If You Were Transported 300 Years Into The Past With No Clothes Or Anything Else, How Would You Prov

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jobo

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Good point. The question dosent specify the location you are arriving at though. If its South Carolina yea being a tall black guy may create just a few problems you may not want to deal with! However if your placed in Nigeria or Kenya you could fare much better.

Make things real interesting you could be dropped somewhere in Asia in 1720. Not sure how familiar black people would have been to the common Chinese peasant. Be a good test of your Wing Chun skills! lol
maybe if he spoke the language, which at that time ran into thousands in a country like kenya, that didnt exist, ootherwise your lijely to be killed anyway for being in the wrong place. all places of course being wrong

languidge generally is a major problem as even english would be mostly unrecognidable to you, if you dropped into an english speaking country,
 
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You dont, you get locked up for breaking what ever local laws they have on homless people being disorderly or nudity. Or get shoved in a aslyum. I dont know anyone who would know 300 years of day to day history EVERYWHERE. Hell you cant even get detaield hisotry in some places for the 300 year peroid. Its either not been sudied or left a lot of written records behind.

Or you get killed out right and your head taken, pending where you end up. Or you get killed by a lion or alegator etc.


Second to that, you couldnt talk to anyone anyway, modern english is nothing like 1700's english, not account diffrent dialects and other langauges.


Addendum: GET DOWN MR PRESIDENT! (good meme material)
 
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Chrisinmd

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You dont, you get locked up for breaking what ever local laws they have on homless people being disorderly or nudity. Or get shoved in a aslyum.


Second to that, you couldnt talk to anyone anyway, modern english is nothing like 1700's english, not account diffrent dialects and other langauges.

Getting locked up in an aslyum is pretty much the same as a death sentence 300 hundred years ago. Familiar with the story of reporter Nellie Bly who went undercover into a mental institution in 1887? Im sure the conditions of aslyums were not any better then that 300 years ago in 1720.

Would 1700's english be completly not understandable to a modern Englsih speaker? Or just difficult to like some one from New York trying to figure out what the hell somewhat from Alabama is saying?
 
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Getting locked up in an aslyum is pretty much the same as a death sentence 300 hundred years ago. Familiar with the story of reporter Nellie Bly who went undercover into a mental institution in 1887? Im sure the conditions of aslyums were not any better then that 300 years ago in 1720.

Would 1700's english be completly not understandable to a modern Englsih speaker? Or just difficult to like some one from New York trying to figure out what the hell somewhat from Alabama is saying?

It would pretty much not be legiable, and there were more dialects and regional diffrences back then than now.
 

jobo

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Getting locked up in an aslyum is pretty much the same as a death sentence 300 hundred years ago. Familiar with the story of reporter Nellie Bly who went undercover into a mental institution in 1887? Im sure the conditions of aslyums were not any better then that 300 years ago in 1720.

Would 1700's english be completly not understandable to a modern Englsih speaker? Or just difficult to like some one from New York trying to figure out what the hell somewhat from Alabama is saying?
i read an article saying elisabethan english would be completly unrecognizable, so thats a 100 years before this, thats really virwed as the birth of modern english

official bussness eas conducted in french, english was just what the common people spoke with no dictionary,, no rules of grammer and multiple very distinced accents, people generaly just didnt travel more than a dozen miles from whete they were born, ,

it was 1775 before someone invented the dictionary and there was any agreement at all on what things were called. how they were spelt and how a sentance should be constructed

before that peopke just made up their own words, for table or chair or dog.
that were very regionally dependent

so maybe is the answer, dependent on exactly where you washed up, if it was some where that had a high literacy capability, you might be able to follow a conversation with context out in the sticks, no chance, it would appear as a foreign language
 
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Monkey Turned Wolf

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It would pretty much not be legiable, and there were more dialects and regional diffrences back then than now.
@Chrisinmd as a warning, since I saw you mark this post as informative. Rat often makes statements that sounds as if he knows what he is talking about, when he's really just making his best guess. The statement I quoted did not sound accurate based on what I remember from my history classes in college, so I did a quick search and found this article which suggests that you wouldn't really have an issue understanding/speaking with the people of the time.
 
