Should I watch Return of the King? - Shameless attempt to get 100 post count.

[mudshark]

[quoteost_uid0="Gatac"][color=#000000ost_uid0]I tell you, people, linguistics is like Six Degrees without Kevin Bacon.

Gatac[/colorost_uid0][/quoteost_uid0]
[color=#000000ost_uid0]Oh, it's [iost_uid0]way[/iost_uid0] more fun than that.
[quoteost_uid0]The similarities stem from the so-called Hanse, a pretty big trading company that dominated the Baltic seas for quite some time. [/quoteost_uid0]More resembling a mediaeval guild than a discrete company -- also known as the Hanseatic League -- their control of the Baltic trade meant that, to a large extent, they controlled trade in all of northern Europe for most of the Middle Ages.

Plattdeutsch = Low(land) German, which is more closely related to Dutch and Frisian.

Hochdeutsch = High(land) German, which is that foreign language spoken by the Bavarians and especially the Austrians. [/colorost_uid0]