VIVE LE SCOTLAND LIBRE !

Surely it should have been "Vive l'Ecosse libre?"

You can't blame them for wanting to be free of the Sassenachs. A bad day they signed the Act Of Union.

contrex wrote :



well , we are trying to be "bilingual" :wink: . sometimes we listen to TV shows produced in quebec - la belle province - and they mix french and english quite freely .
read an article recently reporting on the young people in quebec ; they think it's quite the "in thing" to mix french and english .

btw in toronto - the third largest italian speaking city in the world - a distinct italian/english dialect has emerged and is frequently used by young canadians of italian parentage as "their own language" .
it's even been recognized by the university of toronto as a "distinct dialect" .
hbg

Um, haven't they tried that break away thing before?

Seems to me, if I recall Mel Gibson correctly, it didn't go so well.

for the moment we are still canadians , eh ? :wink:
hbg

Better if we take over England completely, to govern it properly. :wink:

Go, ye heroes, go to glory,
Though you die in combat gory

You cunningly conflated my humorous tagline with my (humorous) message.

But of course, there are more ways to skin a cat than with a claymore.

Remember, Scotland built the British Empire and helped build America too. We can easily do a small makeover in England. :wink:

sir john a macdonald - canada's first prime minister
a true blue "royalist" and connoisseur of fine scotch





his very simple gravesite in cataraqui cemetary/kingston

Thank you for that nice post, hbg. A strong Jock influence evident in your country, from Nova Scotia to the McKenzie River.
As a matter of fact, when I was up in Edinburgh at the weekend I bought a book in the George Street branch of Waterstones, which is entitled "Scots in the USA". It is by Jenni Calder, an American from Chicago who has also written i.a. "Scots in Canada".

I'm looking forward to reading it.

"Every line of strength in our history is a line coloured by Scottish blood" -Woodrow Wilson, US President 1913-21

mctag :
the scots had great influence in the development of canadian commerce . they were particularly prominent in the shipping trade (no surprise there) , banking , railways , lumber and also the life insurance industry . many actuaries came out of the scottish actuarial system .

i'll never forget my first encounter with a crusty old scottish actuary .
i was one of the (relatively) young fellows at the life insurance company that paid our mortgage - and pays my pension now
at the annual meeting i was assigned to keep one of the consulting actuaries well supplied with "refreshments" :wink: .
i noticed the level in his glass lowering surprisingly quickly and asked :
" a refill , sir ? ' . he just nodded not saying a word . "scotch , sir ? " ;
he nodded again . "any ice , sir ? " - BIG MISTAKE !
"bloody hell , there is too much water in this already" , he said .
i slunk off to get him a pure one . now he started smiling and we had a nice long chat .
he told me that in his opinion teetotallers should not be sold life insurance because he didn't think those people had enough "character" ! :wink:
hbg

Good story, all the better for being frpm personal experience.

I've read about a quarter of my book now. One interesting fact emerged, that a lot of Scots who were settled in the Hudson Valley (Albany is a Scottish name) moved into "Higher Canada" (now Ontario) after and as a result of the revolutionary war c. 1776.

Apparently its OK to drink scotch mixed with green tea.

mctag :
those settlers that came into canada as a result of the revolutionary war are known as "united empire loyalists" .
their families are permitted to add the latters "UEL" to their family names .
within an hour's drive of kingston there are many historical plaques showing where the loyalists landed . they usually came in small boats across lake ontario from NY state .
the highway running west from kingston along lake ontario is actually called "loyalist parkway" .
i'm adding a few links you may find interesting .
btw some of those loyalists were hessian soldiers fleeing the revolutionary army .
take care !
hbg



...UNITED EMPIRE LOYALISTS...

...THE LOYALIST PARKWAY...
(it was opened by queen elizabeth in 1984 - and a "royal outhouse" was temporarily set up - just in case :wink: )


...PLAQUES ALONG THE LOYALIST PARKWAY...
(scroll down to first plaque)

...HAYBAY QUAKER CEMETERY SITE...