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10.10.2001 || 23h31 Normandy I'm sure there are many others, but I don't really know enough. I've been to Nantes, and would go back in a Montr�al minute. I'd go to Copenhagen because Denmark's a socialist monarchy that *works,* Reykjav�k because Iceland has the highest book-per-person ration in the world, as well as a 100% literacy rate (which is only matched by non-capitalist countries like Cuba), and everywhere else is just because I know nothing about them. ********** The Channel Islands are the remnants of the Dukedom of Normandy, which was once thunderous with consequence for both France and England. The Normans conquered England by flinging an arrow into the Harold the Second's eye at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 CE, thus changing the shapes and sounds of the English Language forever. For two centuries, there was not a word of English written in the conquered land, as the entire upper echelon of English society had been replaced by the Norman French. now, by the time the Hundred Years War came about (complicated by a nasty plague), English was once again the language of the land, but at that point, the tongue spoken by Aethelbert had been transformed into that of Chaucer, partly because of the frustration of Normans in England who were tired of being denigrated by speakers of the Parisian dialect, and who thus began to use the tongue of their servants and serfs for all of their discourse. Nowadays, Normandy is just another department of France. The former Norman Islands are UK crown dependancies, and the ancient Norman French spoken there is in decline. Normans and Bretons were later transported in ships to populate New France. The Qu�becois language reflects these two regions far more than it does the tongue of Paris. When the French King sent over Les Filles du Roi (who were simply prostitues and orphans picked up on the streets of France), it changed the accent, but not the general class of the people here; Qu�bec is France's Australia. Why do I know any of this? Simple: those of you who know my last name know that it is Norman. Those of you who know anything else know that I love everything arcane and dead, which is probably why I still read. |
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shite One last little note... - 09.21.2006 de-stressing, biking and terrorism - 06.06.2006 Mildly stressed... - 05.29.2006 More crime stupidity - 05.28.2006 Scary stuff - 05.25.2006
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