… it is also the Finns who snicker at overbearing Swedes (“What’s the difference between the Swedes and the Finns? The Swedes have got nice neighbours”); and the Portuguese, who mock Spanish arrogance (“In a recent survey, 11 out of 10 Spaniards said they felt superior to the others”).
There are the Irish, who joke about buttoned-up Brits (“What’s the English definition of a thrill? Having an After Eight at 7.30”); and the Poles, who have a go at the Germans for pretty much anything (“German footballers are like German food: if they’re not imported from Poland they’re no good”).
Making fun of our best enemies, said Romain Seignovert, who has just published a book on the jokes Europeans tell about their neighbours, is a great European tradition. “We are a big, diverse community with a centuries-long common history of highs and lows, and our humour reflects that,” he says.
[…]
There is a deeper point. Ultimately, Seignovert said, laughing at our neighbours is “recognising, even celebrating, our particularities. It shows we’re not indifferent. Europe isn’t just political and economic, it’s also cultural – about all these nations, living together. The EU hasn’t made enough of that.”
That may be true. But Seignovert, remember, is French, so what he says should clearly not be taken too seriously. In the words of one particularly fine Belgian quip: “How does a Frenchman commit suicide? By shooting 15cm above his head, right in the middle of his superiority complex.”
Jon Henley, “‘Crude, but rarely nasty’: The jokes Europeans tell about their neighbours”, The Guardian, 2016-05-08.
April 26, 2019
QotD: European jokes about the neighbours
March 27, 2019
QotD: Gossip, rumour, and innuendo
Rumor was rife in the village as in the science fiction community. It should be. Both are the province of women. Not that men didn’t gossip/egg women on in the village, as they do in the science fiction community, but the men stupid enough to be seen doing it openly had a special name attached to them “Tricoteiros.” It was not a complementary name. And most men really didn’t get involved. They merely went along with what their wives decided and decreed. People who imagine women powerless in true patriarchal societies are out of their minds. Once the “court of public opinion” which is largely female, makes a decision, men risk falling victim to it, should they not conform to its dictates.
And this is why I loathe and despise rumor, and will stand up for a victim of it, no matter how little I like him or her: or indeed how little I know him or her. I will stand up for the victim, because rumor is a ridiculous way of ascertaining if someone should be “a part of society” (remember the charming moppets who said someone should be “cast out of society” for saying bad things) or if someone should have a job or if someone should be allowed to live somewhere in peace.
Because the one thing rumor is not concerned with is truth or true guilt, or even gradations of guilt. Yes, perhaps everything rumor says is true. Heaven knows it’s been known to happen, which is when people say “no smoke without fire” but they ignore all the times their stories and whispers were ALL wrong.
For instance, before I got married to Dan everyone knew (based on TRUST me little more than a resemblance in coloring) he was a baker from a neighboring village, whom I’d met in Italy. What was true to this tissue? Well, I was getting married and the year before, I was in Germany. (I’m still confused as to how Italy got attached to it.) Which was okay because I had no reputation to speak of. The life I lived in gossip was far more interesting than my real life. Having grown up as the “little sister” of my brother’s group of friends, they (and I) never paid any attention to the fact I was now past puberty. This meant if they saw me trudging towards the train and they happened to be driving, they’d pick me up and take me where I was supposed to go (mostly college or home) and if they were at a coffee shop and I walked by, they’d call me to sit and grab a coffee and a pastry (which they paid for, as older siblings will. Since my brother is around ten years older than I, most of them had jobs while I was in high school.) BUT the gossips knew I was having affairs will all of them (what a busy critter I must have been, what with carrying a heavier-than-full-load of courses and tutoring on the side, all this while having boyfriends/fiances. So when I got married, of course the best I could do was the baker from the nearby, poorer village. (Rolls eyes.) Which fortunately Dan couldn’t care less about, since when I told him the rumors he went off in whoops of laughter at the idea that his geeky, introverted fiance could ever be the village hussy.
Sarah Hoyt, “Painted All In Tongues”, According to Hoyt, 2017-03-20.
February 8, 2019
History Summarized: The Portuguese Empire
Overly Sarcastic Productions
Published on 9 Nov 2018Play World of Warships for free: http://bit.ly/2zyT191. New players will receive 1 MILLION free credits, the historical premium ship HMS Campbeltown and more by using my code PLAYWARSHIPS2018
What happens when you spend a few decades casually getting really good at seafaring, only to find that there’s suddenly a whole new world that’s only accessible to societies with exceptional sailing prowess? — You get fabulously rich, that’s what. Watch along and learn all about the surprising success of Portugal!
