Re: American dialect of Brithenig

[andrew <hobbit@mail.earthlight.co.nz>]

On Sun, 1 Aug 1999, Padraic Brown wrote:

> Eidolon was a serendipitous find if ever there was one.  "Blown Away" was
> a moving picture in yet a different universe. :)  "The Witches of
> L'Ancrea"  is a personal in-joke.  Andrew ought to be able to puzzle it;
> as we're both familiar with the author in question.  It _was_ influenced
> by "Witches of Eastwick", though. 
> 
Andrew got, see commentary in previous message.

> I have not read it.  I think the "Industrial World" is more likely
> somewhere in the 1950s to 1970s, and probably not to the same magnitude
> *there* as it is *here*. Likely, aspects of the 19th century lasted longer
> than *here*.  Third millenium?  Dunno! 
> 
The Difference Engine is recommended.  It is virtually the founding
document of the steampunk genre.  I would also recommend Pascuale's Angel
- Rennaisance Steampunk!
 
> I'm going to preface the following with my own assumptions (any or all of
> which can be dashed about by wiser heads); which I would apply to any
You're using your sillier head to write this????

> the two alternate history lists on the net.  The concensus seems to be
> that if the US keeps away from the 20th century chapter of Eurowar,
> Germany might very well fight to a draw (if not win) WWI (thus no
Colonialists are as keen to go to war as Homelanders.  Any war the FK
declared itself involved in the League would follow suit.  NZ did not send
troops to support Britain in the Falklands War, but it did deploy
personelle in both bombing raids on Bagdad.

> Versailles, no reparations, no utter devastation of German economy, no
> rise of Hitler, no WWII). That being the case, Hitler and WWII as we know
> and love it can never be.  *There*, the second Great War of the century
> must be rather different; and who knows who the players are and where it's
> fought? Must the FK even get involved?]
>
Compared to the others at Versaille, Woodrow Wilson was a moderate, I
believe the French were the harshest.
 
> a different curve.  In my never be humble opinion, in essence, No USA =
> Very Different World.
>
yes
 
> There was no USA to destroy 1940s Japan and then build it up into the
> great country it is now (in Our Image ;) ).  There was no USA to start
> Japan into industrialisation, if that's even right.  Whether Japan
> modernises or not in the late 19th century, there is no USA for it to
> fight against in the 40s: even if the League holds California (not a sure
> thing), it would have no reason to even try for Hawaii or the Philippines. 
> The northern and middle Pacific would be Japan's playground. 
>
Until it clashes with British and former German interests, not to mention
the Russians.  The attack on Pearl Harbour was figured out by a
non-Japanese armchair warrior years before.  It was a fatal mistake for
the Japanese to follow that plan, once begun they set up their own defeat
in a war of attrition.
 
> I didn't bring this (black issue) up in an earlier posting, because I know
> nothing of 19th century British attitudes towards slavery *here* (I think
> it was outlawed); though Andrew has stated that there is no slavery in
> Kemr. This didn't stop the Colonies and USA *here* from utilising slavery. 
1619: slavery introduced to Virginia
1833: Act of emancipation for British colonial slaves
This is a separate form of slavery to the freeborn and serf classes that
existed in early centuries of the Cambrian Kingdom.  Black history in the
League is more like that experienced by English-speaking Caribbean blacks
than African-Americans.

> similar admixture, though with more Amerinds, Latinos and Cajuns.  One
> source of blacks might actually be Louisiana, as the French colonies (as
> well as Spanish colonies) had black slavery.  They'd certainly be rarer
> than *here*.  Whew!  I've managed to salvage Dixiland Jazz!  Unfortuately,
> little or nothing in the way of spirituals, no blues, no R&B, no rock and
> roll.  On the other hand, no heavy metal, no rap. :)  The fusion of Zydeco
> and Kemrese pipes could be interesting...
>
I will discuss this with my flatmate, an authority on popular music, and
get back to you on this one.
 
> Standard business common to formal dress in Kemr, and presumably in the
> League for men is a kind of suit.  No details known, but probably cut
> along the lines of 1940s Britain.  Most women probably wear some kind of
> dress, with whatever feminine things pertain thereto.  I suppose kilts
> must be rather more common *there*, perhaps reaching to nonScots youth as
> a kind of fad.  Laborers wear a kind of shirt and breeks.  All of these
> will vary as to locality and tradition.  It's been noted that in court,
> the tradition of wearing a toga is maintained.  Priests (especially in
> traditional areas)  wear cassocks; others get lumped with breeks, no grey 
> or blue shirts, though, except in less traditional places. 
>
It's possible that Vatican II went the same way as Vatican I.  
 
> > his hand at in PIE, but my impression was that he assumes that the stuff
> > with the asterisks was written in stone.
> 
> Neat story snipped.  Tallarian (a conlang of mine) assumes the same. ;)
> 
Very difficult to do, academics keep of rewriting the stones!

- andrew.
--
Andrew Smith, Intheologus 			hobbit@earthlight.co.nz

	Lo! thy dread empire, Chaos! is restored;
	Light dies before thy uncreating word:
	Thy hand, great Anarch! lets the curtain fall;
	And Universal Darkness buries All.
			- Alexander Pope, The Dunciad, Book IV.