This is topic What do you want back? in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.


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Posted by Dante (Member # 1106) on :
 
In the late unlamented thread about Israel-Palestine, I invoked my claim, as a descendent of the Komnenoi dynasty, to Constantinople (there's also a chance I'm related to Basil I's line, but that's kinda iffy). I also make my claim to the throne of Denmark through Geva Knudsson and Harald Gormsson, and I guess I might as well take England (thanks, Ethelred!).

Also, though it doesn't get me anything but it's kinda cool, I'm related to Sir John Hawkwood, the celebrated English condottiere.

And there's also some land in Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois that I want back just on general principle.

So, how about you? Do you have any royal claims? Any land or titles stolen from your ancestors that you want back? Here's your chance to stake your claims!
 

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Posted by Shigosei (Member # 3831) on :
 
I suspect that most of my ancestors were more of the serf-types than royal-types. I want compensation for the work they did at unfair wages.
 

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Posted by erosomniac (Member # 6834) on :
 
My ancestors on one side were Japanese generals. I'm sure they were landowners, and given the price of land in Japan these days, I definitely want that back.

My ancestors on the other side were, uh, rice farmers. I don't think they owned anything.
 

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Posted by Dante (Member # 1106) on :
 

quote:

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I suspect that most of my ancestors were more of the serf-types than royal-types.

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Well, yeah, most of mine, too. Most of everybody's. Actually, if you're of European extraction, it's not that hard to have noble ancestors (once you start going back far enough) since they're pretty much all related.

I'm really just looking for an excuse to get Constantinople back. I'm making it my business, Turks! <shakes fist>
 

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Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
 
Why do you NEED to get to Constaninople? Do you have a date there?

She'll be waiting in Istanbuhl...


 

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Posted by KarlEd (Member # 571) on :
 
LOL, Scott.

I'm actually a descendant of Old King Cole (of whom the nursury rhyme speaks). Therefore I demand as my rightful inheritance 1 pipe, 1 bowl, and three fiddles. (You can keep the fiddlers as they are probably not up to perfoming much at this point.)
 

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Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
 
Sadly, I'm fairly certain that if any lands were lost, my ancestors did their best to fritter them away, and they probably stole them in the first place. Can't really place a claim under those circumstances.
 

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Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
 
All the world is mine, because I am a child of God.
 

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Posted by prolixshore (Member # 4496) on :
 
I claim the remnants of the Byzantine Empire for myself. I am a descendent of the great Emporer Justinian (you can't prove I'm not!), of greater claim to the throne than your pathetic Comneni usurpers. And don't even get me started on Basil the "Macedonian". Does anyone even care that he wasn't Macedonian? Only me? Barbarians! How many people can you murder on your way up the ladder and still be considered a legitimate claimant?

--ApostleRadio
 

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Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
 
Most of the stuff that I want back is from more recent times.

One ancestor of mine, Garrett Hobart was a Vice President (under Mckinley I think) and might have had a shot at becoming President if he hadn't of died of heart failure at the turn of the 19th century. So, I want him back, only, 100 years ago.

I'm related to General George Picket (of the infamous Pickett's Charge at the Battle of Gettysburg (Civil War) by marriage. I'd love to have all the estates in Virginia that the family had before the war was lost and much of the family was forced to flee to Canada in disgrace.

I'm related to British royalty, and though I love the movie King Ralph, they can keep it.

I suppose the biggest claim I'd have is to a ton of land in the Loire Valley in France. My family had acres upon acres there, but much of it was lost in the Revolution. They got some of it back when Napoleon came to power, as my great (so on and so forth great) grandfather served directly under Napoleon in naval engagements and earned his favor. Some of it was chipped away again over the next century and then lost for good in the World Wars, but by that point my family had already left for Canada.

Before the end of the Seven Years War my great (so on and so forth great) grandfather sent much of the family to New France (I wouldn't mind all that land back either, stupid British), and then for a time was a pirate off the Canadian and North American coastal waters. He was later made a privateer for the French, and then served under Napoleon. I might have gotten some of the chronology messed up there.

I want the title back however, so everyone here has to refer to me as the Dread Pirate Lyrhawn.
 

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Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
 
I want back the carefree days chasing horny toads and climbing trees from my childhood.
 

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Posted by prolixshore (Member # 4496) on :
 
Also, I once had a really great pair of sunglasses. One day in high school we were horsing around and they flew off my head in the parking lot to be run over by a bus. I know it was years ago, but I've never found a pair that fit me as well. I'd like them back.

--ApostleRadio
 

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Posted by Palliard (Member # 8109) on :
 
Insofar as I'm descended from a long line of serfs, lowlifes, thieves, migrant laborers, mercenaries and pirates with no connections to royalty whatsoever...

I just want my youthful optimism back.
 

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Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
 
I'm related to louis Riel which explains teh crazy within me, so I claim Alberta and I want the powers of being a prohet like he supposedly was.
 

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Posted by Kristen (Member # 9200) on :
 
I got nothing.

But, my boyfriend's great-uncle is the Earl of Morton so if there was a way to, um, pass that title along without the 8+ males in his family who stand to inherit the title before him dying, that would be nice.
 

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Posted by aspectre (Member # 2222) on :
 
Hire the Dread Pirate Lyrhawn: buccaneers always need more crew.
Of course, ya'd hafta outbid those who would pay ransom.

[ April 20, 2006, 12:32 PM: Message edited by: aspectre ]
 

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Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
 
Sounds like a tv show. Dread Pirate Lyrhawn goes about stealing back old family treasures long since lost to the ages.

