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happy st georges day to all my my fellow proud englishmen!

booooooooooo hissssssssss racist!! ;)

Happy St George's Day to yourself...now without googling..what did St George actually do again?

dont know and dont really give a fu@ck!

just nice to have a day to call ours and celebrate rather than pretending to be paddies,jocks or leeks!

Why would you preted to be a leek?.nobody wants to be a leek..ever...even leeks don't want to be leeks. Though they go nicely with lentils, or so I'm told.

Basically spent most of his time crusading in the middle east. I believe he also fought for the roman empire at one stage.

St George is also the patron saint for 7 other countries including Canada, Georgia and Macedonia.

Also he wasn't English, I believe he was infact Turkish.

British by birth, English by grace of god.

(http://www.enencom.biz/images/st_george_Flag.gif)

 ;grr; ;)

Happy St George's day to you too!

slayed a dragon, innit.

Men are the superior sex obv.

Decided to google to see how much I got right and what I got wrong.

Scrap Macedonia. St. George is the patron saint of Safita, Aragon, Canada, Catalonia, China, England, Ethiopia, Georgia, Greece, Montenegro, Palestine, Portugal, Russia, and Serbia, as well as the cities of Amersfoort, Beirut, Ferrara, Freiburg, Genoa, Ljubljana, and Moscow, as well as a wide range of professions, organisations and disease sufferers.

2 very different time frames.

He was Roman - but it was around the time of the Crusades that he became recognised as our Patron saint.

I did googe I'm afraid - but I thought it would be nice for us non English folks to know a bit about the man:

c.300 AD, St George, patron saint of England
England's patron saint, a fourth century Christian martyr, is also patron saint of Georgia and the city of Moscow.
Very little is known about the real St George. He is thought to have been born into a noble Christian family in the late third century in Cappadocia, an area which is now in Turkey. He followed his father's profession of soldier and became part of the retinue of the Emperor Diocletian. The emperor ordered the systematic persecution of Christians and George refused to take part. In 303, he was himself tortured and executed in Palestine, becoming an early Christian martyr.
The legend of George slaying a dragon and rescuing an innocent maiden from death is medieval. St George's Day is celebrated in England on 23 April, reputed to be the day of George's martyrdom in 303

of course you are dear :)

History isn't my strongest subject so after posting what I thought was correct I checked my friend wikipedia and it said the following:

Saint George
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In Christian hagiography Saint George (ca. 275-281 – April 23, 303[2]) was a soldier of the Roman Empire, from the then Greek-speaking Anatolia, now modern day Turkey, and is venerated as a Christian martyr

Guess I'm not the only one for whom history is a weak subject.

It also says:


Which means he had Roman citizenship - i.e. he was a Roman

So I got a point wrong.

That was my only point to start with - I agreed with the rest, just not the crusades and Roman bit going together.

Reading up on Saint George and the Roman empire it looks like he was around just as the Roman empire was coming to an end. With regards to me saying he was Turkish that was because I heard a couple that mentioned on a couple of programmes earlier today. I guess they may have made that comment because the area he was born is now known as Turkey. Thinking about it I've actually heard him previosly being stated as being Turkish.

 :)up ;applause;

To be honest though - the 'saint's days' things a lot of nonsense really.  Most of the patron saints never went to the countries they are the patron saints of, some never even existed, and none of them killed dragons or cast snakes out, etc.

Maybe that's part of the problem.  What the hell have these saints got to do with me celebrating my Englishness and the country?

Anyway, in the English tradition, I will be having a curry tonight, with lots of Guinness, followed by some texas holdem.  It doesn't get any more English than that.

Ironic that on a day the Englanders want to celebrate their Englishness they are infact celebrating a Turk, I wonder how the far right would react to that? 

Read the post above.  Celebrating today isn't about celebrating a semi-fictional character - it's about celebrating being English.

Also, who cares how the far right would react? 

...and st andrew's day celebrates an Israeli who went to Greece.  How Scottish is that??

One of my Granddad's was born on St Georges Day, it's a day I like to remember for that reason too :)

St Andrew was taken as patron Saint of Scotland as he was reckoned to be responsible of the conversion to christianity by Scotland. This tends to be the main reason for Saints being chosen by countries, a martyr responsible for the conversion of that country to their main religion. Rarely will you find a saint of the same nationality of the country they represent.

St George was originally the chosen saint of the Monarchy (a very English bunch throughout history) and subsequently replaced Edmund who up till then was generally regarded as the Patron Saint of England.

Although I do agree that today is a day for Englishmen/women to celebrate their Englishness and not any religious guff.

Happy St George's to you all.

Geo

I don't celebrate St Andrews day. 
I just find it ironic, no need to get so touchy.

Ohh and we don't need a particular day to celebrate our Scottishness.  One Scotland many cultures.

St Andrew never went to Scotland, and the conversion to Christianity isn't necessarily something to be celebrated.

Thanks Geo :)up

LOL - how would the right-wing Scots react to that?

Here's to England and the English - whatever their race, sex or religion

 :cheers:  :)up

:)up

You playing in the $10K gtd Jack? 

Get yourself registered!

Happy St George(2loose)'s Day!

Never said he did come to Scotland and certainly agree that conversion to Christianity is not neccessarily a reason for celebration (each to their own)

It originates from a part of the Declaration of Arbroath:

The high qualities and deserts of these people, were they not otherwise manifest, gain glory enough from this: that the King of kings and Lord of lords, our Lord Jesus Christ, after His Passion and Resurrection, called them, even though settled in the uttermost parts of the earth, almost the first to His most holy faith. Nor would He have them confirmed in that faith by merely anyone but by the first of His Apostles -- by calling, though second or third in rank -- the most gentle Saint Andrew, the Blessed Peter's brother, and desired him to keep them under his protection as their patron forever.


Geo

Couldn't remember the full story, but it's here:  http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/home/scotland/standrew.html

Looking at the URL - is that your website?  ;D

You had that last week :)

 ;applause; ;iagree;

Happy st georges day to all who celebrate it.

vinny

This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise,
This fortress built by Nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war,
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands,--
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.

Maybe not as apt as it was when it was written but stirring nontheless

To me, the arguments for or against a religious source for patron saints is immaterial. The main thing is a focal point for that emotion. Whether its a Saint or a Stone does it really matter (nor where that Saint or Stone comes from). All identities need to celebrate that particular identity and relish in the good that comes from it.

So from an Irishman --

Happy St Georges Day to all Englishmen

Ger

 :goodpost: ;iagree;

(http://www.wonkosworld.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/stgeorge.jpg)

Happy St George's Day, but I think England should replace George with someone more appropriate, who had some influence on the country and who they don't just have one-twentieth share of.

Happy Saint Trevor Sinclair's Day then.

Happy Saint Margaret Thatcher's Day.  ;hide;

Do you people actually win money when you play poker?

Rarely, but I clean up at snap.

Once got told to take down my St Georges flag at work, during the World Cup!

As I was "encouraging nationalistic behaviour and opening myself up to being called racist, or/and insulting or not respecting my fellow colleagues and there own beliefs" or words to that affect.

I hope you told them to go and do one!!!  ;dingdell;

Bit of a leap in logic.

What do you mean by it?

Patriotism is stupid

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=La4Ylz3TDuA

I certainly argued my case, and was told if I refused then I could be disciplined. I said if anyone complains then we can discuss it. No one did so it stayed up.

Taking the tiny snap shot that is the Blondepoker Forum it is kind of interesting that the winning punters/poker players (based on the evidence we have) seem to be politically aligned to the left and the losers to the right. Just a coincidence I'm sure but of some interest nonetheless.

You what? Lolol

Happy Shakespeare Day..?


(Yes, I'm aware no one is quite sure exactly when he was born but 23/4 is commonly accepted; he def died on 23/4)

In fairness, St Patrick lived in Ireland for most of his life

Make it a bank holiday.

Lots of countries (including Ireland) have a bank holiday on their national day. Some have several national days (eg Mexico has Revolution Day, Independence Day and Constitution Day, all bank holidays). We don't have many bank holidays and no-one really knows the reasons for the ones we have.

This is the reason I play poker at the local EDL branch rather than the tougher game at the Fabian Society.

Too good
 ;hattip;

I'm still genuinely puzzled by your earlier comment.

Please elaborate.

We have loads of bank holidays, we don't need (and I don't really want) any more.

I'm not sure whether you're having me on but I'll accept at face value that you didn't get it - it was a bit convoluted. It was a side-splitting swipe at you for making an easy joke exploiting the unstated assumption in my post that it would be a recognised saint. It was, er, playfully suggesting that the quality of your joke wouldn't indicate success in other cerebral activity. Clearly, I don't really think this.

Unfortunately, my joke didn't work and wasn't funny either. I withdraw it and apologise.

My joke was supposed to illustrate the pointlessness of celebrating a "saints" day or indeed a national day.

As I said later patriotism and nationalism is stupid.