A roundabout path (1 Viewer)

[Ahsoka]

In the US, there is a large group of people who’s ancestry (mostly) come from Scotland chia the same migration routes. They’re called the Scotch-Irish. This was a group of mostly Scottish peoples who first lived in Scotland, then were relocated to Northern Ireland (Ulster), then moved to the American colonies that would become the US. Once they reached the US, they settled in the Appalachian mountain region.

Some Americans thought it was so fitting that they lived in hostile mountain regions, and while they didn’t know it then, the Appalachian mountains and Highlands even used to be one mountain range. But what these people didn’t realize was that these Scotch-Irish immigrants never actually lived in the Highlands. Many people assume that Scotland is just the Highlands, and that Scottish culture was all about clans and hard frontier lands. But this isn’t true. Scotland was and is still split into the Highlands and the Lowlands geographically and culturally (but this has lessened over time). But at the time the relocation happened, they were very different. They spoke languages from different language families (Highlanders spoke a Celtic language, Lowlanders spoke a Germanic language). Their attitudes towards others were different (the Highlanders were clan focused, exclusive, and mistrusting, the Lowlanders much less so). And the trades were different. The Lowlands had fertile farmland, and they worked as farmers, merchants, in industry, ect. The people in the Highlands were more independent, being subsidence farming (growing just enough for your family), working in cattle herding, and sometimes working as mercenaries.

This is all to say that the idea some people had that the Scotch-Irish felt right at home because they were Scottish wasn’t accurate. Prior to their migration to Ireland, they were more like the farming communities of the Pennsylvania Dutch rather than frontier people. Their attitudes of distrust of the government and strangers, clan type communities, and self reliance was a product of their time in Ireland. They still had farming terrain, but were faced with hostility by both the English and Irish. The English controlled their land and could always take it away, and they also discriminated against the Scotch-Irish for not being Anglican Protestants. The Irish were resentful of their land being given to the new settlers and also discriminated against them due to them being Protestant, and this led to many outbreaks of armed hostility, giving the settlers a necessity to be able to defend themselves at a moments notice. Once they arrived to the US, they were hardened frontier people, wanting areas with more independence and willing to take even the most unwanted and unsettled lands (unsettled by the colonial governments). They weren’t at home because of any Highlander past, they were at home because of their experiences on their journey since leaving Scotland.

 

[Ahsoka]

History tag:
@Lexie @Nyaz @Dreamer_of_Songs @Nina @velvet @AuGamer1987 @ChuuAntics @alo @sick

 

[Selfmate]

I actually thought this thread would be bout roundabouts (like traffic related)

Spoiler: for you yankees who don't have roundabouts

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roundabout

 

[Ahsoka]

I actually thought this thread would be bout roundabouts (like traffic related)

Spoiler: for you yankees who don't have roundabouts

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roundabout

We have roundabouts very occasionally

 

[Selfmate]

We have roundabouts very occasionally

just humour me a sec - how often would you need to travel through a roundabout say per day?
down under it's like on smaller non major roads - at least three or four per TRIP

 

[Ahsoka]

just humour me a sec - how often would you need to travel through a roundabout say per day?
down under it's like on smaller non major roads - at least three or four per TRIP

Depends on where I go. I don’t go many places. Most common trips are to places like the grocery store (3 for there and back for my usual store), dentist (5 for there and back), help pick up my little brother from school (depends on route but usually just one), and for specialty food stores it’s either 1 or 0 depending on what type of food I’m going for. There are also places I go with some frequency that don’t have any (like the local library, nearest pharmacy, and nearest doctor), but if I go places there’s often at least 1 per trip, and often more. Depends on which route I take to get to the nearest freeway I think that’s a decent amount of roundabouts considering my trips are all almost exclusively on freeways, or at minimum very major highways. I may come across more if I drove on smaller roads for more than 10 minutes at once.

 

[Selfmate]

Depends on where I go. I don’t go many places. Most common trips are to places like the grocery store (3 for there and back for my usual store), dentist (5 for there and back), help pick up my little brother from school (depends on route but usually just one), and for specialty food stores it’s either 1 or 0 depending on what type of food I’m going for. There are also places I go with some frequency that don’t have any (like the local library, nearest pharmacy, and nearest doctor), but if I go places there’s often at least 1 per trip, and often more. Depends on which route I take to get to the nearest freeway I think that’s a decent amount of roundabouts considering my trips are all almost exclusively on freeways, or at minimum very major highways. I may come across more if I drove on smaller roads for more than 10 minutes at once.

that's quite frequent then...
although an odd number for the trip and back seems confusing to me...you either go one way and comeback another route???? lol

 

[Ahsoka]

that's quite frequent then...
although an odd number for the trip and back seems confusing to me...you either go one way and comeback another route???? lol

In some cases I do take one route there and one way back, especially if it’s in an area that may have fluctuating traffic in the directions at the times I need to go. In most cases though, it has to do with the entrance and exit ramps not being right next to each other in all cases. For the one I take most, the exit is past the entrance ramp and between the exit ramp and entrance ramp there’s an additional roundabout that I didn’t need to take when entering. That’s usually how it ends up being odd, since it’s one of the most common ways I take the freeway.

 

[Selfmate]

In some cases I do take one route there and one way back, especially if it’s in an area that may have fluctuating traffic in the directions at the times I need to go. In most cases though, it has to do with the entrance and exit ramps not being right next to each other in all cases. For the one I take most, the exit is past the entrance ramp and between the exit ramp and entrance ramp there’s an additional roundabout that I didn’t need to take when entering. That’s usually how it ends up being odd, since it’s one of the most common ways I take the freeway.

seems kind of odd I guess

 

[Chohee_nyang]

I'm scared to go about the roundabout cause the cars are so fast on the highway....

 

[uran]

i like trains