General Chat

Does anyone else see the delicious irony of a Turkish born Roman soldier being venerated by the far right nationalists as an icon of Englishness?

'Proud to be English but we worship a member of the empire that conquered us, who never came here and we don't know why we do it. Nor did we know that he is also the patron saint of syphilis, leprosy and herpes sufferers'

I love it :)

It does make me :-D :-D :-D

The English only arrived in the British Isles as the Romans left. Starting with Hengist and Horsa they were in large part responsible for the Roman exit. Besides which the Romans were broke. defence cuts...

English patron Saint was St Edmund until 1385 when the Norman French wanted somebody more to their taste def not a Saxon.

None of which explains why the far right worship the patron saint of syphilis :)

Maybe the thinking was if the Honored him

They wont get it :-D :-D :-D

I think you'll find there were English people in England before the Romans. :-S

The English language may have started out as a West Germanic dialect, and the English may have been from diverse origins, but they were still English, and. by then, generations had been born in England.
Your 'statement' is like saying non-Welsh speakers aren't Welsh!

What happened after the Romans left, was that the Englis eventually developed a common cultural identity as Anglo-Saxons, and the language slowly evolved to what we know as 'English' today.

That's a distinct possibility but a bit of a coin toss - do they get it by worshipping him or not get it by worshipping him. He doesn't really make it very clear. I think George needs to brush up on his aims and objectives and public image, to be honest. It's all very confusing.

Again, Maggie, that's all very interesting but it doesn't explain what I'm on about :)

As far as I'm aware, no one 'worships' saints. Believers may ask them for intercession, but that's it.

OK, well, I disagree - given the amount of hyperbole that exists around the far right and St George one could be forgiven for thinking that waving the flag, having statues of him, invoking his name, painting pictures of him in a heroic poise and generally holding him in such high esteem could be tantamount to worship. But, lets go for the middle ground and call it venerating. Still doesn't explain why they do it :)

Do we have any proof he really existed ??? ;-) ;-)

Yes, he killed a dragon. What more proof do you want? Tsk.

Lol
Well Dragons are pretty common round here
So he must be real :-D :-D

There's none up here so I reckon he's doing a good job. Just needs to put some work into his publicity, that's all. I have to say its pretty cool being able to kill dragons and cure the clap all in the same day before lunchtime. I wonder what he could do if he really tried?

I have no idea why they do it either Eldrick.
Possibly the 'usual' cause of actions by the far right - ignorance!

At least those supporting St Patrick get to have a good p*ss up.
A day off to 'celebrate' George/Edmund/ some other random ancient person (in our own way. of course) would be a bonus :-D

The village of Wormingford in Essex gets its name from a dragon that was killed by Sir George Marney in the reign of Richard I. It is now thought that the dragon must have been a crocodile.

I heard that story - escaped from the menagerie. A bit like Lord Lambton up here who slew a giant serpent. They even wrote a song about him. Must have been a nightmare living in England then, all those dragons, crocodiles, gigantic serpents and other such forms of carnivorous beasties. Must have played hell with the tourist boards and I would have hated to have a bed and breakfast business.

And I wont forget those Giant worms

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNDltwH14zM

;-) ;-)

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/local-news/unexplained-north-braags-yotuns-lambton-6736846

St George has not been researched enough.

Probably for the best. A few bubbles may get burst if it was done honestly :)