Re: Flag of England

Am 06/20 11:13  BP Jonsson yscrifef:
> At 06:27 19.6.2000 +0100, you wrote:
>
> >No, no - not the flag of St. George, please.  (He was a crusader import,
> >anyway, usurping the real English patron, St.Edward the Confessor   :)
>
> Um.  What I meant to say was that English is *not* the native language of
> all of the UK, nor *only* of the UK *or* the US.  Yet it originated --
> developed its distinctive linguistic features -- in *England*.  As someone
> pointed out elsewhere, the word "English" would be the most preferable.
>
> Hmm, wasn't the symbol of St.Edward the Confessor some fattish bird?  I'ld
> love to see that on web-pages.
>
I understood from my Old English classes that the earliest English
patron saint was Pope Gregory the Great.  One of his titles was Apostle
to the English.  Presumably he was so honoured in the period before the
popular canonization of St. Edward the Confessor.

- andrew.
--
Andrew Smith, Intheologus                       hobbit@earthlight.co.nz