I dunno. It truly is an ugly language. :eek:
Hm, maybe the bitches on a message board of a fandom who heartily wished my husband dead back in Gulf 1. <At the time mrAru was US Navy and deployed on a sub making holes in the north Atlantic> Nothing like being told that your husband is a murderer and should die, his sub should get blown out of the water. I left that board.
If it wasn’t for the germans you would all be speaking Latin.
I suppose you would like your own particular germanic dialect best.
Romanis absentis, omnes linguas barbarorum loquamini.
Veterani Romanum, gratiam habeo.
If the US didn’t have an army and they hadn’t been defeated in Europe, they certainly would have. Hitler did mention them eventually taking over America in* Mein Kamph*.
That doesn’t mean the quote from the OP isn’t quite silly.
:rolleyes: You mean millions of bumper stickers failed to quell the opinion of one random douche on the internet? Shock, horror.
If the godless Brits had won, we’d be speaking British! :eek:
I used to speak a fair bit of German back in the day. It’s actually quite a sexy language if the right person is speaking it to you.
I say we do more than thank a veteran.
I say we declare a national holiday explicitly for the purpose! Who’s with me?
I damn well thank a veteran for my speaking English as a native language; if my father, a soldier in WWII, and my mother, a courier in the Dutch underground, had made different choices, I might be speaking French. Or Dutch. Or Flemish. Or I wouldn’t be here. Or, taking another philosophical point of view, I might be Richie Cunningham.
That is, Dad dated Marion Ross in college
Booooooo!!!
How ? They kinda had Spain in the way. Also, why ?! Portugal was sort of kind of officially on paper a neutral country. In practice they helped the Allies (probably more to spite the Spaniards than anything), but not really openly or extensively enough to rate a costly Fallschirmjäger drop.
Dylan Moran described it as similar to hearing typewriters chewing aluminium foil being kicked down stairs. It has some truth to it.
That being said, I know of precious few languages that are better or handier to be really fucking angry in. Japanese does come close, though - coincidence they’d wind up as allies ? I think not.
No, no they did not.
The Kriegsmarine launched one (1) long-range operation along the East Coast during WW2, involving a handful of U-boots (5 initially, but I can’t get my hands on a total number - somewhere around 40 would be my ballpark estimate, but not 40 at the same time mind you. That’s 40 subs involved, coming and going over the course of the operation).
It lasted a whole six months, before the US coast guard got its shit together and made the trip too costly for the travel time & sinkage involved. Look it up if you wish - the operation was called Drumbeat (Paukenschlag in German).
But that’s neither here nor there, really - thing is, there’s a bit of a gigantic gaping canyon between “harrying coastal shipping” and “mounting a large scale transoceanic invasion”. Which the Nazis never had the means (or really, the plan) to set up.
Kind of late to the party here, but I’ve often pointed out that the “If you can read this in English, thank a soldier” bumper sticker makes absolutely perfect sense if you’re a Native American.
Or if you’re British, in which case you should thank a Normand?
There was a time when we admired loyalty and faith for itself. We then embraced reason and principle. You know what that got us? A few more reasoning individuals and a lot of angry loyal faithful who now believe mostly in guns, some of which are shaped like God.
A “God Gun?” Whatever it is I want one.
Anyhoo, I’m torn on the issue. On one hand I agree that America has never faced a powerful aggressor who could have plausibly invaded our own shores. The problem is that whenever you discuss security, you face a chicken-and-egg conundrum. Does the absence of a threat indicate our military is unnecessary? Or does a powerful military act as a deterrent to anyone who might entertain thoughts of attacking us?
I agree with OP that no one in the modern generation has had to face a threat to the United States’ continued existence. Earlier in the country’s history, sure, but not in living memory.
And as a Soldier, I’d like to say that despite the hyperbole I do appreciate the sentiment.
I thank Og every day that Nixon had the courage and foresight to bomb Cambodia, otherwise I’d be typing this in Khmer.
A couple of points from the top of my head.
We speak, for the most part, American in the United States. Everyone says we speak English, but the British speak English. There is a difference, slight, or maybe not so slight. Or you could say you also speak Australian.
Since the conversation is somewhat hypothetical, let me interject this thought. Let us say the second world war was lost and Hitler and his gang won. In all probability Al Gores parents would not have had Al. If there is no Al, then there is no internet. If there is no internet then we could not carry on like this.
So now that we know who won the war, let me continue.
The purpose of the teacher and vet blurt may not be to thank teachers and vets that we speak American, but to give emphasis on our ability just to give thanks for what we have.
What are the odds of Canada and Mexico…
You should never drink the bong water.