User talk:LieutenantBoom

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Looks like a seperate conversation after here
Γεια σας Μπουμ! Yes it was a slight error on my behalf removing the link which you added. I didn't properly check, and so I thought your only contribution was the removal of the transliterations. For that I apologise. Now for the capitals, again, you're probably right, those Balkan languages tend not to give key words capital letters but some of the time, here and there, you do see it (more so with the Slavic languages). I was rather pleased with your edit and to be honest, it doesn't matter which form of transliteration exists so long as there is one available. I am happy to go along with your revised page. Bulgarian Latinic is very inconsistent; the capital may be written as Sofia, Sofija, or Sofiya, and to be honest, only in recent years did they pick up the habits of Latinic Macedonian and Serbian, and start using š,č and ž, and from this method they adopted "j" for й, "ja" for "я" and "ju" for "ю". But there is no rule to suggest what is what, I once found the most effective alphabet to use "ǎ" for ъ; along with "sh", "zh" etc. But as I said, there is no consistency, if you drive through Veliko Turnovo, Tarnovo, Tǎrnovo or Tǔrnovo, you see signs to Stara Žagora on every mention of the town, but the Bulgarian name is "Загора" and the first letter normally has a "z" where-as the one which they use here responds to the "s" of English pleasure in about fourteen languages. This is why I tend not to interfere with Bulgarian transliterations but when I insert them, (as with Greek Muslims), I use my own preferences. The only time I make a change is when as with Kashkaval, two languages are mentioned and it may look anti-Bulgarian to use the other, or when the ъ is simply given an "a" or a "u" which makes the Latinic form ambiguous. The worst example is Несебър which could so easily be "Nesebǎr" but instead is "Nesebar", "Nessebar", "Nesebur" "Nessebur", "Nesebǔr" or "Nessebǔr", nobody knows how many to have! equally you can visit Lyaskovets, Ljaskovets, Liaskovets, Lyaskovec, Ljaskovec, Liaskovec and on one particular roadsign "Ljaškovec" and be in the same town! It is riddled with inconsistency, anyhow, you editing is good so keep it up, and I am sorry if I appeared abrupt with the revert messages. All the best! Evlekis 11:44, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Вярно, но от къде знаеш български ако мога да питам? :) Evlekis 15:26, 23 January 2007 (UTC) Еј! Не могу да верујем! Баш ми је драго, али да знаш, ја исто сам пробао да научим грчки али без успеха! Мој прв балкански језик, ја бих рекао је он ко ми зовемо македонски али не знам како Ви желете да га зовете! Лепо да проведиш са српском језиком и пуно поздрав! Evlekis 17:32, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Sorry Ilias, I didn't get much of that statement in Greek :( I tried. Evlekis 19:41, 23 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Thanks for asking and for the correction; I recall now that dropping the -s forms the Greek vocative, I'll be happy to help you with Serbian. It may be easier for both of us if I explain this in English: Montenegro, on the whole I don't mind - I support the majority decision but it does sadden me that until 2006, this was the last of a federation which I so believed in. Kosovo is another story, I would not like to see it independent. It is not that Montenegro is anything more special than Kosovo, and neither is it because I hold deep Serbian sentiments; on the contrary, they say Kosovo was always their land but in fact, in only fell in their earlier kingdom. The pre-settled Slavic people only then began to call themselves Serb, and even so, in those regions, a national name was of no importance for many centuries until the revised nationalism of the 18th century, and even then, they had a choice of so many options. Naturally by taking the Serbian name, they re-inherited everything than Modern Serbia stood for, which in turn was a claim on its own historical heritage. If I were to take a nationalist Macedonian approach, it shouldn't worry me either way, why? because as a Macedonian, I'd hate Serbs just as much as Albanians. After all, it was in the Serbian name that as a Macedonian, I would have felt oppressed during the interwar period, and even today, our unredeemed land would still be in part occupied by Serbia, some in Kosovo, some outside in along the Presevo Valley. Equally, I could not sympathise with the Albanians either, as capturing Kosovo (Kosova) is just one piece of the jigsaw to all those at the heart of Albanian nationalism, the next part would be to take Western Macedonia. And going back to Serbs, they seem to forget that the Kosovo region has passed through many hands and they never really held it for a significant length of time, not in the same way that Hungary had Vojvodina for the best part of a millennium (minus about 150 years under Ottoman rule). In fact, it was the Ottoman Empire which largely characterised today's Kosovo, but as history would have it, it would eventually return to Serbia. Today's Kosovo, with its borders being where they are, are based on a compact region where Albanians are a majority and was created within Yugoslavia. The Ottoman province covered an area about three times the size, and this spills into Albania, Serbia proper, Montenegro and Macedonia. I do not blame the Albanians for wishing to seperate; I worry less about them taking Western Macedonia. The reason I would choose not to recognise Kosovo would be the sickening way in which it was achieved; not the Albanian rebel activity, but the interference from the outside in what was clearly a campaign against the then Yugoslav administration which would not bow to US/Western European demands. You and I both know that any Albanian freedom fighter who stood on the border between Kosovo and Macedonia who was exposed to a heavy wind (pushing him over the frontier) suddenly became a terrorist when his oponent was the pro-EU/US/NATO Macedonian official. But that border is irrelevant to him, he fights for an Albanian cause and whther there is a serbian/Yugoslav uniform blocking him on one side or a Macedonian on the other, to him makes no difference! Now if you read reports and publications by Albanians from the 2001 conflict, their stories of crimes commited against them resulting in mass killings and deportations are no different to Kosovo 1998/99, only the international media refuses to accept the full extent of what Macedonian security forces did, whilst exaggerating what Serbian/Yugoslav forces did - and that makes it look different! I've yet to hear an Albanian say "ah, Macedonia, well it wasn't as bad as Kosovo, the Macedonians weren't nearly as aggressive...", when you're the enemy, you're in the firing line and that is the end! My fury is towards the involvement of the west, the false pictures which they have since painted about the situation, and their continuous role, eight years on.

It may be clear now that I refuse to have a nationality! I consider myself Slavic by ethnic background; inherited language is enough to confirm that I must have ONE clear bloodline going back to the old population even if I am your seventeenth cousin! I would love to jump back to a Yugoslav nation if it were more prominent, and if it included Bulgarians (ie. my wife), but that is unlikely. I feel most at home when I am speaking my language to people of any Slavic background, when we are eating together and listening to our folk music (ie. weddings, parties etc) but then, the general mood is that "we are who we are, and are together because we have some things in common, but on the whole, fuck the differences, let the polititians who keep us apart rot to the pitchfork!" That in itself amounts to desire for a single identity but within the proposed homeland, there would be nothing but dissidency, let's face it, I have good pro-Yugoslav friends from Croatia, but you'll never get some of their next door neighbours to embrace Serbians, even if those Serbs say they are "not Serb, just Slavic, and wishing to embrace the wider community", (eg. that could be a Croat because there are nearly 80,000 from Serbia), but each has in his own mind what he sees a person to be. I am only ethnicly affiliated to those wishing to embrace; if my own cousin sets a boundry and says "from that line onwards, they are not our people"; or "he is a seperate faith so he is not mine", then I say that I am not my cousin's ethnicity either; if he starts with "we are from the same family so you must be", I'll say "...so are they over there, they share our ancestors too, so either we are all one, or we are all individually different!" and there is no response to that! I hope that answers your question. Greeks on the other hand are special; I know there are some minor divisions among the people over certain issues, but on the whole, Greeks will be Greeks from north to south, fair play to every one of you. Evlekis 20:59, 23 January 2007 (UTC)