Mojorule Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 Well, yea. What music were we supposed to use? Something from Egypt? The Spanish anthem? We were BRITS, you know. Naturellement, apart from those types who set up Louisiana. Now just imagine if they'd won the colonial wars... Try singing the SSB to the tune of la Marseillaise! Or vice-versa. In a Gypsy Kings wig. In Spanish. All as all-American as the hamburger. Oh, hang on, the hamburger came from... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mojorule Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 And when the British Empire was finally dissolved, we stole that too. Of course, that is coming to an end for us as well. But who will steal it next? China or India? My money's on India... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duende Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 But who will steal it next? China or India? My money's on India... That's interesting you should say India. I don't know much about China or India re their economy, other than what I have read in the papers, but thought it was almost given that China were going to take over the world lol. I can almost hear Tony Montanna saying 'every dog has it's day' Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mojorule Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 That's interesting you should say India. I don't know much about China or India re their economy, other than what I have read in the papers, but thought it was almost given that China were going to take over the world lol. I can almost hear Tony Montanna saying 'every dog has it's day' Matt Well I've been thinking about analogies with the decline of the British Empire, Matt. I think Germany looked the dead cert rising power in the early 1900s: massive and impressive industrialisation, more aggressive colonial expansion than USA. Couldn't accept British domination, and GB couldn't stand aside. Hence the war, even if it was started in the Balkans with the help of the Habsburgs. War decimated both British and German economies, leaving the playing field free for the US. It also helped that the Brits made English the lingua franca of most of the globe, and that more Yanks spoke English than German. The US had a readymade communications advantage over Germany when it came to world domination. Fast forward to now. China is ahead of India in economic terms, it would seem. USA dominates, but is losing ground. China wants USA out of the way, but USA will not budge without some sort of fight (not necessarily military, but expensive whatever it may be). China will also spend to be top dog (hey, they've already bought the dollar and the euro). In the end, China and USA will grind each other down, leaving India free to rise to the top. And again, India has the linguistic advantage over China. Certainly not all Indians speak English (far from it), but nor do all Chinese. Importantly, though, English is the lingua franca in India, while it is not in China. So Indians have a domestic as well as international economic imperative to learn English as their first foreign language. The Chinese have to learn a domestic foreign language first. The Indians are thus closer to English on aggregate, meaning that they are closer to the communications and marketing channels established by Britain and then the US. That said, the fact that the Chinese essentially own the dollar and the euro might make this analogy unworkable. Watch this space... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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