PATREON: http://www.patreon.com/OSP
From the comments:
BenficaHaze 1904
1 month ago
Portugal didn’t follow Spain. Portugal started the discoveries 60-70 years before SpainPietro SF
1 month ago
The video already starts badly by suggesting Portugal only entered the Discoveries as a response to the Spaniards, when in reality the Portuguese pioneered the Age of Discovery, starting it half a century before Columbus’ Voyage.Daniel Ghan
1 month ago
Nice video, but 2 significant errors:
1) Columbus didn’t motivate Portugal’s exploration as the video implies; rather, it was the other way around. The Portuguese began searching for a way to India around Africa after the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Columbus, who was Italian, asked the Portuguese king to finance his expedition but was refused, and only then went to Spain.
2) Magellan (Magalhães) was Portuguese but his expedition was sponsored by Spain and he had a Spanish crew. So the expedition would not have returned to Lisbon.Metriximor
1 month ago
Alright, Portuguese here, just wanna say overall you did a great job but I wanna clear a few misconceptions.Portugal didn’t just spring up into action because of Columbus, in fact, he even asked the Portuguese Crown for funding before he asked the Spanish Crown. Portuguese discoveries began in 1418 with Madeira, 1427 we found Açores, then in 1434 Gil Eanes goes around Cape Bojador, 1472 we found Newfoundland, but most importantly, in 1487 Bartolomeu Dias goes around the Cape of Storms, and looking out at the huge possibilities of his accomplishment he declares it to be the Cape of Good Hope.
This was all before Columbus even thought of sailing the Atlantic(1488) or contacting the Spanish(1489), so saying Portugal just began exploring because of him is downplaying it a lot.
Otherwise, fantastic work, love your channel and content keep it up 😀
PORTUGAL CARALHO
January 22, 2019
“I grew up in pre-history, or rather in Portugal (in some ways, same thing) in the 60s”
Sarah Hoyt on “toxic masculinity” and the rise of angry feminism:
… it’s such a just-so story it spreads and hides. It hides so well that people don’t realize they’re infected. But its distorting effects twist society’s processes to the point that something vital stops working.
Yes, the entire myth of “toxic masculinity” is one of these. It was born of the disappointment of feminists. Look, in the days when women were actually held back, those that made it were exceptional people.
Since I grew up in pre-history, or rather in Portugal (in some ways, same thing) in the 60s, where sexism was matter of fact and every day, I can tell you that, yes, to have the same grades as a boy you needed to work twice as hard, be brighter, more nimble, and more consistently good. Any boy started out with a good 20% on me in any teacher’s head, because “boys are smarter” wasn’t disputed, or even questioned.
So I understand that in the early twentieth century, women that made it to positions of prominence, where they became known for professional excellence, had to be GOOD at it. Amazing, in fact.
And even then, they might hit a glass ceiling, because they were the nail that stuck up. Everything conspired to bring them down.
Female liberation was played against this. People looked at these women, knew what they’d achieved against what obstacles, and dreamed that “if only women were allowed to be on an even footing with men, they’d be the best at everything. Every woman would be a leader.”
This is a form of insanity, because women are still human, and most humans are … average. That’s why they call it “average.”
But you can see how what they saw would deceive them.
Except that the obstacles were removed and women … were people. Sure. There are exceptional women, just as there are exceptional men, but in many ways, even with contraceptives, we women are still running with our legs in a biological sack. Oh, men too. They’re just different sacks. And men’s impairments, in a way, apply better to business, to creating, to competition.
Look, it’s become “sexist” to refer to PMS and women’s hormonal cycle as being at all different than men’s hormonal gearing up. Yeah. Any ideology that requires me to ignore my lying eyes in favor of their theory is bad-crazy which can destroy society, so these are my middle fingers. Reality is what it is.
August 27, 2018
Feature History – Peninsular War
Feature History
Published on 20 Aug 2017Hello and welcome to Feature History, featuring the Peninsular War and not much else. It’s not called Peninsular War and other stuff, just Peninsular War so really you can’t complain.
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I do the research, writing, narration, art, and animation. Yes, it is very lonely
May 14, 2018
The Empire of Mali – The Final Bloody Act – Extra History – #5
Extra Credits
Published on 12 May 2018The Mali Empire comes to an end after the rise of rival powers and weakened by colonial influences, but not without leaving a legacy as a place of wealth and splendor.
