WWI Centenary

[bodie]

Doesn't your parliament have anything better to do than arguing about how to rewrite history. FFS, just tell what happened.

Indeed.  There are some who believe that siding with Imperialist Russia was an assault upon the common man.  I do know, however, that British Aristocracy were falling over themselves to get to the Western front.  With their 'tally ho's' they fell and died in those trenches along with the common men.  Hundred's and thousands of them.   I don't know if it was a 'just' war or not.   It was a bloody stupid one.

The most memorable event in my mind of that time was the 'Christmas Truce'.  An event of which either side can be proud of.  Not an official truce made by decorated officers but one made from the banter that developed at the front line.  Trench warfare dictated that some points of the line was only yards away from the enemy.  This meant that both sides could effectively shout to the other.  This was common.  They would also hold up boards with messages written on them.  British black humour and sarcasm would often be demonstrated with words like  "you missed" or  "left a bit"    It was this important dialogue that led to an unofficial truce along most of the front line on 24th and 25th December.  The Germans main christmas celebration is held on the 24th and they begun to sing carols.  The British answered back with carols too.  Good wishes were exchanged.  In places, men stepped out of their trenches and met the enemy half way.  They shook hands.  Exchanged cigarettes.  And yes they played football.   They agreed to put their guns down for Christmas.  It was a common sense arrangement which also allowed both sides to bury their dead.

I love that story.  It was not one I learned about in school.  For some bizarre reason those in high places did not acknowledge the truce.  There is plenty of evidence that it happened.

Letter from Private H Scrutton, Essex Regiment, published in the Norfolk Chronicle on January 1, 1915

From out trenches: "Good morning Fritz." (No answer).
"Good morning Fritz." (Still no answer).
"GOOD MORNING FRITZ."
From German trenches: "Good morning."
From our trench: "How are you?"
"All right."
"Come over here, Fritz."
"No. If I come I get shot."
"No you won't. Come on."
"No fear."
"Come and get some fags, Fritz."
"No. You come half way and I meet you."
"All right."
One of our fellows thereupon stuffed his pocket with fags and got over the trench.. The German got over his trench, and right enough they met half way and shook hands, Fitz taking the fags and giving cheese in exchange

Forget about the politics of the war.  Children should be told this story.  *It is one of the most poignant Christmas Stories in 2000 years* 

   Thousands of men on both sides in the gravest of situations thought  'Fuck this for a game of soldiers, let's play football'    -  Priceless!  Human!   Brilliant!

I wonder if the powers that be did not want to make a big thing of this because in a war where thousands of lives were sacrificed in order to gain 'inches' of territory it was one of the only sensible actions.  And it was made by 'lowly'' privates, and it was made against orders. 


Views on this war will differ greatly.  I don't think it matters.  No one can say these men did not suffer.  It was a horrible war.  Trench warfare is not a stroll in the park.  I think those who participated (on both sides) showed courage and endurance.  Many paid the ultimate price.  They ought to be remembered.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
Laurence Binyon

[bodie]

A random act of kindness ?


The Battle of Pilckem Ridge. British soldier giving a "light" to a badly wounded German lying in a ditch. Pilckem, 31st July 1917.

[bodie]

The Regimental Barber of the King's Liverpool Regiment; Wailly, 16th April 1916. (55th Division).




Administering chloroform to a horse before an operation at the Veterinary Hospital; Abbeville, 3rd April 1916.



A Sergeant-Major R.F.A. showing his mascot, a hedgehog to a French girl. Rollencourt Chateau, 21 August 1917.

Oooh la la

[bodie]

Battle of Menin Road Ridge. Four South African Scottish carrying in a wounded German on a stretcher. 21st September 1917.

[ZEGH8578]

Yes it was a horrendous few years. 

'shell shock' was an awful thing that plagued survivors for years and years.

"Shell shock"?
You mean PTSD.
It is interesting tho, how words and concepts stick and stick, if not uprooted a bit. Many people tend to traditionally view "shell shock" as something unique to WW1-2-Vietnam war, where the term was used a lot.
In reality, it is merely a reflection of the growing understanding of psychology. Since forever warriors suffered PTSD from combat experiences.
Again, traditionally, people tend to limit "shell shock" to the litteral experience - "oh, it's when someone stands next to a shell that explodes, and are shocked by it. it was very common in ww1"
while in reality, "shell shock" or PTSD will strike nearly all and any soldier, from the moment they participate in a "contact" situation (from the moment life-and-death is thrown in their face)
It is only that most media outlets, old and new, are reluctant to "advertise" that about war-participation - "fight for your country! be prepared for lasting psychological problems!"

