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Author Topic: The origins of the Irish and the British  (Read 5001 times)

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Offline Jonathon

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The origins of the Irish and the British
« Reply #25 on: March 12, 2007, 08:34:30 AM »
Well, apparently the genetics behind this hypothesis is probably no good either. Other geneticists have complained about this researchers shoddy techniques and his disregard for linguistic and archaeological evidence.
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Offline Annie Subjunctive

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The origins of the Irish and the British
« Reply #26 on: March 12, 2007, 09:01:29 AM »
On a mostly unrelated note, Jon Boy, have you ever seen that old PBS miniseries The Story of English?
« Last Edit: March 12, 2007, 09:01:42 AM by Annie Subjunctive »
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Offline Jonathon

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The origins of the Irish and the British
« Reply #27 on: March 12, 2007, 09:24:58 AM »
Nope. Nor have I read the book. Maybe I'll put it on my to-read list.
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Offline Annie Subjunctive

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« Reply #28 on: March 12, 2007, 09:26:03 AM »
I liked it, but it's probably all pretty basic stuff for you.
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Offline Narnia

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The origins of the Irish and the British
« Reply #29 on: March 13, 2007, 12:07:04 PM »
Jon Boy, you're going to think I'm childish and primitive, but I've begun dabbling in the history of the British Isles and I adore it.  Currently I'm reading (don't hit me) London by Edward Rutherford.  I know it's not a great source of history, but I now know enough to understand everything you said in the first post of this thread.   :blush:

What other stuff should I read if I find the topic interesting?  (Irish, Scottish, English, Welsh, all of the above.)  I'm going to netflix the HIstory of Britain documentary for a crash course, but I'd love to read more.
« Last Edit: March 13, 2007, 12:07:31 PM by Narnia »
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Offline Jonathon

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The origins of the Irish and the British
« Reply #30 on: March 13, 2007, 12:24:50 PM »
What should you read? Um . . . I really don't know. I tend to pick up a lot of things here and there, so I can't really point to a source and say, "Here, read this book." I mean, I could recommend my textbook from my history of the English language course, but it's fairly technical. I'm sure there are other people who can make good recommendations, though.
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Offline Brinestone

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The origins of the Irish and the British
« Reply #31 on: March 13, 2007, 01:04:51 PM »
The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way by Bill Bryson (I think) is an easy, fun read that has some good information. It's not that technical, though, if that's what you're looking for.
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Offline Tante Shvester

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The origins of the Irish and the British
« Reply #32 on: March 13, 2007, 01:59:02 PM »
Ooh!  I DID like that book.

And the Oxford Companion is fun to wander through.

Then again, I think reading the unabridged dictionary is fun.  Through most of high school, my family didn't have one, and whenever my crowd got together at Wendy's house, I'd pull out her family's unabridged and plonk belly down on the floor and read.  The rest of my friends would tease me about it, and ask if I was planning to read the phone book when I finished the dictionary.

When I was 17, I got my first unabridged all my own!  And I can still sit and read it!  It never gets old for me.

I'm geekier than you imagined, I s'pose.
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Offline Noemon

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The origins of the Irish and the British
« Reply #33 on: March 13, 2007, 09:50:15 PM »
I'm guessing that it's a relatively small subset of the population here that doesn't read unabridged dictionaries for fun, Tante.
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Offline rivka

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The origins of the Irish and the British
« Reply #34 on: March 13, 2007, 10:19:46 PM »
Well, these days I almost never have the time. But yeah, I sure used to.

Made it through a fair bit of my parents' Britannica once upon a time, too.
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Offline Noemon

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« Reply #35 on: March 14, 2007, 06:00:41 AM »
We just had an outdated set of World Book encyclopedias, but yeah, I pretty much devoured them in early gradeschool.
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Offline Noemon

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The origins of the Irish and the British
« Reply #36 on: March 14, 2007, 06:01:47 AM »
The glue in the bindings made me sick to my stomach, though.
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Offline Tante Shvester

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The origins of the Irish and the British
« Reply #37 on: March 14, 2007, 06:32:23 AM »
Mmm...we used to eat paste in kindergarten.  The teacher had to keep telling us not to eat it.

But then why did they have to make it so yummy and mint flavored?

By first grade, we moved onto the hard-core stuff -- huffing mimeographs.


Um, did they ever figure out what was behind those declining SAT scores?
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Offline rivka

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The origins of the Irish and the British
« Reply #38 on: March 14, 2007, 07:23:29 AM »
No, they just changed the grading parameters instead. :P
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Offline Jonathon

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The origins of the Irish and the British
« Reply #39 on: March 14, 2007, 08:17:18 AM »
Quote
Um, did they ever figure out what was behind those declining SAT scores?
Something about kids these days having shorter attention spans, I think. I don't really remember.
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