out more of them as you are challenged. You become hysterical when you are challenged or contradicted, routinely.

One way in which you and Olive Tree are the same, though, is in the inability to reason, the lack of logic, and the inability to follow the thread of a conversation. I didn't "blame" the francophobia of some Americans, conservative Americans, on Azincourt (that's how the name of the town was spelled six hundred years ago, and how it's spelled today, you arrogant little bastard). It was a parody of the unreasoning francophobia of some Americans, and "cheese-eating surrender monkeys" was a stock phrase they used. I don't expect you to understand that though, because you're pathetically uninformed. If you have not just ripped off an article in The Guardian, you don't know what others are talking about.

It truly is ironic to see you sneer at someone else for immaturity. \

"Azin" is the Germanic name of someone, who lived in Middle Ages in the small ("curt") hamlet.

What a surprise that evil scumbags find themselves in agreement with each other.

Between the three of you, Olivier is the only one with a functioning brain, so you and the other 'tard should try to follow his lead whenever possible.

I wonder if I should try to steer Hammer to a2k so Olivier can lead you scum in performing discog exercises....

Speak for yourself. I always enjoy reading Set's posts. Well-informed and not evil. What's not to like?

Is that your considered opinion?

Malvolio has no sense of the absurd, and insists on having the last word, which means you can have a lot of fun with him.

I admit to ridiculing you, if you want to describe yourself as a turd then I applaud a rare moment of candour.

When I'm childish, it's because I choose to be, you have no such option.