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We have our differences, but we also have so much in common.
And not only we - having spent almost all of my life "around Europe", I really must say that we do have more in common that what we'd actually believe. It's amazing and rather interesting.
As I traveled through Sweden, two years ago, I was so astonished with the similarities between some Swedish words and some Swissgerman words (my "first language") like Verktyg - we say Werkzüg in Switzerland, and not Werkzeug, like in Standard German, or igång - we say Igang (with a long I and closed a, almost resembling a o, but not as strongly as the å) instead of German Eingang.
And I know, language isn't genetics - but it can actually give us some clues to where our ancestors were "hanging around" spreading "them languages" and to whom
I really love genetics. It's the historian and linguist in me. Please, don't go all racist and spoil it for me and for the rest of us who aren't that much into Eugenics. Just stay fair and reasonable.
Ps.: I can't confirm the exact number of people who have blond/ red/ light hair and a lighter hair colour in Portugal, but they're definitely more than just 1 in every 25th.. Alone in my direct family (grandparents, their kids and their offspring - I'm not counting 2nd cousins or those who married into the family, otherwise the number would be much larger), 11 out of 27 have either lighter hair/ eyes or both. 2 of them have red hair, 6 have blonde hair, 4 have green eyes and two blue eyes. And there is direct African ascendance in both sides of my family, as Basque and Spanish.
I hope you don't find my post too boring or too long. And sorry, if there are any ugly grammatical or lexical mistakes - in my defense, had I written it in German (or Portuguese or Spanish), I'd have probably had the chance to express myself a little more concisely and cohesively. I hope you get the point though
cheers
On a global basis of course Europeans are relatively similar to each other, compared to, say, the Chinese or Nigerians or Peruvians. But within Europe I find the Portuguese to be rather different from Germans for instance. And that's a good thing.
Sure, Europe is basically split in two linguistic halves, a Germanic-based one and a Latin-based one. Naturally Swedish and German words are often very similar.
The same goes for Portuguese and Italian or Spanish words.
I have lived in various regions of Portugal over the years and I just can't confirm your statements on hair and eye color. Your family is certainly not representative of Portugal. Even in the very north (Vila Real etc.) the vast majority of people have dark hair and eyes. Don't let the dyed hair fool you. Dying hair is very popular in this country. Many women want to appear more Nordic or somehow strike out in an ocean of morenas. But walk by any schoolyard and you will see the true hair color of the Portuguese as children don't dye their hair, yet.
Light eyes should not be lumped together, anyway, because green eyes and blue eyes are rather different from each other genetically. That's why you will easily find people with greenish and Hazel eyes in India, Iran, Arabia, north Africa etc. as well, while blue eyes are associated with Nordic people (today that is, their ancestors probably came back from southern Europe after the end of the ice age; ironically in southern Europe people were largely replaced by people from the Middle East later on). Hazel eyes are not rare in Portugal.
If "Europe is basically split in two linguistic halves", then what "halve" do Finns, Lithuanians, Greeks, Basques, Poles, Russians, Hungarians, Irish, Albanians, Czechs belong to?
If "Europe is basically split in two linguistic halves", then what "halve" do Finns, Lithuanians, Greeks, Basques, Poles, Russians, Hungarians, Irish, Albanians, Czechs belong to?
That's why I said basically.
But yes, there is a third half I forgot the Slavic people, but they play no role regarding the Iberian Peninsula, and frankly, to me Europe ends at the eastern border of Germany, anyway But that's just my personal view of course...
That's why I said basically.
But yes, there is a third half I forgot the Slavic people, but they play no role regarding the Iberian Peninsula, and frankly, to me Europe ends at the eastern border of Germany, anyway But that's just my personal view of course...
HH, I suppose you'd like to hear that....Accordingly to your "About Me" you are most likely from Northern Portugal, one of the people who have Afro and Redhead genetics with Asian admixture coming from Ottoman North Africa, while the purest Europeans originating from the Baltic region in EUROPE. With this kind of personal views like yours there will be no peace and civilization in Europe and this forum by accepting such views is just a branch of Stormfront... basically. And today Germany and mostly entire western Europe is questionably part of Europe anymore...with all the Third World immigration by Merkel and Macron creating chaos in the "easternmost European" states...
Last edited by newtocolumbia; 04-01-2018 at 12:23 PM..
Well, Slavic people and culture are very alien to me, not least due to the languages that are neither Germanic- nor Latin-based. I feel closer to Brazilians and Angolans than to people from Poland or Russia.
I am not saying they are inferior or anything, just very alien to me.
Not being part of Europe (which is my view) is nothing negative, most of the world is not part of Europe...
Well, Slavic people and culture are very alien to me, not least due to the languages that are neither Germanic- nor Latin-based. I feel closer to Brazilians and Angolans than to people from Poland or Russia.
I am not saying they are inferior or anything, just very alien to me.
Not being part of Europe (which is my view) is nothing negative, most of the world is not part of Europe...
Then there are at least half a billion "Europes" while for every European Europe is different. For usually more educated people in the East Europe, Europe is from Urals to Portugal, cause they are taught entire world geography and culture as opposed in your country they perhaps only teach Portugal and its colonies as being "Europe". Being unfamiliar with other cultures does not make or break continents. To me Europe can be as wide as from old India, Iran westward to Americas. I bet you're not familiar with the remote-to-you Swedes and Finns as well as Baltic countries which are not Slavic, which oiccupy significant part of Europe. Your own backyard may as well be entire Europe for you.
Nowadays Europe is present everywhere around the world and contrary to what you write Europe is most of the world and Europe and its ex colonies rule the entire world.
