>no, but i don't know why "we" speaking the same language is
>the index of "we" belonging to the same culture. does that
>mean the swiss, the spanish, the belgians etc don't have a
>common culture?
>

Well, because I firmly believe that language shapes and structures the way people think. Why is there such a specific school of philosophy in Germany, for instance (Kant, Hegel, Marx, Nietszche et al)?

And yes, spanish and belgians have "a" common culture, just as you and me have "a" common culture (I mean, we both listen to hip hop, for instance), because culture travels. But besides that, they have quite a few things to differentiate them, enough for me to say that they don't belong to the same culture. Just like my culture is not hip hop.

>the notion that a common language is what constitutes a
>nation is so 19th century

Yeah, I know, I'm old school like that

>while i was searching around for info on le
>verlan, i found a
>french govt site with a list of a slew of minority languages,
>including ones i'd never heard of. now, you might say that
>some of them are pretty close to standard french, but are
>they closer than dutch is to german?
>

Ha. This is very funny. You act as if languages like Langue d'Oil (!) or even Basque and Breton and Corse were widely used. Well, I don't know if you ever went to Rennes or Bayonne, but if you did, I know you heard mostly French in the streets. The number of people truly identifying themselves as only Basque, and not French, ie claiming independance, is actually very limited. The same can be said for Corses. And it's the two main, or to be exact, the two only regions claiming independance.

But even considering those people...and coming back to my main point since the beginning of this conversation. Do you think pro-independance Basques see themselves as "Europeans"?

And all the overseas languages? Personally, I don't have any problem with a Guadeloupean or a Kanak NOT considering self French (not that I have a problem with them doing so either, but if they do, they will speak French, and not only Creole or Kanak).

>i mean, i don't know what you mean by common territory,

Well, for France, I mean the metropole. A territory delimited by natural fronteers, like the Alps, the Pyrenees, the Ardennes, the seas and the Rhin. My knowledge in Geography is too limited to tell you what those natural fronteers are for Germany or Netherlands.

>and
>what about giving algerian jews french citizenship, i mean
>what is the idea of france there?

Ha again. I think you're actually getting my point. It was a by-product of a very fucked up idea of France, the Colonial Empire idea (I guess you know by now I'm not a fervent supporter of colonialism).

> or a person of pourtugese
>or arab descent in the banlieus?
>

What about them? they speak French, you know? Granted, in the case of people of Arab descent, France probably doesn't do enough to allow them to consider themselves as French if they want to. But I don't see where you're going with this.

>bc it wasn't just geography, or the experience of the
>adjacent lands under the eastern orthodox church wouldnt
>have been so different. and the adoption of ideas on
>technology or democracy in the non-western world would have
>also been different. the meiji reformation is unique.

Hmmm...you lost me, here.

>yo, i think that the eu should hire me to write advertising
>copy. ha ha

and I think you still got some work to do to convince me, kid