Lighter Skin = Better?

[thesummerqueen]

Said the person in English, claiming the lack of impact of the British Empire.

Hold up - impact is just one way of judging an empire, and we haven't even decided HOW to do that.

[paulpablo]

Said the person in English, claiming the lack of impact of the British Empire.

Hold up - impact is just one way of judging an empire, and we haven't even decided HOW to do that.

I was under the impression we were specifically talking about how powerful civilizations were and how much they impacted the world with their influence.

[thesummerqueen]

I was under the impression we were specifically talking about how powerful civilizations were and how much they impacted the world with their influence.

I was under the impression that you weren't even talking about real dicks in the dick measuring contest, so....

[Anomalocaris]

Fuck you too.

Said the person in English, claiming the lack of impact of the British Empire.

One must cater to the natives.

But, va te faire foutre, if you prefer.

[paulpablo]

I was under the impression we were specifically talking about how powerful civilizations were and how much they impacted the world with their influence.

I was under the impression that you weren't even talking about real dicks in the dick measuring contest, so....

haha I wasn't when arguing that I thought Britain would be at number 1 in this imaginary league table of what would happen if civ the game was real, but when arguing about whether or not the British empire was powerful at all is something I feel I have to argue about. I admit it's just an opinion of mine that through my limited knowledge they seem to have had the most power of all civilizations but I accept I might be wrong, but for someone to say they weren't really that powerful is a bit ridiculous, considering the size of Britain and how many people speak English now and the size of the colonies and it's impact on the world.

[thesummerqueen]

To be fair: English is a polygot of tongues, which makes it somewhat mongrel and acceptable for wide usage, if you ask me. Also, the wide use of English is more due to America than England, I think, and England didn't hold on to us for very long.

And Latin and Greek are still the accepted languages of science descriptors and naming. It was only just recently that Botanics decided to NOT make lengthy Latin-based descriptions of plants.

I don't think language is a good indicator.

[paulpablo]

To be fair: English is a polygot of tongues, which makes it somewhat mongrel and acceptable for wide usage, if you ask me. Also, the wide use of English is more due to America than England, I think, and England didn't hold on to us for very long.

And Latin and Greek are still the accepted languages of science descriptors and naming. It was only just recently that Botanics decided to NOT make lengthy Latin-based descriptions of plants.

I don't think language is a good indicator.

But it would probably indicate that a small island would have to be fairly powerful to have influenced directly the language of Australia, South Africa. Canada and America other countries probably also. The one's I'm not so sure about are Jamaica and New Zealand.

[Anomalocaris]

Rome had plenty of competitors, Rome was sacked by rival civilizations and Rome didn't have as much territory as Britain, neither did the Egyptians so which empires are you talking about which had no rivals and always faced down peer competitors.

Yeah, and England was invaded by the French.

The point is from 200 BC to around 250 AD, the core of Roman state was almost continuously secure from even the threat of foreign aggression, all peer power that could strategically threaten security and economic well being of Rome has been overran and extinguished. The only threat to core of roman state was from civil war.

Egypt's core was also secure majority of the time from foreign invasion during its first 2000 years.

In the history of most long lasting empires, there would be interregum periods of disruptions and civil war when even its normal secure core could be vulnerable to invasion. This happened several times in Egyptian history, and to Rome between 250AD - 400 AD. But during the heights of their power, they were not just secure because they played off their rivals against each other. They were secure because they've subjugated all their potential rivals that could threaten their core.

This Britain never did.


BTW, Hong Kong wasn't always right next to China. Most of China south of Shanghai were "acquired" in the course of Chinese expansion. The first unified Chinese state was maybe 25% of China's current size.

[thesummerqueen]

Canada still speaks French as well. But considering a massive population of the world does NOT speak English, I suggest you pick another indicator.

[paulpablo]

Canada still speaks French as well. But considering a massive population of the world does NOT speak English, I suggest you pick another indicator.

If you want to think that the British empire was never that powerful that's fine I just find your opinions ridiculous and funny.