# Who's the father ? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 10, 2014, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-father/692790 "2014-07-10T20:42:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![janis\_and\_c0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janis_and_c0/32/21_2.png) [@janis\_and\_c0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janis_and_c0)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-father/692790/21 "2014-07-11T13:11:26Z")
> [@common\_good](#): > > Why Germany ? It had more to do with the origins of the English language (which is Germanic) & the Early immigrants , as well as the Vaterland play on words, most of which has already been mentioned & cleared up my ignorance… thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-father/692790/22 "2014-07-11T13:19:47Z")
It was a virgin birth. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-father/692790/23 "2014-07-11T13:21:46Z")
The Netherlands. After all, old New York was once New Amsterdam. Why they changed it, who can say? ---
**Author:** ![Aquadementia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aquadementia/32/555_2.png) [@Aquadementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquadementia)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-father/692790/24 "2014-07-11T13:36:31Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > I am sure Maury Povich can help you get to the bottom of this. Start the testing with George Washington then Ben Franklin and move through rest of the 56! delegates that signed the Declaration of Independence. ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-father/692790/25 "2014-07-11T14:06:42Z")
Darth Vader? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-father/692790/26 "2014-07-11T14:16:17Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > The Netherlands. After all, old New York was once New Amsterdam. Why they changed it, who can say? People just liked it better that way. ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-father/692790/27 "2014-07-11T14:28:13Z")
The pool guy. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-father/692790/28 "2014-07-11T14:42:14Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > The Netherlands. After all, old New York was once New Amsterdam. Why they changed it, who can say? How can that be right? That’s [Gelderland](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gelderland)… ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-father/692790/29 "2014-07-11T15:07:25Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Maybe England’s just a shameless slut and there’s no hope of identifying the father. Maybe she’s a hermaphrodite and impregnated herself. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-father/692790/30 "2014-07-11T15:30:25Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > Senegal? I wasn’t really joking with this comment. America is not just Euro-lite, and a lot of that is due to the massive impact of the transatlantic slave trade on our early history. ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-father/692790/31 "2014-07-11T15:36:14Z")
> [@common\_good](#): > > I know what I think OK, what _do_ you think? ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-father/692790/32 "2014-07-11T17:01:06Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > I wasn’t really joking with this comment. America is not just Euro-lite, and a lot of that is due to the massive impact of the transatlantic slave trade on our early history. I agree on the African influence. Here in Texas, there’s also the influence of Mexico–or New Spain. One Mom & One Dad is a bit simplistic. Unorthodox families are nothing new! ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-father/692790/33 "2014-07-11T17:35:36Z")
Napoleon is the father of our country - he screwed Mother England good! ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-father/692790/34 "2014-07-11T18:57:10Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Maybe England’s just a shameless slut and there’s no hope of identifying the father. It’s true, England has been “invaded” (wink, wink) by so many different countries during her existence. Even the English language is a mutt … a hopeless mishmash of Latin, French, German, etc., all thrown in by whoever was shacking up with England at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-father/692790/35 "2014-07-11T19:09:32Z")
> [@Greg\_Charles](#): > > It’s true, England has been “invaded” (wink, wink) by so many different countries during her existence. Even the English language is a mutt … a hopeless mishmash of Latin, French, German, etc., all thrown in by whoever was shacking up with England at the time. “The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don’t just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.” (James Nicoll) ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-father/692790/36 "2014-07-11T19:11:29Z")
> [@Isilder](#): > > If you believe in a motherland, then can you be patriotic ? (pat= prefix for father… so patriotic means “for the fatherland.” ) Matriotic? That sounds like… I dunno, a feminist cyberpunk novel by a pre-op Lana Wachowski. Or something. ---
**Author:** ![common\_good](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f475e1/32.png) [@common\_good](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/common_good)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-father/692790/37 "2014-07-12T21:59:21Z")
> [@LC\_Strawhouse](#): > > I’d say the ancient Roman republic, which had a great influence on the founding fathers (eg, they would sign their writings as “Publius”) > > Germany is a strange choice - there wasn’t a Germany until the late 1800s. If you’re going by early non-English immigration as a criteria, I’d give it to Ulster (where the “Scotch-Irish” were from) or maybe Scotland. This is the correct answer. France was the midwife. The founding fathers were well-schooled in the classics. Washington considered himself a modern Cincinnatus, which, indeed he was, and our laws, though based upon English common law, were heavily influenced by Roman History and representative governance, as was Latin used in medicine, also. Ancient Rome was America’s father, to the extent parentage can be conferred to the US. Greece may have fooled around with lady liberty, earlier on, too. But there was no National Enquirer or NY Post then, so we’ll never really know. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2014, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-father/692790/38 "2014-07-13T00:16:51Z")
> [@common\_good](#): > > This is the correct answer. France was the midwife. The founding fathers were well-schooled in the classics. Washington considered himself a modern Cincinnatus, which, indeed he was, and our laws, though based upon English common law, were heavily influenced by Roman History and representative governance, as was Latin used in medicine, also. Ancient Rome was America’s father, to the extent parentage can be conferred to the US. Greece may have fooled around with lady liberty, earlier on, too. But there was no National Enquirer or NY Post then, so we’ll never really know. “Correct Answer” ??? There is no “correct answer”. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2014, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-father/692790/39 "2014-07-13T03:23:15Z")
Have they tried DNA testing yet? ---
**Author:** ![Hector\_St\_Clare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5ac83/32.png) [@Hector\_St\_Clare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hector_St_Clare)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2014, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-father/692790/40 "2014-07-13T04:44:11Z")
> [@janis\_and\_c0](#): > > It had more to do with the origins of the English language (which is Germanic) & the Early immigrants , as well as the Vaterland play on words, most of which has already been mentioned & cleared up my ignorance… thanks! Sort of. English is a Germanic language with tons of French & Latin influence. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-father/692790.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-father/692790.md?page=3)