Comments on: The Times Figures It Out, Part XIII

By: Rueful Red

Rueful Red — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 09:39:49 +0000

Of course WSC was half-American anyway, something that shouldn’t be underestimated. He have cut and pasted with the best of them as long as it all came out rhythmical.

The idea of the English language as a way of increasing international understanding was the starting point for the foundation of the English-Speaking Union, the Scottish national committee of which I am, believe it or not, a member. We’re hosting the international congress of the organisation here in Edinburgh in September 2008, and I’m sure we’d make any ninmates very welcome indeed.

During the war, citizens of Hull, my mother included, noted that the Luftwaffe was in the habit of marking Churchill’s radio addresses by dropping bombs on the all-too-convenient city. There was a saying - “get your skates on, Churchill’s on the wireless tonight” - as they made their way to the shelters.

By: HalfEmpty

HalfEmpty — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 22:01:00 +0000

Hear! Hear! Winnie was kinda a Proto-American himself. I have a book, from my Judge-In-Laws estate, Churchhill and (on?) America, a collection of all sorts of WSC observations on we all here. Writing is very fine, fine and middling. I wonder what he would have done with a cut and paste function attached to a primitive line-printer.

By: RC2

RC2 — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 21:40:38 +0000

By chance I was doing some reading for Churchill's birthday today and ran across a speech he gave while receiving an honorary degree. The link's at my place, but the portion our State Dept. flunkies should study is succinct enough:

The great Bismarck - for there were once great men in Germany - is said to have observed towards the close of his life that the most potent factor in human society at the end of the nineteenth century was the fact that the British and American peoples spoke the same language.

That was a pregnant saying. Certainly it has enabled us to wage war together with an intimacy and harmony never before achieved among allies.

This gift of a common tongue is a priceless inheritance, and it may well some day become the foundation of a common citizenship. I like to think of British and Americans moving about freely over each other's wide estates with hardly a sense of being foreigners to one another. But I do not see why we should not try to spread our common language even more widely throughout the globe and, without seeking selfish advantage over any, possess ourselves of this invaluable amenity and birthright.

And later: I therefore preach continually the doctrine of the fraternal association of our two peoples, not for any purpose of gaining invidious material advantages for either of them, not for territorial aggrandisement or the vain pomp of earthly domination, but for the sake of service to mankind and for the honour that comes to those who faithfully serve great causes.

It would be nice to think such ideas resonate in the souls of our men of State. Apparently not, alas.