Liverpool FC Forum

andy_g wrote:how did you manage to edit your post without it being flagged up as edited, bam?

Sabre wrote:what about Canada and Quebec?

Bam wrote:But I can certainly imagine the ridiculous tensions between French and English speakers of one country. If we'd of won that war back in the day (Independent yanky war?) would it be right to say French wouldnt be such a dominant language in Quebec ?

Actually, you're right--historians draw important connections between the War of Independence and French Canadian nationalism.  It starts in 1755, when you (the English) defeated the French in what the French Canadians call the War of the Conquest (the Yanks call it the French and Indian War and Europeans call it the Seven Years' War).  With that victory, the French threat to England's 13 Colonies was removed.  But, the theory goes, the colonists now saw that they had less need for British military protection and they started to spend more time grumbling over taxation and the lack of effective political representation.  So, defeating the French in Quebec in 1755 may have laid the foundations for American Independence two decades later.

Now, with the independence movement growing in the 13 colonies by the 1770s, British officials worried that Quebec (now under their control) might join them.  In order to buy the loyalty of the French Canadians, the British enacted a series of measures that preserved the French language and Roman Catholic religion at a time when French Canadian society was on the verge of disappearing, due to the fact that no more immigrants from France were arriving.  Through that legislation, that culture was able to preserve itself.  The British later attempted to establish a de facto policy of assimilation in the 1840s but their measures backfired and French Canadian political power grew as a result.  By the time of Canada's initial independence from Britain in 1867 the French Canadians were so firmly entrenched in Canadian politics that officials had little choice but to grant Quebec (dominated by French Canadians) significant autonomy over its own affairs, ensuring that it would always be a province like no other--a homeland for preserving and promoting Quebecois culture.

There endeth the history lesson!

Bad Bob wrote:

Bam wrote:But I can certainly imagine the ridiculous tensions between French and English speakers of one country. If we'd of won that war back in the day (Independent yanky war?) would it be right to say French wouldnt be such a dominant language in Quebec ?

Actually, you're right--historians draw important connections between the War of Independence and French Canadian nationalism.  It starts in 1755, when you (the English) defeated the French in what the French Canadians call the War of the Conquest (the Yanks call it the French and Indian War and Europeans call it the Seven Years' War).  With that victory, the French threat to England's 13 Colonies was removed.  But, the theory goes, the colonists now saw that they had less need for British military protection and they started to spend more time grumbling over taxation and the lack of effective political representation.  So, defeating the French in Quebec in 1755 may have laid the foundations for American Independence two decades later.

Now, with the independence movement growing in the 13 colonies by the 1770s, British officials worried that Quebec (now under their control) might join them.  In order to buy the loyalty of the French Canadians, the British enacted a series of measures that preserved the French language and Roman Catholic religion at a time when French Canadian society was on the verge of disappearing, due to the fact that no more immigrants from France were arriving.  Through that legislation, that culture was able to preserve itself.  The British later attempted to establish a de facto policy of assimilation in the 1840s but their measures backfired and French Canadian political power grew as a result.  By the time of Canada's initial independence from Britain in 1867 the French Canadians were so firmly entrenched in Canadian politics that officials had little choice but to grant Quebec (dominated by French Canadians) significant autonomy over its own affairs, ensuring that it would always be a province like no other--a homeland for preserving and promoting Quebecois culture.

There endeth the history lesson!

RedBen wrote:I'm back from University and 1, 2 and 3 were all wrong   only 4 was correct. I see that this topic has developed into something else but anyway 

"Historically speaking" is not proper formal English? It's a bit of  cliched nonsense, I grant you, (how does one speak "historically"?) but I would have thought it would be more formal than "hot topic".    You'd better fight this, lad...tell your prof that people on a Liverpool messageboard can't abide "hot topic" as formal English!

RedBen wrote:

Bad Bob wrote:

RedBen wrote:I'm back from University and 1, 2 and 3 were all wrong   only 4 was correct. I see that this topic has developed into something else but anyway

"Historically speaking" is not proper formal English? It's a bit of  cliched nonsense, I grant you, (how does one speak "historically"?) but I would have thought it would be more formal than "hot topic".    You'd better fight this, lad...tell your prof that people on a Liverpool messageboard can't abide "hot topic" as formal English!

1. (...) there is an ongoing debate about identity in this small country which will not see its outcome. => Not good because it is unclear to what 'its' refers. (I thought it was clear, she didn't )

2. (...) but fact of the matter is that, to this day still (...) => Not good but I can't remember why

3. (...) identity will always be a hot topic. => Hot topic isn't formal.

4. Historically speaking (...) => Correct

Oh, and I'll tell my prof about how the people on a Liverpool messageboard don't agree with her. 

Okay, a little Starscream has just informed me via PM ( ), that the original question asked which of the 4 were NOT formal English.  I was thinking she was asking which of the 4 was the most informal (deffo #3).  So, with this new information I can see why "all of the above" applies.