In a message dated 18/01/2003 12:20:28 GMT Standard Time, chris@chayles.freeserve.co.uk writes: > Chinese, Indian, Algerian, Slav, Afghan > you name it we have it and it can be all in one little street, problem is > most of them now have British Nationality so are classed as locals Surely in today's Society, nationality or race are unimportant - we are all human beings and should be treated as equals despite the attempts by some to ignore racial equality. Accents are cultural and historical icons and a person should not be judged by the way they speak. Take care Linda & Tony

Hi Linda & Tony We think you have the wrong message, the origin of this thread was to point out the cultural differences highlighted by accents. We did not intend to criticise or degrade those who were different. Boy that thought never entered our minds, our concern was that different official languages and dialects in one society presented many problems. The thread spread to Australia, NZ, Canada and the United States all with intelligent contributions from very nice people. I personally stated that Aust in general did not have any dialects only Australian English, in a country as large as the whole of Europe it would have been excusable if different dialects had evolved in isolation, but this didn't happen. We have received many emails in support of our stand both privately and via the List with one only dissent and that was marginal. Kindest regards Maureen & Brian Hobbs "If you face the sun your shadow will fall behind you" (old proverb) ----- Original Message ----- From: <Knightroots@aol.com> To: <HAMPSHIRE-LIFE-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, January 19, 2003 12:09 AM Subject: Re: [HantsLife] Defending our position re accents > In a message dated 18/01/2003 12:20:28 GMT Standard Time, > chris@chayles.freeserve.co.uk writes: > > > > Chinese, Indian, Algerian, Slav, Afghan > > you name it we have it and it can be all in one little street, problem is > > most of them now have British Nationality so are classed as locals > > Surely in today's Society, nationality or race are unimportant - we are all > human beings and should be treated as equals despite the attempts by some to > ignore racial equality. Accents are cultural and historical icons and a > person should not be judged by the way they speak. > Take care > Linda & Tony > > > ==== HAMPSHIRE-LIFE Mailing List ==== > To contact the List Administrator: chris@chayles.freeserve.co.uk > To unsubscribe from the list: > Mail: HAMPSHIRE-LIFE-L-request@rootsweb.com > Digest: HAMPSHIRE-LIFE-L-request@rootsweb.com > In both cases put "unsubscribe" in the subject header and no text in the message box > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 >