- Joined
- Thursday March 30, 2017
- Thread Starter
- #33
Thank you collectively for your kind words - I'm grateful.
K. I always liked the explanation - as to the etymology of barbarian - that it was onomatopoeic and came from the noise sheep make.
Indeed - as you say - pretty much all nations, societies and self-identifying groups do this - they define themselves as much by what they are not - as by what they are. This process is generally called 'othering' - it's a vital filter is you are trying assess the historical veracity of sources academically. A trivial - but illustrative - example of 'othering' - I was in Spain in a bar and 'Fawlty Towers' dubbed into Spanish came on the TV. Interesting - there is no way that the hapless waiter Manuel - the object of derision and mockery - is going to remain Spanish and from Barcelona surely?. Lo and behold - he's Portuguese and from Lisbon in the Spanish version. The reference to Franco was just expunged completely. Ha ha - cheers - I.
it was a derogatory term as all other languages were deemed gibberish, barbarbarbar, much like rhubarb,rhubarb in the theatre or blah,blah in the Peanuts cartoon.
K. I always liked the explanation - as to the etymology of barbarian - that it was onomatopoeic and came from the noise sheep make.
have you noticed that all reprobates get foreign labels, vandals, thugs, hooligans etc.
Indeed - as you say - pretty much all nations, societies and self-identifying groups do this - they define themselves as much by what they are not - as by what they are. This process is generally called 'othering' - it's a vital filter is you are trying assess the historical veracity of sources academically. A trivial - but illustrative - example of 'othering' - I was in Spain in a bar and 'Fawlty Towers' dubbed into Spanish came on the TV. Interesting - there is no way that the hapless waiter Manuel - the object of derision and mockery - is going to remain Spanish and from Barcelona surely?. Lo and behold - he's Portuguese and from Lisbon in the Spanish version. The reference to Franco was just expunged completely. Ha ha - cheers - I.