50% of Britons are actually German

[Oliver]

So Germany won the War and Wembley 66 after all, no?

Biologists at University College in London studied a segment of the Y chromosome that appears in almost all Danish and northern German men -- and is also surprisingly common in Great Britain. This suggests that a veritable flood of people must have once crossed the North Sea.

New isotope studies conducted in Anglo-Saxon cemeteries produced similar results. When chemists analyzed the tooth enamel and bones of skeletons, they found that about 20 percent of the dead were newcomers who had originated on mainland Europe.

Sources:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/new...588263/Half-of-Britons-have-German-blood.html

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,768706,00.html

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepag...dy-reveals-fifth-of-UK-have-German-blood.html

 

[WildCat]

Why is this news? English is a Germanic language, I always thought it was accepted that the people had Germanic origins.

 

[Dave Rogers]

So they've made the earth-shattering discovery that the people buried in an Anglo-Saxon cemetary were... wait for it... Anglo-Saxons?

In another news item, examination of the writings of Popes through history reveal that many, if not all, were Catholic.

Dave

 

[ddt]

Why is this news? English is a Germanic language, I always thought it was accepted that the people had Germanic origins.

Because it wasn't clear just how many Anglo-Saxons invaded. Were it wholesale tribes that invaded or just a caste of warriors? After all, it were also comparatively small numbers of Romans who romanized Portugal, Spain, France, and Romania; so just language is not a clue.

And previous genetic studies indicated that indeed the percentage of the Anglo-Saxon stock of nowadays English was comparatively low, see this other thread.

 

[Lothian]

Fifty. Nein.

 

[DrDave]

Because it wasn't clear just how many Anglo-Saxons invaded. Were it wholesale tribes that invaded or just a caste of warriors? After all, it were also comparatively small numbers of Romans who romanized Portugal, Spain, France, and Romania; so just language is not a clue.

And previous genetic studies indicated that indeed the percentage of the Anglo-Saxon stock of nowadays English was comparatively low, see this other thread.

But we still won in 66 right?

 

[Mojo]

Have they figured out where the Vikings came from yet?

 

[Eddie Dane]

I don't know how much it says about the size of the invading force.

Successful invaders tend to get a lot of sex, not all of it in a romantic context.

How many people are direct descendants of Genghis Khan again?

 

[casebro]

But it has been said "There is no true German".

 

[ddt]

But we still won in 66 right?

Paris? You're French? You refer perchance to 1066? It's hard to dig up examples where the French won.


As to Wembley, yes, the English won with help of the Russian linesman. That was obviously not a goal.

But it has been said "There is no true German".

What do you mean? The true German is a bloodthirsty warrior, always been.

I couldn't pass the opportunity to try to piss off three major European nations.

 

[DrDave]

Paris? You're French? You refer perchance to 1066? It's hard to dig up examples where the French won.

Reported as an insult! - I'm English but unfortunately stuck in this ******** for work. (Forgot I had my location set to here!)

 

[TubbaBlubba]

How many people are direct descendants of Genghis Khan again?

1% IIRC.

So let's see. If they weren't Anglo-Saxons they were... Celts? Also Germanic. Other than that I guess it's Normans or Romans?


(Actually my knowledge of English history is really really poor)

 

[zooterkin]

1% IIRC.

So let's see. If they weren't Anglo-Saxons they were... Celts? Also Germanic. Other than that I guess it's Normans or Romans?


(Actually my knowledge of English history is really really poor)

As Mojo suggests, you might want to work out where the Normans and Vikings originated.

 

[Soapy Sam]

Biggleswade?

 

[zooterkin]

Biggleswade?

Only the gay ones.

 

[cwalner]

Even worse. I hear that there is a German Family, the Saxe-Coburgs, who have designs on ruling the country.

 

[Lucian]

As Mojo suggests, you might want to work out where the Normans and Vikings originated.

I was wondering about that though. The quote in the OP says "Danish and northern German men." Obviously, not all the Viking invaders/settlers in the British Isles were Danish (though the English tended to call them all Danes), and the Normans were Norwegian. Oh, wait, Wikipedia says Hrolf/Rollo was "Norwegian or Danish." Regardless, the rather scanty information in the linked Telegraph article seems to focus narrowly on the Anglo-Saxon migration, not other Germanic invaders.

 

[ddt]

1% IIRC.

So let's see. If they weren't Anglo-Saxons they were... Celts? Also Germanic. Other than that I guess it's Normans or Romans?

The Celts were definitely not Germanic, and they've never been associated with the (German) Northsea coast, only with southern Germany (e.g. Hallstatt).

How many of those Normans William the Conqueror brought with him were actually of Viking stock, opposed to indigenous Normandians?

As to the Romans, they could literally come from all over the Roman Empire. E.g., there was a Sarmatian cavalry unit stationed for a long time in England.

 

[TubbaBlubba]

The Celts were definitely not Germanic, and they've never been associated with the (German) Northsea coast, only with southern Germany (e.g. Hallstatt).

Right, no idea why I thought they were Germanic.

 

[Architect]

But we still won in 66 right?

Well I hope you win it again soon. I'm getting fed up seeing it repeated over and over again in black and white.