Americans that write like the English

[ubertroll]

advil is IBprofin

lol

it's ibuprofin, I believe... I am pretty sure it, too has a u.

 

[oggbashan]

Peninsular War

It looks as if it might be a monument to the defeat of the French Marshal Junot at Vimeiro in 1808. Is it?

Did you know that Portuguese forces were significant in the Battle of Waterloo?

Og

 

[MathGirl]

Re: Peninsular War

Originally posted by oggbashan Did you know that Portuguese forces were significant in the Battle of Waterloo?

Dear Og,
I'd heard rumors to that effect, but you're the first who has actually come out and stated it as a fact. Holy Smokes!
MG
Ps. Could you perhaps supply some more information on the Portagee presence on the field at Waterloo?

 

[Quasimodem]

Portugal is Britain's oldest ally . . we English/British have been at war sometime or other with almost everywhere else except Switzerland and Antarctica. . . .

. . . Those penguins never fooled me for a second. . . .

"The only victory over love is flight." - said by a British General noted for being most dangerous when retiring the field.

Oh, Og. Time to retreat!

 

[oggbashan]

Re: Re: Peninsular War

Dear Og,
I'd heard rumors to that effect, but you're the first who has actually come out and stated it as a fact. Holy Smokes!
MG
Ps. Could you perhaps supply some more information on the Portagee presence on the field at Waterloo?

I'm digging for nuggets but Wellington had 83,000 soldiers, at least 42,000 Allied (i.e. not British) and the Prussians who arrived in the nick of time to turn Wellington's defeat into a victory had 113,000. Napoleon had 124,000. It was an Allied victory, not a British one.

Og

 

[Dr Richard]

It's strange but I seem to be Americanising my spelling somewhat. As part of my research, studying whales and dolphins, most of the accepted common names for these animals are in American English - such as gray whale or harbor porpoise. It feels strange to write harbor without a "u", as to my hearing it makes it sound too harsh, like harbore. I also saw the word axe spelt "ax" once. No, no nooooooooooooooo!!!

 

[Lauren Hynde]

Re: Peninsular War

It looks as if it might be a monument to the defeat of the French Marshal Junot at Vimeiro in 1808. Is it?

Did you know that Portuguese forces were significant in the Battle of Waterloo?

Og

Close enough. Junot commanded the first Franco-Spanish invading army in October 1807. In June-July 1808 there was a popular uprising against the invaders, and an English force of 13,500 men under the command of General Wellesley (future duke of Wellington) came to help fight off the French in August, which they did at Vimieiro.

There were another two attempted invasions. One, commanded by General Soult, was stopped at Porto and drove back to Spain within two months, in 1809. The other, by Marshal Massena, with 80,000 men, was defeated in combat twice by the Anglo-Portuguese army, at Buçaco, in June and September 1810.

That is a monument to the heroes of all those wars, both the common people and the Anglo-Portuguese alliance.

I knew there were Portuguese divisions involved at Waterloo, but don't have any idea of the extent of those forces.

 

[oggbashan]

Waterloo - Non!

I've been checking. The Portuguese forces didn't get to Waterloo. They were part of another half million men that the Allies were raising to defeat Napoleon.

The Portuguese did fight all the way through Spain to invade France with Wellington before Napoleon was exiled to Elba. Wellington wanted the experienced Portuguese but didn't get them in time.

Napoleon was trying to defeat the Allied forces before they could combine in overwhelming numbers. Had he won at Waterloo he might have survived a few months longer before everyone else attacked France.

Og who was wrong this time.

 

[Lauren Hynde]

The Portuguese did invade the French Guiana in 1809, though. We should have kept that.