/nitpickery

Nice photo-thread, I like that you added little captions, for the aspies!

[bodie]

Yes it was a horrendous few years. 

'shell shock' was an awful thing that plagued survivors for years and years.

"Shell shock"?
You mean PTSD.
It is interesting tho, how words and concepts stick and stick, if not uprooted a bit. Many people tend to traditionally view "shell shock" as something unique to WW1-2-Vietnam war, where the term was used a lot.
In reality, it is merely a reflection of the growing understanding of psychology. Since forever warriors suffered PTSD from combat experiences.
Again, traditionally, people tend to limit "shell shock" to the litteral experience - "oh, it's when someone stands next to a shell that explodes, and are shocked by it. it was very common in ww1"
while in reality, "shell shock" or PTSD will strike nearly all and any soldier, from the moment they participate in a "contact" situation (from the moment life-and-death is thrown in their face)
It is only that most media outlets, old and new, are reluctant to "advertise" that about war-participation - "fight for your country! be prepared for lasting psychological problems!"

/nitpickery

Nice photo-thread, I like that you added little captions, for the aspies!

It's funny Zegh but I considered putting  "or what we now term PTSD or combat stress"  after the words shell shock.  I just didn't bother.  I question myself now as to why I used that term.  I think it was because Grandad had shell shock - according to my mother and aunts.  It is the only term they ever used.  But yes, you are correct.

Thanks for noticing   

[ZEGH8578]

Yes it was a horrendous few years. 

'shell shock' was an awful thing that plagued survivors for years and years.

"Shell shock"?
You mean PTSD.
It is interesting tho, how words and concepts stick and stick, if not uprooted a bit. Many people tend to traditionally view "shell shock" as something unique to WW1-2-Vietnam war, where the term was used a lot.
In reality, it is merely a reflection of the growing understanding of psychology. Since forever warriors suffered PTSD from combat experiences.
Again, traditionally, people tend to limit "shell shock" to the litteral experience - "oh, it's when someone stands next to a shell that explodes, and are shocked by it. it was very common in ww1"
while in reality, "shell shock" or PTSD will strike nearly all and any soldier, from the moment they participate in a "contact" situation (from the moment life-and-death is thrown in their face)
It is only that most media outlets, old and new, are reluctant to "advertise" that about war-participation - "fight for your country! be prepared for lasting psychological problems!"

/nitpickery

Nice photo-thread, I like that you added little captions, for the aspies!

It's funny Zegh but I considered putting  "or what we now term PTSD or combat stress"  after the words shell shock.  I just didn't bother.  I question myself now as to why I used that term.  I think it was because Grandad had shell shock - according to my mother and aunts.  It is the only term they ever used.  But yes, you are correct.

Thanks for noticing   

Heh, yeah, I assumed you used it because you have gotten it "established" in your mind, through a strong association, like a family member, or a story heard in childhood, or something like that.

Sometimes people really get hung up on words, I have an aspie friend who refuses to acknowledge that "sociopath" and "psychopath" are the same thing. He _insists_ that these words mean two slightly different, yet related conditions.
I try and try and try to explain to him that we humans MAKE words, we APPLY words to things, and sometimes we conciously stop to re-apply a word. Like we did with "mongoloid" and "downs syndrome", but he REALLY struggles to comprehend it. He should be smart enough, but on this subject, he simply won't allow it to happen, to him every concept in the universe has a "god-given" word, and words cannot be changed - so since the words are
1. sociopath, and 2. psychopath - TWO words, they _MUST_ represent two concepts.
To him, he always falls back to that. I've even shown him articles that explicitly explain that the two words are _SYNONYMS_ but he insists that "it is open to debate", and maintains that the two words represent two different (yet related) ideas.

Frustrating how much trust people put in words, completely forgetting _we invent_ words...

This actually manifests in other ways to him, for example, he is hopelessly uncritical to movies and games. It's all "good" to him, because he cannot acknowledge error (which is very weird... ), he sees everything as intended, and therefore flawless in its own way. (in the same way, he sees a movie plot as a cosmic static, something that could never have been something else than what it currently is, therefore he never sees how a movie could be better, or where a movie did a flaw)
Granted, he has tastes and preferences in movies, but only take it as a matter of taste, rarely acknowledging differences in sheer quality.