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Chrisinmd

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@Chrisinmd as a warning, since I saw you mark this post as informative. Rat often makes statements that sounds as if he knows what he is talking about, when he's really just making his best guess. The statement I quoted did not sound accurate based on what I remember from my history classes in college, so I did a quick search and found this article which suggests that you wouldn't really have an issue understanding/speaking with the people of the time.

Thank you for the info. I didnt think it sounded right. I thought it may be a bit difficult to understand them but not nearly impossible as Rat suggested. Need to vet my sources more closely next time. Thanks
 

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@Chrisinmd as a warning, since I saw you mark this post as informative. Rat often makes statements that sounds as if he knows what he is talking about, when he's really just making his best guess. The statement I quoted did not sound accurate based on what I remember from my history classes in college, so I did a quick search and found this article which suggests that you wouldn't really have an issue understanding/speaking with the people of the time.
but rat was fir once correct
 

JP3

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300 years ago... so 1720? Colonies in full swing during the South's not so proud heyday in the US.

Side question, do I have the means to "get back" when I want, or am I stuck in 1720 to live there until done? Probably changes the strategem.

I'm sat here thinking about "get rich" opportunities.... and I can't come up with any, as everything I'm thinking of requires something else that's "not there yet."
 

jobo

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300 years ago... so 1720? Colonies in full swing during the South's not so proud heyday in the US.

Side question, do I have the means to "get back" when I want, or am I stuck in 1720 to live there until done? Probably changes the strategem.

I'm sat here thinking about "get rich" opportunities.... and I can't come up with any, as everything I'm thinking of requires something else that's "not there yet."
gold, theres lots of gold, just got to sort out the Oregon trail, you know where it is, easy peasy
 
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Chrisinmd

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gold, theres lots of gold, just got to sort out the Oregon trail, you know where it is, easy peasy

Just avoid Donner Pass in a snowstorm. Dont want to turn into a cannibal and have to resort to eating your travel buddies!
 
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Chrisinmd

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300 years ago... so 1720? Colonies in full swing during the South's not so proud heyday in the US.

Side question, do I have the means to "get back" when I want, or am I stuck in 1720 to live there until done? Probably changes the strategem.

I'm sat here thinking about "get rich" opportunities.... and I can't come up with any, as everything I'm thinking of requires something else that's "not there yet."

Your stuck in 1720 for the rest of your days alive. So you have to become as successful and happy as you can in those circumstances. But you retain all of your modern day memories and knowledge and that is your advantage.
 

jobo

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Apparently, in the UK, there's a stage company that does Shakespeare plays in what's called "Original Pronunciation" or OP for short.

The sound of OP is described as a cross between modern North American English (American/Canadian) and the Irish accent - or, roughly, how pirates are portrayed as speaking in pirate movies.

There's a couple of YouTube videos that discuss this.

The Received Pronunciation developed in the 1830's in the UK and, believe it or not, it spread to North America for a time as well. But it was nipped in the bud shortly thereafter with German and Irish immigrants.

The US southern accent comes from the fact the the majority of US southerners trace their ancestry to the West Country, it's descended from Devonshire accent of the time.
shakespear and his comtempary play rights, more or less invented english as a language,

a significant number of the words he wrote were just made up on the spot, then through their popularly spread to a wider populass and for the first time some thing akin to a common language was created,

this however took many many decades to filter through, particularly to rural places, so Shakespearian language may be undrrstandable to you, just,,,, that however was not the language or the pronunciation that was common, its still largely impossible to understand some regional accents even now, when we are all using much the same words

unified language really didnt happen to the railways took hold and people started to travel further than you can throw a stone., remmbering that the vast majority were illiterate, so writen language didnt really help its spread

hell they didnt even have a common clock till it was necersary to co ordinate railway time tables

factories would have their own clock, so that people worked far longer than they were beibg paid for,
 
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@Chrisinmd as a warning, since I saw you mark this post as informative. Rat often makes statements that sounds as if he knows what he is talking about, when he's really just making his best guess. The statement I quoted did not sound accurate based on what I remember from my history classes in college, so I did a quick search and found this article which suggests that you wouldn't really have an issue understanding/speaking with the people of the time.