May 7, 2018
DicKtionary – J is for Junk – Ching Shih
TimeGhost History
Published on 6 May 2018J is for Junk, boat of the Chinese,
For trade and for pleasure, they sailed the blue seas
Some junks were pirates, that ain’t a good thing,
And the queen of them all, was one Madame ChingJoin us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TimeGhostHistory
Written and Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Based on a concept by Astrid Deinhard and Indy Neidell
Directed by: Spartacus Olsson
Produced by: Astrid Deinhard
Executive Producers: Bodo Rittenauer, Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson
Edited by: Bastian BeißwengerA TimeGhost format produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH
April 13, 2018
The Battle of La Lys – Operation Georgette I THE GREAT WAR Week 194
The Great War
Published on 12 Apr 2018A year after the US entry into the war, the German Spring Offensive 1918 continues with operations Archangel and Georgette. The Portuguese Expeditionary Corps has to pay the price while the British manage to orderly retreat.
March 12, 2018
Sarah Hoyt on women’s advantages and disadvantages
A recent post at According to Hoyt:
I did not ask to be born a woman. At least presumably I didn’t ask. If we look too closely at this, we get into all sorts of things about pre-existing souls, reincarnation and what not. Neither fit into my system of belief, but neither am I absolutely sure of what happens after you die, or before you’re born, because how can I be? Eventually I’ll find the one out, the other also if my system is wrong. And in either case it matters very little to here and now.
However, I do know being born a woman wasn’t some sort of achievement, like I just won a race and deserve a medal. I am a woman, and that’s fine. My little tomboy self didn’t always think it was a good idea, this being a woman thing, but I’ve come to enjoy it. I can still slay dragons and drink but I can also wear bitching shoes while doing it, and no one looks at me sideways.
Or to put things another way: I have my limitations, my sticking points, and things I do that make people look at me oddly. The limitations and sticking points have bloody nothing to do with being female. Even in Portugal, where I was presumed to be dumber than most males (it’s a cultural thing) I never found that to be an impairment, because I wasn’t and I’d eventually show it. Also, because I’m that kind of person, I enjoyed the look of shock on their faces when I showed it. The sticking points: I’ve gone to pot, physically for various reasons, mostly having to do with hypothyroidism and asthma, and true, I was never as strong as most males. So in a test of strength, I’d have failed. But I was quite strong enough when I was young to carry furniture as heavy as the movers did, and for as long (I never had to tell my husband “I can’t lift this” until my fifties. And in a fight I just had to be twice as low-minded and nasty. Because a fight isn’t won on a straight up context of strength.
I never found being a woman an impairment. I did take shameless advantage of it a time or twenty. It’s easier to get out of a ticket, if you act the ditsy woman. It’s easier to diffuse a situation that for a male would end in a fight by smiling and talking in a “little girl lost” voice.
Do I feel bad about using the advantage that the evolutionary triggers against hurting females gives me? Oh, please. You are born who you are born. You use ALL your weapons. All of them. Why not? There are disadvantages that come with your advantages. There are disadvantages for everyone. You use all your advantages. They’re yours. Why wouldn’t you use them?
February 14, 2018
QotD: Portuguese quality of life … or “Is Portugal a shithole?”
You see, you can judge a country’s status as an … ah… excrement sinkhole by figuring out “Migration out or in?”
In Portugal this picture is complicated. They are suffering “brain drain” as their youngest, brightest and most educated decamp for Germany, England, or even Brazil (where the picture is also complicated) but at the same time they receive immigrants from Africa, Brazil, South America, China and, weirdly, Russia (I’ve never figured out if these are descendants from people who took their crappy cars when the wall came down, and drove until they hit the ocean (or drove/walked till they hit the ocean) or whether they’re a fresh migration. I know the first existed, but I haven’t sussed out the other particulars.)
So, Portugal is not a shithole. What it is is a country so tied down by regulations, rules, and the ever present weight of tradition (Portugal, like many Baltic countries produces way more history than it can consume locally) that it works at cross purposes to itself.
Looking at what Portuguese (at least some) can do abroad, in terms of insane amounts of work and sometimes success, one assumes that if Portugal could eschew its perennial fascination with socialism, it would … well… I don’t know, but it would be scary for good or ill.
I mean for a country tied up with socialism (first national, then international) for the best part of a century, it’s not doing badly at all. Look at it this way: it hasn’t gone Venezuela. And the gentleman in the back who just said that’s because they can’t do anything efficiently, not even socialism, is just being mean. Yes, the Portuguese have been locked in a tragic fight throughout history with their traditional enemies, the Portuguese, but that’s no reason to look down on them.
Sarah Hoyt, “On Shaking The Dust From One’s Sandals”, According to Hoyt, 2018-01-17.
