The causes of WWI and WWII

[Herbert West]

The facts you mention are high on the list of reasons why Black Jack Pershing refused to put his men under foreign command when the AEF began arriving in force.

Eh? 'foreign" command would either be french (where some lingusitic capability can be expected), or british (who, you know, speak english). If the britons could make due with some french oversight, surely the US can. And did, when it passed the issue of black soldiers to the french, who actually used them well.

 

[Rich Oliver]

Yes we Brits can understand Americans quite well although they don't speak English, but some related language.

 

[Herbert West]

Yes we Brits can understand Americans quite well although they don't speak English, but some related language.

Ironic considering it's basically 16th century Sommerset dialect, and that the whole of the US has less dialects in it that any random county in the UK.

 

[bz249]

Ironic considering it's basically 16th century Sommerset dialect, and that the whole of the US has less dialects in it that any random county in the UK.

None of you are right... English is a lingua franca/pidgin language and while related it is neither the US/Canadian/Australian/Any of the British etc dialects.

 

[Herbert West]

None of you are right... English is a lingua franca/pidgin language and while related it is neither the US/Canadian/Australian/Any of the British etc dialects.

I'm not a fan of the english pidgin hypothesis

 

[bz249]

I'm not a fan of the english pidgin hypothesis

It is not a hypothesis... much more people use it as a second language than as a mother tongue. Therefore the real English is the one spoken in India or at business meetings between a Swedish and Polish guy.

 

[Herbert West]

It is not a hypothesis... much more people use it as a second language than as a mother tongue. Therefore the real English is the one spoken in India or at business meetings between a Swedish and Polish guy.

That's not how that works.

 

[bz249]

That's not how that works.

That's how it worked with the Latin... I see no reason why it should work differently with the English.

 

[DoomBunny]

The facts you mention are high on the list of reasons why Black Jack Pershing refused to put his men under foreign command when the AEF began arriving in force.

The main reason for that was political though. The British and French wanted to parcel out the Americans and effectively use them as march battalions for the existing formations. Obviously this wasn't going to fly.

 

[Ming]

The main reason for that was political though. The British and French wanted to parcel out the Americans and effectively use them as march battalions for the existing formations. Obviously this wasn't going to fly.

Unless they were black.

It's interesting that Pershing's nickname came from his time commanding colored troops.

 

[thedarkendstar]

This thread seems so be ceaseless arguing should I just go watch the extra history videos instead.

Or my personal opinion is dumbass people make dumbass decisions that lead to the first half of the twentieth century with a burning europe..... Oh and a couple of pyscos with mustaches.