Is the British Empire responsible for many of the worlds problems?

[Aeson]

Yes, the Brits are responsible for all the Viagra in your inbox... I can see why that thumb is pointed up (or down in Albie's case)

[Egbert]

Ah, but the Yanks invented that Internet thingy.
Yes, you Americans are responsible for all that viagra in inboxs.

[MikeH]

Now obviously, the British spread English into their colonies, but how much was English spoken outside of their colonies? .

Let's not forget that at it's height the British Empire covered 1/4 of the world's population.

And of course, if the US spoke Spanish most people in the world would speak Spanish, so who's fault is it that the US speaks English?

[MikeH]

Just so you all know, in American schools, we learn about the evils of European imperialism. It's a little overdone because there were good things that came out of it but all this colonialism and White Man's Burden stuff is denigrated and is seen as evil, especially in intention, even if it was a net neutral with a slight negative.

Necessary evil is about the best treatment colonialism gets.

Interesting that you Europeans think otherwise.

Do we?

As far as I can see the only one suggesting Pro-European Imperialism sentiments in this thread has been an Australian, and he's mostly joking!

[Egbert]

I don't think Albie fully appreciates the merits of British imperialism.

For example, had there been no British Empire, there would be no Phladelpia Cricket Club.

http://www.philacricket.com/

Philadelphia Cricket Club
415 West Willow Grove Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19118-4195, United States
(215) 247-6001

[Aeson]

And of course, if the US spoke Spanish most people in the world would speak Spanish, so who's fault is it that the US speaks English?

Texans

[MikeH]

Texans don't speak English you moron.

[MattBowron]

Isn't 1/3rd of English French anyway? Does anyone here not know that William of Normandy didn't speak "English" he spoke "Norman French". And we speak a bit of arabic anyway. Anyone here know what a hazzard is? What a mattress is? What alcohol is? What algebra is? Oh and something else, our NUMERICAL SYSTEM, like these words questioned are all arabic.

Has anyone here not seen "The Adventure of English" by Melyn Bragg? or read the book? English is pretty much picking up words from all languages, its a global language, in a literal sense.

[Aeson]

Texans don't speak English you moron.

My reply works on so many levels... you just need to think about it longer

[MikeH]

Isn't 1/3rd of English French anyway? Does anyone here not know that William of Normandy didn't speak "English" he spoke "Norman French". And we speak a bit of arabic anyway. Anyone here know what a hazzard is? What a mattress is? What alcohol is? What algebra is? Oh and something else, our NUMERICAL SYSTEM, like these words questioned are all arabic.

Has anyone here not seen "The Adventure of English" by Melyn Bragg? or read the book? English is pretty much picking up words from all languages, its a global language, in a literal sense.

Yes, and? Norman is very different from Modern French. There's also a lot of Latin, but you wouldn't say 1/4 of English is Italian would you?

I think this absorption is partly why it's so successful, don't you think? Especially compared to the way the French Gov't has tried to be protectionist about it's language.

[Egbert]

Giving the French credit for anything is an outrage.

Particularly in a Anglo-jingoism thread.

[C0ckney]

Isn't 1/3rd of English French anyway? Does anyone here not know that William of Normandy didn't speak "English" he spoke "Norman French". And we speak a bit of arabic anyway. Anyone here know what a hazzard is? What a mattress is? What alcohol is? What algebra is? Oh and something else, our NUMERICAL SYSTEM, like these words questioned are all arabic.

Has anyone here not seen "The Adventure of English" by Melyn Bragg? or read the book? English is pretty much picking up words from all languages, its a global language, in a literal sense.

it's far more than that. it's between 80-90% of the words. however, of the 10,000 most commonly used words, over 70% are anglo-saxon (germanic) in origin. it's why when you learn a latin language, at first it all seems rather alien but once you reach a certain level, you realise that there is a direct and very similar sounding translation for the new words you are learning.

and yes, english has adopted words from all over the world.

[BeBMan]

Of course the same goes for lotsa languages.

[Al B. Sure!]

And besides, mere vocabulary does not make a language, MattBowron. English and French grammar are quite different.

[Kitschum]

To the thread question: Yes to many, but maybe not most, I have to think about that.

I think 20th century American economic might is the real reason for English being a lingua franca. French was the lingua franca in 1900.

I don't think there was ONE lingua franca back then. I know this is just an anecdote, but my grandfather who was born in the 1920s travelled internationally in business and spoke French, German and English about equally "well" (which means with a ridiculously thick accent). That was nothing special. He didn't have any higher education, it was just expected.

This thing about learning only one (none in case of the Angloids) foreign language seems to me a very recent phenomenon.