[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

"I also spent about 16 months in Swabia and the image of Gustavus Adolfus is not so rosy there."

I suppose that my family from northern Germany is lucky not to have been wiped out by my family from Sweden.

I understand that Frisian comes very close to being understood by English and Dutch speakers. Its not widely spoken any longer.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

I suppose that my family from northern Germany is lucky not to have been wiped out by my family from Sweden.

If you probe more than a few generations in anyone's family tree, it would be surprising not to find one set of ancestors who were mortal enemies of another set. This is what Henry Ford was talking about when he said "history is bunk." We're Americans and it's time to leave Old World animosities behind. (The Old World seems to have even given up on the very notion of animosity, except towards Americans. Le plus ca change...)