![[1098] Rightful German Clay](/comics/2019-07-15-1098-rightful-german-clay.png "[1098] Rightful German Clay")
For once, Google stands on the right side of history:
- Aid worker: Thank you for your help in talking some sense into the Germans. There has been a significant reduction of high-precision ball bearings related crime in the last days. I have to say you’re really good at talking to those Germans.
- Sandra: Well, I’m of German ancestry myself, so I know how they think.
- Sign: Coffee, Cake & Schlachtplatte
- Girl: You have German ancestors? That means you also have this eternal, almost uncontrollable urge to put the wretched Frogs in their place once and for all and reclaim our rightful territory Alsace-Lorraine?
- Sandra: Exactly!
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The Franks, a Germanic tribe originating around (drumroll) Frankfurt, whose empire is known to this day as Frankreich, aren’t German enough for you?
There are some Celts in Wales who’d be glad to have you take back all your Angles and your Saxons and your Danes and your Norse and put them back on the mainland, and some Catalans and Basque who wouldn’t mind at all if the Spanish retreated to Madrid.
Once you’ve sorted all that out, perhaps you can help the Cham people reclaim their rightful territory.
Spain not doubts want Gibraltar back, but then in unwinding the Treaty of Utrecht, are we going to expect the territories added to British North Amercia to revert back to France?
Canada might have something to say about it…
While we’re at it, why not give Palestine back to the Palestinians and – at the same time restore Israel to the size of king Solomon’s empire. Oh. And the Assyrians want THEIR empire back as well, right?
And let’s restore Rome to her old glory, and the Ozmanian Empire, too …
And don’t forget to give back North America to the Indians – and the French, Spanish, British and Dutch as well.
…
We might need a few more planets for all this, but hey.
@ Trimutius:
After the 30 years war 1618 to 1648, Netherlands split off the “holy roman empire of german nation” and the emperor was made nearly powerless, so the smaller kings, barons and cities became more and more independent countries.
@ Thisguy:
The BISMARCK has not much space in the mind of the germans. It is always chancellor Bismarck they are talking about.
Michael Weskamp wrote:
Most of us don’t talk that much about him, either. That’s some 150 years ago, man.
@ Charles:
In reality? No it is included in the 4+2 german reunification contract with USA, UK, F and R that there will be no territorial demands. The borders are accepted as they are and thats it.
That’s probably a good time to say: I’m not following 90% of this German funmaking strip arc.
You kinda cropped you audience on this one, it’s for german people knowledgeable in american culture who reads yours strips in English only. I couldn’t even google what you mean by ‘wretched frogs’.
Is someone else feeling like this too? Or it’s just me?
@ clickbait:
OK, but still much more than about a ship. With bismarck we got the state pension system, health insurance, accident insurance. He was fighting the socialists politically very hard and tried to steal their thunder with those inventions.
Then he had a very nice balanced system of contracts and allies in europe. Willi II destroyed that and went on a confrontation course “Germany first” after kicking Bismarck.
@ Fex:
That frog thing is more popular in UK than in germany.
And yes. It is a german strip made by a german author who does look at USA too.
@ John R Beeler:
I’m from Utah, and I trust the Mormons as far as I can throw their churches!
Michael Weskamp wrote:
Conceded.
“social democrats” aren’t really “socialists”, and they’ve probably never been. But yeah, you’re right about the rest of it.
Alsace-Lorraine disagrees……. it has it’s own flag and languages so it is his own rightfull owner.
VPN into France and then see what Google says; they always have a foot in both camps.
I was about to call this arc “clickbaity” but I think it might be more “cliquebait”.
Which really just means Fex is right, and that if Novil cared this arc would’ve been over last week
Anyway, I’m sorry, but as a person of partial British/German/Italian ancestry from the US, these mock territory disputes and related conversation are both part and reminiscent of Thanksgiving dinner table discussions I’d have had if I didn’t come from a slightly broken home.
And I can’t help but feel the sentiment is at least half of why I do. The other half being definitive proof, through involvement with ancestry research, and plenty of history classes, that nearly everyone’s ancestors, outside of conscientious objectors, were horrible people and terrible role models. So we really should stop giving them so much credit for our living conditions and stop using them as precedent for disputes.
@ Michael Weskamp:
Yeah, but the ship is what I think of when I hear Bismarck. I know some guy called Bismarck existed, and that’s probably who they named the ship after, but that’s it.
