Following that reasoning, why should anything 'rightfully' belong to those who had it in the Middle Ages and not to those who had it hundreds or even thousands of years before?
If you look at it that way, entire planet Earth is in fact no man's land because as far as we (think we) know, there once was a time when not a single human being roamed the face of the planet, so the first one to come live in Europe just claimed something that wasn't rightfully his and never will be...
Finders keepers, losers weepers...

Er... no. "The Germans" don't exist talking about the Middle Ages. 'Germany' was just a loose connection of many different states, amongst which were big ones (e.g. Austria) which also owned territories outside 'Germany' as well as tiny ones. The Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland and also the northern part of Italy belonged to it.

"The Prussians" (the original Prussia is the area around Gdansk, today owned partially by Russia and Poland) didn't get any attention until the sovereign of another state (Brandenburg) decided he wanted to have the title of a king which he couldn't become within 'Germany', so he declared himself "King of Prussia" (Prussia was outside of 'Germany' ). This state was leading in the unification of Germany later (in the 19th century), but it never 'ruled' much of Europe!

What are you talking about? The germans never owned most of europe... The Prussians however did and they still never held sway over Italy because of the Papal states which proves that even the prussians aren't dumb enough to attack the pope

Bah. Belgium and the Netherlands both rightfully belong to Germany anyway - just like Austria, Switzerland, Italy and many others. Good old Middle Ages...

actually mole, our rivalry stems from the time of the restauration when we were forced to join the 12 provincien... Although Willem de zwijger (I think it was that Willem anyway) did a lot of good for our region, we didn't care much for being dominated by them again... One of the reasons of the Belgian war for independence Just a quick lesson in history

Oh, just remembered: another reason was that when the Lord of Alva took over these parts in the late 1600, our entire cultural and intelectual elite fled to holland, and we never forgave them for abandoning us

Edited by Pada1 at 21:33 on December, 27th 2002

Seems to be the same as our own typical Belgium-Holland rivalry, which also has no real reason, but is more something 'folkloric'.
I guess it comes from a time when belgians and dutchmen still considered eachother freaks just for talking slightly differently; nowadays my main frustration is they kick our butts at football (yes, soccer) way too easily, and also the fact that they legalized marihuana, of course...

Eh, it's just fun to do sometimes, and it's not like they never tell American jokes over there (acutally, what other jokes DO they tell ) And I never said it was ugly... well their water front over the detroit river is ugly with that freakin huge casino taking up most of it, but other parts are quite nice, and will be a travel trip for me one day. Also, I can't really tell an American or a Canadian apart. Some of em do have that goofy accent, but some Americans do too, so I guess it's all moot.

Tuss

What is all this putting down of Canada anyway? I happen to think it's a beautifull country and the people ther (that I've met) sure were nicer then the americans I've met (in real life that is.. no complaints about the americans on this board )

errr, no...

I thought boxing day was originally used that you gave your boxes to poor people and they would use their boxes to go door to door to get stuff. Pretty egotistic, but yeah... No one celebrates it here, and if they do, they get deported to Canada.

Tuss

Ooooooh yes, but not so they open much later, so they can open 24 hours a day, every day (if they want to).

Good isnt it

Town and City centre pubs will never shut again.

The country will exist in a state of perpetual pissed-up-ness.

Come Creo, Join us in our social networking :zombiefied:

All this tribal stuff is completely alien to me

it's the day after Christmas Day... In the UK and US (I think) they celebrate it too and call it Boxing day... Here in Belgium we just call it second Christmas Day

What the fuck is "Boxing Day"???

Well, at least that's better then havint to study philosophy on Christmas day and Boxing Day

Our public drinking bans will be fun. I'm leaving on Friday for a week with my mates down at Philip Island (abouth 2 hours from my house in Port Philip Bay) that will be hugely fun

Hope your all having a good day, and as you can proably notice I have nothing better to do on my christmas than to post mindless rubbish

I can see ... your future. I see ... the new year ... a huge ... hangover. I s'ppose you'll need all the practice you can get.

Btw, is it true they're thinking of permanently changing the law in Britain so that pubs will be allowed to stay open till much later?

Cheers!

The laws been changed for us this year so Pubs and Clubs are allowed to stay open non-stop for 36 hours from 10:30 AM New Years Eve onwards until 10:30PM New years day

I need to get some praactice in for that marathon session.

Merry Christmas everyone, and to those who are going for an 11-day drinking frenzy: maybe I'd better wish you a Happy New Year already too.

Have a nice time everybody!