LAS LENGUAS INGLESA Y ESPAÑOLA de Delfín Carbonell

I have expressed my dislike for the English many times. I have no liking for the English at large, for private reasons. I say English, not British, mind you. And yet, a paradox, I admire them. They have character traits that leave me in awe: they have a boundless curiosity for everything, they have discipline, they are hardworking, they have created the best universities and scholars in the world, a wonderful educational system, the Oxford English Dictionary , a riveting literature, and the language. What else could we ask for? Today is a sad day because the English are leaving the European Union, and dragging Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland along with them. A pity. We cannot congratulate ourselves. Today Europe is the less, as John Donne put it: "... every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less..."

También conocidos como the English. Cuando son de pura cepa dicen as English as tuppence. ( As American as applepie , se dice en USA.) Ya no son lo que eran -¿pero qué país o pueblo lo es?- pero el que tuvo retuvo, y todavía tienen Oxford University , Cambridge University , The Oxford English Dictionary , The British Museum , el breakfast , y una curiosidad insaciable por la cultura y la ciencia. Nada menos. Pero no creamos que English es sinónimo de cultura, puntualidad, honradez, inteligencia… que de todo hay en la viña del Señor.