I tested him once, telling him about the explanation offered in the movie "2012", that the scientists in the movie explained the entire end of the world with "the neutrinos have mutated"
My friend is more than intelligent enough to realize that "neutrinos mutating" is fucking bullshit, but he was nothing but deeply confused. He was trying so hard to figure out how, how, HOW could something as pointless as "mutating neutrinos" cause the end of the world.
I had to EXPLAIN to him "NO. the _SCRIPTWRITERS_ fucked up. You are right! Neutrinos CANNOT mutate! The PEOPLE who WROTE THE PLOT - - - MADE A GOOF! And did not even CARE about their goof! They are flawed!"

This was news to him

[bodie]

In old English and early Middle English the letters  'th' was represented by the letter thorn  'þ'  so the word  'the' would be written like this  'þe'.   The first printing presses in England came from the continent where the letter thorn 'þ' was not in use.  The letter 'y' was used instead because it looks similar to þ in the handwriting of that time.

So, when you see a sign saying something like  'Ye Olde Coffee Shoppe' you will now know that it is because of a printing error.  It represents  'the' and nobody would have said 'Ye Olde Coffee Shoppe'.

Over time this has been forgotten.  Of course the word 'ye' existed in its own right  -  meaning  'you'

[ZEGH8578]

In old English and early Middle English the letters  'th' was represented by the letter thorn  'þ'  so the word  'the' would be written like this  'þe'.   The first printing presses in England came from the continent where the letter thorn 'þ' was not in use.  The letter 'y' was used instead because it looks similar to þ in the handwriting of that time.

So, when you see a sign saying something like  'Ye Olde Coffee Shoppe' you will now know that it is because of a printing error.  It represents  'the' and nobody would have said 'Ye Olde Coffee Shoppe'.

Over time this has been forgotten.  Of course the word 'ye' existed in its own right  -  meaning  'you'

That is similar to Mexico, Texas, those Mexican place-names.
Originally, these places were called (something akin to) Mechico and Techas.
Spanish explorers used native place names wherever applicable, and at the time they wrote ch-sounds into X.
Over time, the X has changed meaning in both English and Spanish, as in modern languages - Spanish will pronounce "Mehico" or "Tehas" (the X in later times, representing that hard H-sound they do), while in English X makes a "eks"-kind of sound. Both are incorrect

In fact, some who DO get it right, are the "chicano"-movements in the US, their designation refering to a mexican/mechican.

[odeon]

In old English and early Middle English the letters  'th' was represented by the letter thorn  'þ'  so the word  'the' would be written like this  'þe'.   The first printing presses in England came from the continent where the letter thorn 'þ' was not in use.  The letter 'y' was used instead because it looks similar to þ in the handwriting of that time.

So, when you see a sign saying something like  'Ye Olde Coffee Shoppe' you will now know that it is because of a printing error.  It represents  'the' and nobody would have said 'Ye Olde Coffee Shoppe'.

Over time this has been forgotten.  Of course the word 'ye' existed in its own right  -  meaning  'you'

Interesting.

[Yuri Bezmenov]

That is similar to Mexico, Texas, those Mexican place-names.
Originally, these places were called (something akin to) Mechico and Techas.
Spanish explorers used native place names wherever applicable, and at the time they wrote ch-sounds into X.
Over time, the X has changed meaning in both English and Spanish, as in modern languages - Spanish will pronounce "Mehico" or "Tehas" (the X in later times, representing that hard H-sound they do), while in English X makes a "eks"-kind of sound. Both are incorrect

No, it's NOT incorrect. Languages are simply fluid and change over time, geographical location and social groups. The "correct" pronunciation is the one used by the majority of a given languages speakers in a given time period. As a pronunciation changes, that word becomes a shibboleth that distinguishes one group from another.

Example: the city of Paso Robles is pronounced two different ways, Paso Robe-less and Paso Row-bulls. BOTH are correct and each pronunciation defines what group one belongs to. Same thing with rodeo, both row-dee-o and row-day-o are correct. 

[Yuri Bezmenov]

I love it how Zegh could never acknowledge being wrong. 

[Walkie]

^ I call that projection

[Yuri Bezmenov]

No, I've just never been wrong.   

[Walkie]

OK, have it your way, Pappy, because  I don't want to hear why continually negging Zegh in his absence isn't wrong. I really don't.