Why was World War I called The Great War?

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I seem to remember Encyclopedia Brown debunking a Wild West story, a guide's reenactment of a stagecoach holdup (if not a holdup from the movie Stagecoach), because the Ringo Kid wouldn't have needed to squint at noon, because the sunlight was coming from the other direction.

The Redd 47 Ronin (Ken L), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 02:09 (seventeen years ago) link

if not directly overhead

The Redd 47 Ronin (Ken L), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 02:48 (seventeen years ago) link

Back when Ricki Lake first came to Chicago with her talk show--she was very much on the big side at this point--the whole ad blitz for the launch went something like: "Chicago already has one Great Lake. It's about to get another!!" I wondered at the time if Ricki realized this was how her press push was being phrased. Because, you know, I don't think they call them "great" lakes because they're so terrific and fun ...

literalisp (literalisp), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 03:44 (seventeen years ago) link

more EB:

- suspect claims he kept some document between page 97 and 98 of his favorite book - but books don't have odd-even facing pages, apparently ever...busted!

- something about "an arrow flight away"/"a narrow flight away"...ends with EB bootin it up the stairs, i think.

A Giant Mechanical Ant (The Giant Mechanical Ant), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 04:37 (seventeen years ago) link

"it's impossible for a person to use his left hand to stick his mumblety-peg knife in his right jeans pocket while running"

i recall this one weekly. because i am always late and sort of running while finishing dressing etc. it is so not impossible, unless you are running very fast and/or have extremely short arms. i do it all the time.

literalisp (literalisp), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 04:46 (seventeen years ago) link

oh yeah! another dubiously definitive statement from EB, I think:

-"All block lettering looks the same" or something like that ... in the context of shredding some graphological defense, maybe?

literalisp (literalisp), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 04:50 (seventeen years ago) link

Why was World War III called the "Cold War?" Huh? Huh?

Also, "civil war" - what's so civil about it?

timmy tannin (pompous), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 04:56 (seventeen years ago) link

did any ilxors fight in the War of OU812?

gabbneb (gabbneb), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 04:59 (seventeen years ago) link

spam

a name means a lot just by itself (lfam), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 05:04 (seventeen years ago) link

This is the thread where I recommend "Brown Harvest"

...Please turn to the next thread to see the answer.

Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 09:05 (seventeen years ago) link

"but there's a baby on the hood of his car, which should be really hot"

What does it say about me that, when I first read this, I thought it meant he'd hit a baby on the way over and it was wedged the front of his car and would be really hot if he's actually driven all that way?

Hello Sunshine (Hello Sunshine), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 09:45 (seventeen years ago) link

What the hell is Encyclopedia Brown?

Tuomas (Tuomas), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 10:15 (seventeen years ago) link

Oh, and this thread wasn't supposed to be trolling, just a bit of bad academic humour.

Tuomas (Tuomas), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 10:16 (seventeen years ago) link

OK here's a poser. What did they call World War 2 before such a moniker came in?

I know this because I read it in one of Campbell's old Pears Cyclopedias. I didn't know it beforehand. In fact, it had never occured to me. I would be rubbish at being an ace attorney with the wildest cross-examining skills in town if I couldn't even wonder about THAT contradiction...

Bhumibol Adulyadej (Lucretia My Reflection), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 10:19 (seventeen years ago) link

Oh, and this thread wasn't supposed to be trolling, just a bit of bad academic humour.

I see.

a friend claims to have once been in a history tutorial where someone in all seriousness asked from where Kings and Queens got the numbers after their names.

DV (dirtyvicar), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 11:14 (seventeen years ago) link

OK here's a poser. What did they call World War 2 before such a moniker came in?
I know this because I read it in one of Campbell's old Pears Cyclopedias. I didn't know it beforehand. In fact, it had never occured to me. I would be rubbish at being an ace attorney with the wildest cross-examining skills in town if I couldn't even wonder about THAT contradiction...

-- Bhumibol Adulyadej (starrysdarkmaterial...), November 14th, 2006.

i'm being thick, i don't get you here. i don't know when that name came in, though it's possible it came in before the war started, given that everyone knew it was going to. but they could have got by calling it just 'the war'; as they did with the first one quite often.

benrique (Enrique), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 11:21 (seventeen years ago) link

Well, Enrique, when hostilities started, it wasn't a "world war", was it? And I guess they hoped it wouldn't be the second one quite strongly! What were they calling it in the run up to Sep 1939 and just after the UK declaration at least?

Hint: it wasn't WWII, and it was more than just 'the war'!

I am surprised not more people know this - I felt really thick when I realised I didn't know.

Bhumibol Adulyadej (Lucretia My Reflection), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 12:23 (seventeen years ago) link

"The OED reports the first use of "Second World War" was by novelist H.G. Wells in 1930, although it may well have been used earlier.[17] The term was immediately used when war was declared; for example, the September 3, 1939, issue of the Canadian newspaper, The Calgary Herald."

Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 12:34 (seventeen years ago) link

Well, Enrique, when hostilities started, it wasn't a "world war", was it?

yeahbut isn't it only later convention that says 01/09/39 is when 'it' started anyway? japan had been getting into it with china (and therefore teh brits) way before then; and even as of that date the ussr was involved.

and who can forget the battle of the river plate?

it only needed US involvement to make it as worldly as ww1.

benrique (Enrique), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 12:37 (seventeen years ago) link

Well, Enrique, when hostilities started, it wasn't a "world war", was it?

given that the initial combatants included the British and French empires, it would seem not inappropriate to call it a world conflict.

DV (dirtyvicar), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 12:39 (seventeen years ago) link

A has a Pears encyclopedia from around 1938 so i will ask her what they were calling the enusing conflict at that point.

2 american 4 u (blueski), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 12:39 (seventeen years ago) link

What were they calling it in the run up to Sep 1939 and just after the UK declaration at least?

'operation polish storm'

benrique (Enrique), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 12:39 (seventeen years ago) link

A has a Pears encyclopedia from around 1938

This is cheating as it's the same source where Starry's got her info from!

Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 12:45 (seventeen years ago) link

but if that were so, starry would know the answer to her question.

2 american 4 u (blueski), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 12:47 (seventeen years ago) link

A says they called it the 'War on something'.

2 american 4 u (blueski), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 12:48 (seventeen years ago) link

hahahaha

benrique (Enrique), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 12:48 (seventeen years ago) link

Starry does know! I know this because I read it in one of Campbell's old Pears Cyclopedias.

I don't. Someone please tell me.

ailsa (ailsa), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 12:49 (seventeen years ago) link

sorry, I misread stuff.

2 american 4 u (blueski), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 12:55 (seventeen years ago) link

Anyway, go and read Lixi's book and tell us!

ailsa (ailsa), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 13:04 (seventeen years ago) link

some batshit rule about how women always get the seat facing the room, and men sit across from them

that's not batshit, it's an iron law.

Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 13:09 (seventeen years ago) link

I had hoped that the batshit rule might explain how they can go upside down without crapping all over themselves.

NickB (NickB), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 13:18 (seventeen years ago) link

i think andrew is right. it would be cheating for me to give the answer.

2 american 4 u (blueski), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 13:19 (seventeen years ago) link

the brits called it the PHONEY WAR to start with (bcz nothing was happening yet)

mark s (mark s), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 13:46 (seventeen years ago) link

OK OK!

It was called: THE WAR OF ATTRITION!

So there you go! Neener neener neeener. And they would have called it SOMETHING before the Brit/Fr empires got involved in 39 as PROVEN by the Pears Cyclopaedic evidence, your Honour!

The defense rests! SUSTAINED!

Bhumibol Adulyadej (Lucretia My Reflection), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 13:54 (seventeen years ago) link

oh i thought it was 'the war against aggression'!

2 american 4 u (blueski), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 14:02 (seventeen years ago) link

fought mostly in the war room

2 american 4 u (blueski), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 14:03 (seventeen years ago) link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_Attrition

RJG (RJG), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 14:05 (seventeen years ago) link

Oh well! There you go! You are right Steve!

I guess I was too distracted by the giant sack of DAIM bars whilst I was reading that Pears Cyclopaedia - damn my eyes!

Bhumibol Adulyadej (Lucretia My Reflection), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 14:09 (seventeen years ago) link

i am very doubtful about this claim. a 'war of attrition' is a standard bit of language. why on earth would they call the just declared, or soon to be declared, war that?

need more than 1x source to believe it.

benrique (Enrique), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 14:09 (seventeen years ago) link

we have three sources! starry, stevem and some pears

however my answer is correct but the pears were too PC to admit it

mark s (mark s), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 14:13 (seventeen years ago) link

more importantly: why are pears cyclopedias called "cyclopedias"?

mark s (mark s), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 14:14 (seventeen years ago) link

i wonder if they called it 'the phoney war' in germany?

like: let's get it on already.

benrique (Enrique), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 14:15 (seventeen years ago) link

surely they were already gettin busy in like czecho etc?

mark s (mark s), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 14:17 (seventeen years ago) link

it was all action the first half of september 1939, but i think they took it down a notch till -- norway? april 1940.

they did czechoslovakia in march '39 i think.

benrique (Enrique), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 14:19 (seventeen years ago) link

that said: i think there was 'war' in colonial africa in 1939.

benrique (Enrique), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 14:20 (seventeen years ago) link

In France it's called "la guerre de quarante"

Revivalist (Revivalist), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 14:27 (seventeen years ago) link

Wikipedia reckons it was also known as the Bore War till it got started in earnest.

NickB (NickB), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 14:35 (seventeen years ago) link

it certainly was.

it's an interesting question. i bet 'the falklands war' was always called that. and iirc 'the gulf war'. but what of our present wars. it's probably called 'the iraq war', but what about the war in afghanistan? doesn't have a real name.

benrique (Enrique), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 14:41 (seventeen years ago) link

i thought this was one correct lesson to the very high % of usa that don't understand it this way

1. It can't be underlined enough how important the First World War is to France's national self-conception. Trump's failure to attend the memorial is a huge diplomatic insult.

— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) November 10, 2018

Hunt3r, Sunday, 11 November 2018 15:58 (five years ago) link

well, i didn't mean the "insult" part, i meant the scale of ww1 relative to ww2 in popular perceptions

Hunt3r, Sunday, 11 November 2018 15:59 (five years ago) link

I was somewhat astonished to read casualty numbers in WWI vs those in WWII: overall the total number killed in the latter dwarfs the former but France was fully engaged in battle for all of WWI vs their swift surrender in WWII. Once people also understand what France went through the first time it becomes easier to understand why there was not as much drive to fight Germany to the death again (a nation that remained in the throes of a violent nationalistic sickness that one defeat wasn’t enough to cast away.)

omar little, Sunday, 11 November 2018 16:09 (five years ago) link

I doubt trump knows a single thing about that war

omar little, Sunday, 11 November 2018 16:10 (five years ago) link

i remember my dad at a memorial day parade in the 70s trying to explain to 5 or 6 y/o me why the (very few) wwi veterans were so important and notable because of the immensity of the great war in world history.

Hunt3r, Sunday, 11 November 2018 16:15 (five years ago) link

His wife is Slovenian yet he still blamed the Baltic states for the crimes they committed in Yugoslavia. 'Cause it sounds just like the Balkans, duh!

xp

pomenitul, Sunday, 11 November 2018 16:17 (five years ago) link

I've heard it said before that the failure of The Maginot Line and surrender of France was much more down to a widespread fatalistic malaise amongst the French military than any stroke of genius from Manstein. It might not tell the full story, but I think there is some substance to that.

calzino, Sunday, 11 November 2018 16:19 (five years ago) link

And in France they still have 1200 square kilometres of land that is still a century later, an uninhabitable toxic wasteland. Tho I'd have let it slide if they had invaded England and done the same to Middlesbrough.

calzino, Sunday, 11 November 2018 16:38 (five years ago) link

And in France they still have 1200 square kilometres of land that is still a century later, an uninhabitable toxic wasteland.

Remember learning about this some years back. Like a pre-nuclear Chernobyl.

Ned Raggett, Sunday, 11 November 2018 16:48 (five years ago) link

the only difference is that Chernobyl has become quite a nature reserve in some parts and you read stories of people moving back there recently. Zone Rouge is still lifeless and deadly, it's quite mindblowing really!

calzino, Sunday, 11 November 2018 16:54 (five years ago) link

"According to the Sécurité Civile agency in charge, at the current rate no fewer than 700 more years will be needed to clean the area completely."

calzino, Sunday, 11 November 2018 16:58 (five years ago) link

So why is Theresa May in London today?

Putin RSVP'd first is my punt tbh

nashwan, Sunday, 11 November 2018 17:04 (five years ago) link

"Remembrance Day: In pictures"

meh, no decent Up The Arse Corner contenders this year.

calzino, Sunday, 11 November 2018 17:17 (five years ago) link

I'd have let it slide if they had invaded England and done the same to Middlesbrough

how would we tell?

two Barongs don't make a Wight (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 11 November 2018 17:22 (five years ago) link

no such thing as "uninhabitable toxic wasteland" in Real England!

calzino, Sunday, 11 November 2018 17:27 (five years ago) link

so this Peter Jackson doc is on bbc2 tonight and its just mindblowing seeing all this footage in high-ish def colour.

Hmmmmm (jamiesummerz), Sunday, 11 November 2018 22:31 (five years ago) link

three weeks pass...

how is that P-Jax doc? I saw a trailer and it is really something else seeing the film transformed in this manner, hoping it's worth a view and isn't just a gimmick on which to hinge a thinly sketched statement.

omar little, Wednesday, 5 December 2018 01:36 (five years ago) link

I thought it was very bland + heavily sentimentalised Our Boys type claptrap, and aside from the old movie stock tarted up by CGI - with absolutely nothing interesting to say and with no coherent narrative. Although I'm sure it made Tommy Robinson cry into his beer. Just basically the type of shite you'd see playing on one of the screens at the imperial war museum.

calzino, Wednesday, 5 December 2018 10:06 (five years ago) link

Saw most of The Long Shadow repeated on BBC4 the last few weeks. That was interesting and challenging even when I was sceptical of some of the interpretations he made.

biliares now living will never buey (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 5 December 2018 12:36 (five years ago) link

I want a full book about this story.

I want a movie too. I want the whole damn thing.

a gay love story of the 1st world war’s year.

[thread by @guillemclua im just a translator]. pic.twitter.com/I3CkgKd1EO

— maaayyy. (@brendonsexual) December 7, 2018

Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 11 December 2018 00:56 (five years ago) link

Well, the chances are probably quite high..

https://guillemclua.com/comunicado-sobre-el-hilo-de-twitter-emilyxaver/

Andrew Farrell, Tuesday, 11 December 2018 01:37 (five years ago) link

Rather!

Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 11 December 2018 01:50 (five years ago) link


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