You being familiar with Angola or Brazil or Mozambique does not make them European.
Not only to my opinion, but it is a fact that even Russia is considered Europe and so are all the countries west of it, whether you are familiar with them or not.
Then there are at least half a billion "Europes" while for every European Europe is different. For usually more educated people in the East Europe, Europe is from Urals to Portugal, cause they are taught entire world geography and culture as opposed in your country they perhaps only teach Portugal and its colonies as being "Europe". Being unfamiliar with other cultures does not make or break continents. To me Europe can be as wide as from old India, Iran westward to Americas. I bet you're not familiar with the remote-to-you Swedes and Finns as well as Baltic countries which are not Slavic, which oiccupy significant part of Europe. Your own backyard may as well be entire Europe for you.
Nowadays Europe is present everywhere around the world and contrary to what you write Europe is most of the world and Europe and its ex colonies rule the entire world.
You being familiar with Angola or Brazil or Mozambique does not make them European.
Not only to my opinion, but it is a fact that even Russia is considered Europe and so are all the countries west of it, whether you are familiar with them or not.
And you think my view is odd
As I said, it is my view. If you don't share it, fine with me. I clearly stated it is my view, not a geographic view.
I couldn't care less about Slavic and Scandinavian countries, sorry. They play no role here.
When someone says Europe, most people don't think of Russia or Poland or Finland, but of Central, Western or Southern Europe.
As I said, it is my view. If you don't share it, fine with me. I clearly stated it is my view, not a geographic view.
I couldn't care less about Slavic and Scandinavian countries, sorry. They play no role here.
When someone says Europe, most people don't think of Russia or Poland or Finland, but of Central, Western or Southern Europe.
Yes, I understand that to you "Europe" is your backyard where you feel comfortable at and that is understandable, especially that your neckawood was still more or less mainly illiterate just 30-40 years ago... I know where you come from and I could somehow agree that Western Europe ends right there somwhere where Orthodox religion begins, but Greece, Russia, Serbia even Georgia are still very much Europe, even questionably more European than your own peckofawoods.
Yet accordingly to your humorously trollish "About Me" and your smile emoticons I suspect you may be an avid xenophobe, which is quite rare in Portugal.
You mention Central Europe and then contradict it with Poland as if Poland is not part of Central Europe. I fact Poland, Czechia, Hungary, Slovakia, Germany and Austria are the core of Central Europe. Take for example Prague is richer per capita than any German city nowadays. Poland seems almost as developed as Germany with parts in Eastern Germany behind Poland and especially Czech or Hungary. My favouirite country in Europe so far: Portugal, Hungary and perhaps (still) France. If I had to choose, I would choose to live in Hungary.
I bet you don't even know what cultural and linguistic group Greeks belong to.
When you said "When someone says Europe, most people don't think of Russia or Poland or Finland, but of Central, Western or Southern Europe" I understood that you are somehwere in province, never properly educated. "Most people" in your village perhaps? Very few people know true Europe's borders and cities and countries in Europe and those are the true aristocrats respectful to all cultures, unlike ignorant mass of sheeple who worship large corporations and don't know anything beyond their neighbour's yard.
Some Slav could as well say that southern Europeans are alien to him and that he thinks they are all Arabs or Mulattos and that he is more familiar with Uzbeks or Armenians than with Iberians or Italians (which is almost never true). To his personal view Europe may end up with Germany and France as well.
I personally love all cultures, be it Portugal, Uzbekistan, Bangladesh, Bolivia etc. and am familiar with all of them. Which culure I am not familiar with I study, travel to etc. Being and remaining ignorant is not the way to be nowadays. Widen your spectrum.
Regarding differences between Spaniards and the Portuguese, they are visisble and obviously in appearance and behaviour and I am surprised how many Central- and even Northern European looking Iberians are outthere. Portuguese being saudadite more calm and peaceful and Spaniards more openly friendly and in rare occasions more aggressive. Beyond their severely pleasant rfriendluness, they also need to learn to be less hypocritic, at the same time to be less engaged into their own selves and to respect and fulfill their promises.
I have met the Portuguese who would laugh every time I lift a forefinger in front of them, which is a good thing in some ways. If I did that to an "Eastern European" I may end up in the ditch as well as I may think that person is insane. With more depth in characters of Easterns and more hypocritic Westerns, to my personal opinion, view and observations only. There are more subtle differences in the depth of Iberians, which I may not speak of as I am not so sure yet.
Who said anything about an East Coast of Europe? West Coast of Europe as opposed to THE West Coast, which usually stands for California.
What IS Europe and what ISN'T is irrelevant for my view of Europe. I am good at geography and educated, but again, I am not talking about geography.
The term Eastern Europe meant different things in different eras and contexts. There is not one objective definition.
Nor did I say anything about being rich or developed. That again is irrelevant to my view of Europe. A number of cities outside Europe are more developed than most European cities, Singapore for instance. Chinese cities are also catching up fast or already overtaking. But that's irrelevant to my point.
I don't live in a village, but in a big city. People here are as educated as anywhere in Europe.
Greeks are Greeks. While old Greece was very important for Europe, it is a small, unimportant country today, a shadow of its former self.
I don't have to like every culture and people. What an absurd idea. I like people who match my views and values, who speak the same or similar languages and have a similar culture, people who are compatible with me, no matter where they are from. That's why I feel close to Brazilians and not to Russians or Scandinavians.
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I forgot the Slavic people, but they play no role regarding the Iberian Peninsula, and frankly, to me Europe ends at the eastern border of Germany, anyway 
But that's just my personal view of course...
Location: West Coast of Europe