Besides, did the original Bismarck have an epic song sung about him by Sabaton?
clickbait wrote:
Yeah, that 150 years ago is what we like to call history. Related to the term education :-). While of course the Iron Chancellor is not exactly a topic of everyday small talk, most Germans with basic education do know who he is and would think of him first when they hear Bismarck. The rest would think of sour herrings. Prior to the recently popular song from Sabaton, no one except some select few with a strong interest in nautical history or war history would have thought about the ship when hearing the name. Military history is considered a bit of a shady topic by most Germans. People who fawn about war technology or famous “war heroes”, especially about German one of the 20th century, quickly get suspected to be Nazis (and often they are).
Don’t you mean Elzas-Lotharingen? (also don’t forget Sudeteland & Preusen)
@ Michael Weskamp:
Yeah, I know that the authors are german and like USA.
What I’m saying is that usually this fact isn’t an issue in understanding the plots of strips for us non-german non-american non-English-as-mother-language people, but for right now, it is.
Not a complain either, just a statement to check if it’s just me or if the feeling is shared.
And Google still can’t explain me the reference, even with the UK information. :oP
Jamais. Vous n’aurez pas l’Alsace et la Lorraine, bouffeurs de choucroute.
/humor just in case
@ Fex:
It is a commonly-held belief in certain parts of the world that French people are extremely fond of eating things that said opinion-holders find disgusting (snails, frogs).
Beyond that, I don’t endorse any of the author’s views, but this article may provide some insight – it was the first result when I searched “French slur frogs” and saves me the trouble of repeating infirmation I don’t care enough to type: https://www.nationalreview.com/2005/01/why-frogs-john-j-miller/
@ TachyonCode:
Just to confirm, that post is mine but authentication typoed.
@ Frank:
‘Stole’ implies that we’ll ever give them back. I suggest ‘looted.’
@ Fex:
well I guess Novil is pleasing his european audience right now 😀
we also deserve some you know. And most of us hate german as language.
@ Daniel Holm:
My family was Danish about six centuries ago. 🙂
An acquaintance of my who lives in Strasbourg said, “We have the German work ethic and the French joi d’ vivre. It’s the best of both worlds.” I suppose if the region were to go back to being and independent state half the world would want to live there.
All-Purpose Guru wrote:
I LIVE in Alsace. And I haven’t met anyone here who would like to be German again. After 1919, maybe. After 1945, never.
OMG, I typed it in to google and that REALLY IS the autocomplete it suggests!
@ Paeris Kiran:
Pleasing, pleasing… maybe pleasing some Germans but not anyone else to be sure.
Un point important est que les Français (et surtout ici, au Québec, Canada), est qu’ils sont qualifiés “frogs” par les anglais. Ce qui est, en réalité, plutôt une insulte.
J’espère que les prochaines images seront quand même mieux que ce que je viens de voir…
@ someguy:
Actually, I And many other people know the ship Bismarck from playing World of Warships.
We also know Hood, Missouri, Nelson, Belfast, Warspite, Yamato and many others.
And I’m Australian. They really didn’t teach us anything about European history at school.
And I’m pretty sure WW1 was entirely focused on the Gallipoli Campaign were we Aussies heroically ran away in the middle of the night.
Don’t worry – once they are all the United States of Europe, these problems will be less prominent ;D
Alsace-Lorraine. O_O I’ve heard about this obsession, but to have it reach Sandra and Woo levels.
Old Brit wrote:
Was this before or after the Dutch sailed in and usurped the English throne?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glorious_Revolution
Well… Doesn’t almost all of europe belong to Austria/the K&K Monarchy? xD
@ Frank:
English has twice as many words as many languages because it freely borrows from other languages. Whereas, purists such as the French go to great lengths to find a word from the past to express new ideas and inventions. Which leaves French in the condition of a fly trapped in amber, if the populace followed the lead of the purists.
@ TachyonCode:
Same French use the term frogs concerning themselves in a joking manner. Whereas, they refer to the English as rostbifs, referring to the diet of the guards at the Tower of London.
Put the wretched Frogs into their place. A sentiment so many share:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5f8MinrUTpw
@ Daniel Holm:
Technically only Schleswig was purely Danish, Holstein was usually mixed ownership and the Duchy of Lauenburg wasn’t Danish.
That being said I’m from Holstein and like most people here I wouldn’t care which of the two countries claims ownership over us so feel free to do whatever you want.
And that’s the way it always turned out, there wasn’t really any throwing out anybody out of the territory no matter who was controlling it.
@ someguy:
Don’t believe the clickbait, most Germans who don’t think about the person first when hearing the Name Bismark will either think about the vodka or the mineral water, only weirdos will think about sour herrings.
