[TAG] Fwd: Your marriage essay

[Jimmy O'Regan]

2008/9/2 Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com>:
> Quoting Jimmy O'Regan (joregan at gmail.com):
>
>> The Lithuanians like to claim Mickiewicz as their own, citing the
>> opening line of that book - 'Lithuania, my fatherland' - conveniently
>> ignoring that the /rest/ of the book is a paean to the ways of life of
>> the Polish nobility.
>
> He was also clearly thinking of the historical identity of his country
> as the "Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth" under which the Grand Duchy of
> Lithuania and Polish kingdom (including parts of present-day Belarus, Latvia,
> Ukraine, Estonia, and wester Russia) were united for over 200 years, and
> was arguably Poland's golden age.  It was common to refer to the united
> state as Lithuania, even though Poland was the dominant partner.
>

I've heard quite a lot of the history, from both Poles and Lithuanians
:) The area where the story takes place was traditionally part of
Lithuania (and is again), though at the time, populated almost
entirely by Poles. My friend's father hails from somewhere close by,
from where he was repatriated after the borders changed.

>> Stockholm... Oslo... you're not going to stock up on lutefisk, are you?
>
> I'm hoping to foment strife between the lutefisk and surstr?mming
> people.  Two birds, etc.

:)