<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CRon%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"MS Mincho";
panose-1:2 2 6 9 4 2 5 8 3 4;
mso-font-alt:"ＭＳ 明朝";
mso-font-charset:128;
mso-generic-font-family:modern;
mso-font-pitch:fixed;
mso-font-signature:-1610612033 1757936891 16 0 131231 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:SimSun;
panose-1:2 1 6 0 3 1 1 1 1 1;
mso-font-alt:宋体;
mso-font-charset:134;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 135135232 16 0 262145 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:"\@MS Mincho";
panose-1:2 2 6 9 4 2 5 8 3 4;
mso-font-charset:128;
mso-generic-font-family:modern;
mso-font-pitch:fixed;
mso-font-signature:-1610612033 1757936891 16 0 131231 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:"\@SimSun";
panose-1:2 1 6 0 3 1 1 1 1 1;
mso-font-charset:134;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 135135232 16 0 262145 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;
text-underline:single;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;
text-underline:single;}
p
{mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
margin-right:0in;
mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:0in;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;}
@page Section1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;
mso-header-margin:.5in;
mso-footer-margin:.5in;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
-->
</style>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" align="center">=====================================================</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" align="center"><b>L O W L A N D S - L - 09 July 2010 - Volume 05</b><br>
<a href="mailto:lowlands.list@gmail.com" target="_blank">lowlands.list@gmail.com</a>
- <a href="http://lowlands-l.net/" target="_blank">http://lowlands-l.net/</a><br>
Posting: <a href="mailto:lowlands-l@listserv.linguistlist.org" target="_blank">lowlands-l@listserv.linguistlist.org</a><br>
Archive: <a href="http://listserv.linguistlist.org/archives/lowlands-l.html" target="_blank">http://listserv.linguistlist.org/archives/lowlands-l.html</a><br>
Encoding: Unicode (UTF-08)<br>
Language Codes: <a href="http://lowlands-l.net/codes.php" target="_blank">lowlands-l.net/codes.php</a><br>
=====================================================</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">From:
R. F. Hahn <<a href="mailto:sassisch@yahoo.com" target="_blank">sassisch@yahoo.com</a>></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Subject: History</p>
<p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="MsoNormal">Dear Lowlanders,<br>
<br>
I wrote:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br>
<span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 153);">I’ve just been made aware of an initiative to
institute a Low Saxon (Low German) flag:<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.noordlandflagg.de/" target="_blank"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 153);">http://www.noordlandflagg.de/</span></a></span></p>
<p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">And Jonny responded:</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; font-family: courier new,monospace;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 153);">Dat hett Aort! Un' watt 'n smukke Flagg', hoyza dii! Sou 'n
Ding kaomt bii mii 'roppen Dakk!</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 153);"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; font-family: courier new,monospace;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 153);"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: courier new,monospace; color: rgb(51, 51, 153);">Weyt'st all, wokeyn daor achter steekt??</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 153);"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></p>
<p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="MsoNormal">Yes, I know that at least
one of the people behind is an old friend: Snorre Björkson, a (real) “Saxon”
despite his Scandinavian name, and a great proponent of Saxon-speaking Northern
Germany and the Eastern Netherlands as a link between the Lowlands and Scandinavia. Snorre has been active in the
Freudenthal-Gesellschaft (being a laureate writer himself) and has done much to widen
the playing field by bringing people from outside Northern Germany, especially
from the Netherlands (but
also from England and the USA), into the
fold by having them participate and be honored as writers in the contests. <br>
<br>
All this is very well and good ... Without wanting to poo-poo the said (fine) flag
effort, please allow me to play the devil’s advocate (on which Jonny does not
have the monopoly). Sure, I’m the first person to admit that I have a religious
bias. Aside from this, I do see the part about a link with Scandinavia ... and I’m
a major fan of Scandinavia myself, nay, of <i>all</i> of the Nordic Countries
(and I include Estonia, Finland, Livonia, Karelia and the rest of what is now northwestern
Russia).
<br>
<br>
Yet ... the cross ... <br>
<br>
(1) It symbolizes Christianity (even if most Northerners don’t think about it
anymore). Nothing wrong with that (unless you're really into separation of religion and state).</p>
<p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="MsoNormal">(2) It was the combination
of cross and sword (and the sword was seen as a kind of cross) that Charlemagne (Charles the “Great”) used to fight and
finally subdue the Saxons, who would have no part of Christianity and
Franks after having been the only ones to have successfully fought off the
Romans. It was Charlemagne’s sword and cross combo (and mass murder of Saxon
chieftains) that finally broke the Saxons’ resistance. To add insult to injury,
the Franks made the reluctantly (or pretending) Christian Saxon-speaking region,
especially the fortress of Hamburg, the staging post for “converting” the
“Vikings” and Slavs, who would have nothing to do with Christianity and
Franks either and took their hatred out on poor Hamburg, the Franks’ puppet
satellite on Saxon soil, the perceived link between the Franks and their would-be territories north and east.<br>
<br>
So, while people may now see the Saxon-speaking region as a link, I would like
everyone to take a step back and think what the symbolic role of the cross was
that is now featured on the proposed flag. You could take another tack and
think of it as the symbol of Saxon submission and thus of the end of Saxon
independence ... which landed us in the pickle we are in now.</p>
<p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="MsoNormal"><br>
Just some food for thought, hopefully.<br>
<br>
Regards and peace,<br>
Reinhard/Ron<br>
Seattle, USA<br><br>P.S.: If you wish to contact the flag initiative folks: <a href="mailto:info@noordlandflagg.de">info@noordlandflagg.de</a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" align="center"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">=========================================================</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
Send posting submissions to </span><a style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" href="mailto:lowlands-l@listserv.linguistlist.org" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: none;">lowlands-l@listserv.linguistlist.org</span></a><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">.</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
Please display only the relevant parts of quotes in your replies.</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
Send commands (including "signoff lowlands-l") to</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<a style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" href="mailto:listserv@listserv.linguistlist.org" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: none;">listserv@listserv.linguistlist.org</span></a><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
or </span><a style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" href="mailto:lowlands.list@gmail.com" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: none;">lowlands.list@gmail.com</span></a><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<a style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" href="http://linguistlist.org/subscribing/sub-lowlands-l.html" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: none;">http://linguistlist.org/subscribing/sub-lowlands-l.html</span></a><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">.</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<a style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" href="http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#%21/group.php?gid=118916521473498" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: none;">http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/group.php?gid=118916521473498</span></a><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
=========================================================</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></p>