That being said while the mineral water was among the best in Germany for many years it’s taste seems to have worsened a little in the last couple years.
As far as being known in the USA goes though there are actually a lot of people, at least among these somewhat knowledgeable about politic theory who do know of him, I’ve repeatedly seen his name pop up in regards of discussions about “realpolitik” at least.
nroejb wrote:
Guess I’m a weirdo, then, because I am German and until now never heard about either the mineral water brand nor the vodka Brand Bismarck, but of course I do know the sour herrings, which you can usually get at any common supermarket in Germany.I guess it depends a little on the region and on whether you like fish. But the historical politician Bismarck really is middle school knowledge in Germany (I would expect him to be less known in other countries because you usually learn about what affected your country first)
Fex wrote:
Well, the fact that you have no idea about half of those German alledged issues kinda belongs to the satire here, it illustrates and mocks the issues about the real refugee crisis, where ironically many of those who scream loudest that the refugees don’t fit in and that they are culturally disposed to make trouble don’t know shit about the culture of those people and base their opinion on oversimplified third hand information, prejudice and Propaganda.
But I agree that much of the humor doesn’t really catch if you don’t understand what is behind those German allegations, especially if you don’t realize how absurd those claims are. E.g. the part of reclaiming Alsace-Lorraine – virtually no one in Germany suggests that any attempt to do that should be made and the thought is just absurd nowadays, though it is a quite common agreement that the French had no legit claim to it (at least not to Alsace, which by the time it became French was inhabited by a vast German speaking majority, contrary to Lorraine).
He could have used Eastern Prussia (now part of Poland) or the Sudetenland (part of czech republic) as an example, but that would have been less hilarious, since there actually were interest groups of the Germans that were forcefully driven from those regions that demanded that diplomatic effort should be made to reclaim those territories or at least – if not moving the borders – to get compensation for the real estate that was taken away from the driven civilians.
@ SaboteurSupreme:
When it comes to ancestor research, the Mormons are probably among the first people you should trust. Really you can’t talk about geneology without them coming up, or their work in some way having made it easier for you to find family records and names.
as a fleming, i believe we must go to war with the damn northern keeskoppen (cheeseheads) and the baguette’s to the south over the county’s of brabant and calais, those are flemish people that need saving dammit!
then again, i’m sure someone else will come for us first, they always do.
(i do believe belgium is the single most wartorn area in history, almost every major european war has had a majority fought here, starting all the way back with the romans)
judging from her dress I’ll say the girl comes from Bavaria, but if your being stereo-typical, where’s the boy wearing Lederhosen?
@ TachyonCode: I don’t trust anything coming from an article published in the National Review, a Trump-supporting rag and one of the most racist publications in America.
Fex wrote:
No Fex, you’re not the only one. I’m also non-german non-american non-English-as-mother-language people and I also did not enjoy this arc. I just don’t want to be too vocal because a lot of commenters here seems enjoy it, which kinda surprise me. So I implied that the majority of S&W’s readers are :
– Europeans, or at least Germans.
– Those who have extensive knowledge of Germans
– Those who have extensive knowledge of EVERYTHING!!
– Those who prepare by studying the subjects of whatever the current arc is so when they comment they could be on the same level of knowledges with everybody else
Man, I never knew that it was so hard just to enjoy webcomic about a girl and a raccoon. And to think, last year the summer arc was about the girls in swimsuits.
“Extensive knowledge of EVERYTHING”? You got dot vun right, Sveethot! How else do you enjoy the ‘Net?
@ someguy:
Opposite here I know all the fish, I eat all the fish but actually never heard of them herrings before this comments.
I also only know about the vodka by coincidence, but I’m not into alcohol so it’s of little surprise, I do know people who did know it though.
The water however is among the best of the country, though not as good as it used to be, very soft very smooth, without any hints of sourness or sweetness (I dislike both in my mineral water).
In this state you can find it in any food store, of course I have no idea how available it is in other states, I’ve more often visited other countries than other states.
Ken wrote:
Well, Trump calls the democrats racist, the democrats call Trump racist, and IS calls western countries ‘apes and pigs’.
The way I see it, Trump didn’t kill 3000 Americans in 9/11, it was Al Quaeda. He also didn’t call Americans ‘apes and pigs’ or threaten to wipe out Israel, America, Switzerland, England, France & a whole lot of other countries.
As long as I don’t see the democrats holding daily antiracism rallies against IS & Hamas, Trump is a much more believable “antiracist” than most democrats are.
And that’s the fault of the democrats.