December 1, 2017
All Quiet On The Eastern Front – Action in East Africa I THE GREAT WAR Week 175
The Great War
Published on 30 Nov 2017This week in the Great War, the Battle of the Ngomano was fought in East Africa between the Germans and Portuguese, which was a decisive win for Lettow-Vorbeck’s men. On the Eastern Front, the fighting stops and Trotsky published the secret treaties that Russia and the other Allies had signed. The Battle of Cambrai continued, with attacks and counterattacks from both sides, including the implementation of the new Hutier assault tactics. Armando Diaz was making changes for the better on the Italian Front, with the express aim of improving the morale among his men.
June 14, 2017
QotD: Portuguese culture
So, let’s go back to culture being like the water in an aquarium. Most people aren’t blind to their culture. They know what it’s like and where it stacks in comparison with other cultures, more or less, relatively.
For instance, Portuguese are well aware of being very unorganized — and weirdly proud of it. No, really — and know they stack above Brazilians in organization but below powerhouses of organization like France and Ireland. What they don’t know is how their disorganization/disregard for times/disdain for details affects their prosperity, their security and every level of life in the country.
They don’t know this because they’ve never lived anywhere else. Going shopping will take an entire afternoon because the buses run more on suggestion than schedule (and if you drive, the traffic rules are also suggestions, which means sometimes bizarre traffic jams because someone didn’t find a parking space and thought he might as well park on a lane on the road.) Also, the stores might or might not have the same products they had last week, and besides, if the shopkeeper came in late, and then had a really difficult customer, you might have to wait an hour. And on and on. I often say I spent most of my teenage years standing on street corners, fortunately reading science fiction and not going “oh, hai sailor” because I got so neurotic about being late for an outing with friends that I got there ten minutes early. And then waited an hour for the first of them to show up and two for the stragglers. This type of thing, over time, eats people’s time and their mental and emotional resources. Frankly, it’s amazing the country works as well as it does.
And yep, they know they’re unorganized — they view it was free and not rigid — but they fail to take into account everything it touches, because “it’s always been like that.”
I suspect in the US people would bodily move a car that parked blocking a lane of a two lane road “while I go over there to the post office. It’s just a minute. What are you so uptight about that you object?” In Portugal it’s the way it works. (Though I understand if you park on the tram lines and are driving a smart, you will get moved. The occurrence is so common trams have really long poles to assist this move. You should have seen my kids’ faces watching this.)
Not ragging on Portuguese, really. They’re at worst a second world country. I’m only describing them because it’s a culture I have a lot of insight into. The culture as in all Latin countries, has all the stigmata of Rome, from bribery as a way of life, to nepotism as the oil that lubricates society. Which is not entirely compatible with modernity, and therefore means that Portugal isn’t one of your leading lights of technological creation and innovation.
Sarah Hoyt, “Water, Fish, Culture and Genes”, According to Hoyt, 2017-05-31.
May 11, 2017
QotD: Stereotypes
Stereotypes are of course a tool of the trade for writers. We have to know what the stereotypes are in people’s minds, and therefore use them to suggest things we can’t thoroughly describe. (No one can thoroughly describe everything, even in a long book. Nor would you want them to. It would get truly tedious.)
Sometimes I fail at this, the same way I have trouble picking fonts for covers, because the stereotypes in my head are not the same as in most of my readers’. Take Irishmen for instance. I actually know something about the stereotype here, because it’s all over the books everywhere. However, if I’d tried to write an Irishman (or woman) when I came here, and assumed that my readers knew to round out the character with extreme politeness, drive and organization, it would backfire, and at best people would think I was being creative. At worst it would be a “wait, what?”
I suspect the Portuguese stereotype for Irish tells you rather more than you want to know about Portugal, but also about the sort of Irish we got in Portugal. Here you go people looking to make a new living, perhaps not drawn from the higher echelons of society. There you got either rich people, or people who came over as upper servants to British residents. In either case, the unruly Irishman stereotype doesn’t apply, even if both agree on song and poetry.
In the same way I often disappoint on the Portuguese stereotype, because my family runs to relatively tall, I haven’t been in the sun much the last few years, and oh, yes, I fail to be outwardly and loudly pious.
Sarah A. Hoyt, “Dealing in Stereotypes”, According to Hoyt, 2015-07-28.
April 24, 2017
April 4, 2017
The Forgotten Ally – Portugal in WW1 I THE GREAT WAR Special
Published on 3 Apr 2017
Portugal’s participation in the First World War 1, especially the service of the Portuguese Expeditionary Corps on the Western Front, is often forgotten. And even when the troops were still fighting, the political situation back home had changed so much that the soldiers were largely forgotten.
