Back to the Origins of Typology

[Wölfin]

Someone wrote this in the 1920s back when there were only 3 sub-races for Europeans:

I

Behold, my child, the Nordic man,
And be as like him, as you can;
His legs are long, his mind is slow,
His hair is lank and made of tow.


II

And here we have the Alpine Race:
Oh! What a broad and foolish face!
His skin is of a dirty yellow.
He is a most unpleasant fellow.


III

The most degraded of them all
Mediterranean we call.
His hair is crisp, and even curls,
And he is saucy with the girls.

I just had to share.

[Wotan88]

Yeah, I've read it before. I think it was in Coon's book "Races of Europe".

[Psychonaut]

Methinks the author of that poem just really liked Rígsþula (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%ADg). :shrug:

[Allenson]

I never understood the part about the slow Nordic mind....

[Jarl]

Yeah, I've read it before. I think it was in Coon's book "Races of Europe".

I believe it was slightly different though.

[Troll's Puzzle]

The poem was written by Hilare Belloc for a magazine, and is quoted in books by Coon, others etc.

the '3 races' of europe comes from WZ Ripley's 1899 'Races of Europe', but that wasn't certainly the 'only races people thought of back then', eg his contemporary and 'opponent' Deniker ('Races of Man', 1900) said there were a bazillion races including 1237489543 european ones, this is a famous 'lumpers vs splitters' case ;)

even though it's just a poem it's proven to be scientifically accurate, btw ;)

[Allenson]

I never understood the part about the slow Nordic mind....

Maybe he meant it as thoughtful and methodical. That's how I am anyway and I am as Nordic as I wanna be.

:lightbul: