Posted on 03/07/2007 1:24:01 AM PST by neverdem
‘Tis a good day for the Irish -– and a really bad one for Basil Fawlty — thanks to my colleague Nicholas Wade’s article tracing the genetic heritage of the British Isles. I grew up listening to my Irish-American relatives bristle at the social pretensions of the Anglo-Saxons in England: “We were preserving civilization while they were painting themselves blue! Blue, I tell you!” Now we can point to research suggesting the Celts started civilization in those isles by introducing agriculture 6,000 years ago.
We also have confirmation of our illustriously long lineages — next to us, the Angles and Saxons are barbarian arrivistes. Genetic detective work indicates that most inhabitants of the British Isles are descended from settlers who arrived perhaps 16,000 years ago, well before the Angles or Saxons. In Ireland, 88 percent of the people carry these settlers’ genes –- a higher concentration than in Wales (80 percent), Scotland (70 percent) or eastern and southern England (about two-thirds).
I don’t mean to suggest there’s anything wrong with all those newcomers in England. Many of you aristocratic poseurs no doubt have perfectly fine manners. But please, spare us the discourses on your gloriously long family tree. Your family crest may look old, but your genetic markers tell a different story.
Unfortunately, the new research offers no hint of the genetic ancestry of the innkeeper played by John Cleese in “Fawlty Towers,” but it’s reasonable to speculate that Basil Fawlty is a parvenu. How else to explain his appallingly snobbery, as when he refers to an Irishman working for O’Reilly (the stereotypically lazy and dimwitted Irish builder) as a “hideous orangutang”? Basil is clearly masking his own social insecurities by lashing out at those with longer lineages.
He’s like the snobs who look at their supposed inferiors and mutter...
(Excerpt) Read more at tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com ...
Got that right!
And they can kiss my longer Irish lineage!
Ping
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
