On Sep 23, 10:03 am, Elko T  wrote:   
   >   And the fact that Duggy tried to defend the non-German-ness of the   
   > GDR, shows that not only I thought that you meant it.   
   I never thought he meant it, I was just explaining the past   
   justification.   
   >    Again, to re-state the issue - the joke about the Holy Roman Empire   
   > works, because it was indeed neither of these.   
   Neither?  It wasn't any of the three of them.   
   > The GDR one doesn't,   
   > because it was, in fact, German, and I'm not really sure about it not   
   > being a republic.   
   It had elections so maybe it was a democracy... but the elected   
   government was mostly administrative, so maybe not.  Since it was run   
   by the Soviets "Republic" hard to justify.   
   >    I have no reason to doubt your story, but the setting only confirms   
   > my conclusion that it was not so much a joke, but rather a bitter,   
   > spiteful remark. You forget that I /grew up/ in that environment, and   
   > can tell the difference.   
   Whatever it was then, these days it is a joke and appropiate to the   
   discussion.   
   >    Personal attacks? Insulting? No such thing was intended. I believe   
   > Duggy took it in good humor, but if you decide to play it offended,   
   > there's nothing I can do.   
   "Only when cornered" annoyed me.  Not offended, but I didn't like it.   
   Almost reacted badly to it, but stopped myself.   
   ===   
   = DUG.   
   ===   
   --- SBBSecho 2.12-Win32   
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