On June 28, 1919, the day this was printed, the Treaty of Versailles was signed in France ending the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers of World War I. That's the context for the "hun mine-layer" comment.
Everett True believes in second chances (June 28, 1919)
23 Comments
ripcord@lemmy.world · 26 pts · 2y
Everett defending against prejudice of ex-felons. Good for him.
Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world · 25 pts · 2y
What is a Hun-Mine layer? I feel that might be helpful on the punchline....
rayquetzalcoatl@lemmy.world · 42 pts · 2y
I am pretty sure "Hun" was a way to refer to the Germans in WW1, so a Hun Mine-Layer would be a German who laid mines... But could be totally talking out of my arse so will look it up 😂
Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works · 43 pts · 2y
Lots of fishing boats and merchant men were used (by all sides) to secretly drop off naval mines during WW1, it became synonymous with someone who is being treacherous and secret sabotaging.
All sides would constantly accuse eachother of secretly laying mines with civilian vessels, and all sides would constantly blame the other for accusing innocent people of laying mines. It was probably a constant source of news articles.
rayquetzalcoatl@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 2y
Oh that's actually super interesting :o thanks!
Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 2y
So is Atilla the Hun just Atilla the German?
OhNoMoreLemmy@lemmy.ml · 26 pts · 2y
Other way round. The nickname/insult was saying Germans are warlike barbarians like Atila the Hun and the rest of the the Huns.
eestileib@sh.itjust.works · 19 pts · 2y
Kaiser Wilhelm gave a speech encouraging his soldiers to "be huns" on campaign, which led to it being an insult applied to Germans.
AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space · 16 pts · 2y
“hun” was the “orc” of the pre-Tolkien era
Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works · 11 pts · 2y
1919 was the Tolkien era. He just hadn't published yet
Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works · 7 pts · 2y
Ehhh yes, but the stereotype already existed before that speech: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hun_speech
Ordo_Bellatores@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 2y
'atilla' meant something like 'little Daddy' in visigothic.
Do with that what you will
topherclay@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 2y
That's a little unfair because "daddy" is already a diminutive version of "dad" so you are double dipping on diminutives. It'd be more accurate to say that "atilla" is either like "little dad" or "daddy".
Rolando@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 2y
Yeah, that's how I understood it.
some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org · -4 pts · 2y
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huns
Mine layer I think means laying explosive mines? I dunno.
I_Has_A_Hat@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 2y
Man, if you don't know the answer, don't fling random shit at the wall just to hear yourself speak.
tenshukun@discuss.online · -1 pts · 2y
It sounds to me like this is more referencing their nomadic aspect. A nomadic people laying mines would be a great idiom.
nonailsleft@lemm.ee · 17 pts · 2y
No way Everett is getting through that door
spacewizard@mas.to · 2 pts · 2y
@Rolando wow. Just keeps on getting more decent and progressive.
Rolando@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 2y
hm... I'm sure he's "problematic" in various ways. I bet he doesn't even own a fursuit.
spacewizard@mas.to · 3 pts · 2y
@Rolando the moment you said that, somewhere in the universe an Everett True comic retroactively sprung into existence in which he has a fursuit and beats the shit about somebody who bullies furries
Rolando@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2y
Well the character's public domain, so we could make it happen. Next time I've got some money together, maybe we can do a commission on this community. (Unless we want to take the unethical route and do an AI.)
Saledovil@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 2y
As long as you don't pursue commercial objectives and disclose that it's AI generated, there's no ethical problem.