Ah yes, because chav has been a long standing word in the english vocabulary since william the bastard and has in no way changed its meaning or usage or spelling over the years. :p


I highlight my point in stating, i have no idea what people are saying using modern english with a strong diffrent accent to mine (specfically northern) x10 down to a lot of more regional accents than there are now and a less common form of english and tada. That and spelling was diffrent and illteracy was lower than now. You might be able to converse with a london nobleman to some degree, but i would be doubtful if you could converse with a Scottish commoner or a farmer from rural england.

But i did a approcximication of the time peroid and estimated it earlier than it actually is, i think Shakspere is coined as making or using at least the basis for modern english(upper) common. So this is after him, so it wouldnt be as hyperbolic as i made to begin with with talking if you got a nobleman, but you wouldnt see a noble man as you would be killed or locked up in a asylum. (god help you if you land in japan)


Actually exploring that, i dont know Cockney, i cant understand northern accents and i cant understand west country, i can barely understand the tradtional accent of my county down to it dying and not being exposed to it, i sort of have it light by merits of living there. You just have to times this by 10 as there were a lot more regional accents back then as there is now. I will give you a neat trend for the peroid, a D meant ditto, that was how they did ditto historically before we started just putting a line. Or a D + the line. Not much relivence its just a fun little tid bit.
 

JowGaWolf

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@Chrisinmd as a warning, since I saw you mark this post as informative. Rat often makes statements that sounds as if he knows what he is talking about, when he's really just making his best guess. The statement I quoted did not sound accurate based on what I remember from my history classes in college, so I did a quick search and found this article which suggests that you wouldn't really have an issue understanding/speaking with the people of the time.
Thanks for the link and info. I just watched this video from the link.
 

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gold, theres lots of gold, just got to sort out the Oregon trail, you know where it is, easy peasy
If you think getting a jump on the Gold Rush of 1849 would be "easy peasy" a full 130 years before it actually took place, I shudder to think of what you might consider to be "difficult." Especially considering the Louisiana Purchase didn't take place until 1803.
 

jobo

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If you think getting a jump on the Gold Rush of 1849 would be "easy peasy" a full 130 years before it actually took place, I shudder to think of what you might consider to be "difficult." Especially considering the Louisiana Purchase didn't take place until 1803.
california isnt in Louisiana , you could always get there from mexico, lots of people do
 
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Chrisinmd

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If you think getting a jump on the Gold Rush of 1849 would be "easy peasy" a full 130 years before it actually took place, I shudder to think of what you might consider to be "difficult."

Interesting thought experiment. Could I get a "jump" on the gold rush by being transported 130 prior to it? Not me personally because I would be long dead before the year 1849 arrives.

My next thought is there anyway I could make the gold rush happen earlier so I could benefit in my lifetime? I dont think the state of CA was even know to settlers back east until Lewis and Clarks expedition in 1806. So you arrive in 1720 still 86 years before that even happens.

I guess you could show up in say Boston in 1720 with some gold and tell everyone you found all this gold way out west. Making it far more likely earlier explorers would travel west. Then you being the first to set up shop when they arrive and sell them the shovels and equiptment to gold mine! Most likely would be hung as a witch back in Boston before this would work would be my guess! lol

Or maybe you could start a gold rush coming up from Mexico instead. Start the rumor in Mexico City and cause the gold rush to come from the south and not the east.
 
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