I would totally watch that show. Be like a yuppy man's version of Hundred Lives of Black Jack Savage.
 

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Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
 
I want back my Bootsie, the stuffed teddy bear that was taken hostage by my first nutty boyfriend.

However, I'm working on mentally letting go and releasing him to his own life in the world. It has been 15 years, after all. [I'd be content with knowing some child somewhere was loving him. I don't want to think about what shenanigans that man could've gotten up to with him.]
 

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Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Dante:
I guess I might as well take England (thanks, Ethelred!).

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quote:

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In fact, I think my claim trumps yours simply because I took an Old English class.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Jon Boy:

quote:

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Originally posted by Dante:
I guess I might as well take England (thanks, Ethelred!).

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You'll have to fight me for it.

<—also a descendent of Æðelred Unræd

In fact, I think my claim trumps yours simply because I took an Old English class.

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Trial by combat.

I'll take on the winner.
 

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Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
 
I have pretty much no claims on anything. No heritage, no land, nothing exciting. All my relatives we can trace were labourers and servants. I'm sure there's a lot that got lost along the way, though. I bet also that my ancestors land was stolen by the Normans and the Vikings and the Romans etc. so I figure I'm owed compensation (emotional, too!) for all that.

Also, I have a suspicious great grandfather who might have been at least minorly wealthy.
 

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Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
 
I'll take the fortune my grandfather frittered away.
 

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Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
 
You know, Teshi, pretty much everyone with English roots is descended from English royalty at some point.
 

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Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
 
Oh, I know. But it's no fun unless you can actually name somebody .

Besides, I like the fact I have murky unremarkable roots because it means there's no one who's done anything really awesome in the family yet, at least not through any fault of their own, if you know what I mean.


 

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Posted by Zalmoxis (Member # 2327) on :
 
I want back the house that my grandfather built with his own hands.
 

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Posted by Shan (Member # 4550) on :
 
Is it the rock cottage, Zalmoxis?

I want back the crown jewels that my ancestor Cap'n Blood stole a long time ago.

*grin*
 

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Posted by Celaeno (Member # 8562) on :
 
As far as I know, all of my ancestors were poor Okinawan farmers. I think I'll stick to what I have now, thanks.
 

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Posted by vonk (Member # 9027) on :
 
I want the beachhouse that my grandfather built back. Stupid Hurrican Andrew and his many successors stole it from my family.
 

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Posted by Stephan (Member # 7549) on :
 
On my dad's side I am descended from gypsies and peasants. On my mom's side poor Jews living in ghettos. I just claim my little strip of land in Annapolis. My dog however has different family goals. She is in the process of expanding our border into our neighbor's yard.
 

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Posted by romanylass (Member # 6306) on :
 
I want the plot of undeveloped land in Montana that has been in dispute by my in laws for three generations.
 

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Posted by starLisa (Member # 8384) on :
 
Well... it's not for myself, personally, but I'd like to revise things so that Thomas Jefferson wouldn't have been able to steal the election from the true 3rd President of the USA: Aaron Burr.

I'd also like to return the US to its pre-empire status, before Tyrant Abe fiddled with it.

And don't get me started on the Federal Reserve and the income tax...
 

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Posted by Uprooted (Member # 8353) on :
 
I want my youthful physique back. You know, the one that I thought was fat when I was wearing size 6 jeans (sigh).
 

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Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
 

quote:

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What do you want back?

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quote:

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Originally posted by mr_porteiro_head:
I want back the carefree days chasing horny toads and climbing trees from my childhood.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Stephan:
I just claim my little strip of land in Annapolis.

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Well, I claim the entire state of Maryland (I'll wait on England until after the current claimants have killed each other off - either that or I'll just invade like a good Norman), but I'm perfectly willing to allow you your land as long as you pay rent. Steamed crabs are an acceptable form of payment.
 

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Posted by Tstorm (Member # 1871) on :
 
I enjoy this silliness enough to post mine:

A tiny fraction of the time I spent working in retail.
 

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Posted by Carrie (Member # 394) on :
 
I'd like England and Normandy back. It's been almost a millenium. It's about time.
 

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Posted by Glenn Arnold (Member # 3192) on :
 
I want my father back, you son of a bitch.
 

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Posted by CoriSCapnSkip (Member # 9153) on :
 
Please return my grandparents' farm in upstate New York, house, land, and contents. My grandparents themselves, don't send back, I am sure they are much happier where they are.
 

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Posted by imogen (Member # 5485) on :
 
I want my childhood home back.

Or, I'll settle for the Isle of Man.
 

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Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
 
Glenn Arnold wins the thread.
 

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Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
 
Indeed.
 

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Posted by Glenn Arnold (Member # 3192) on :
 
Actually I do want my father back, but I want my home as well.

Then again, my father's ashes were spread on the hill, so he's still there. What was my mother thinking when she sold the house?

[ April 22, 2006, 02:18 PM: Message edited by: Glenn Arnold ]
 

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Posted by Nell Gwyn (Member # 8291) on :
 
Glenn, that is a gorgeous house! I'd want it back too.
....

I want back the rural small farm-townness that my hometown has been steadily replacing with disgusting mass-market suburbia, traffic lights, strip malls, chain stores, and all. My old house (where my parents still live) used to be in the middle of nowhere, but now there are (ugly) subdivisions less than half a mile away.

I also want back my parents' good health. And my dog (deceased) and my horses (sold when I went to college).

But in terms of royalty, my family has the same last name as the family of one of the earldoms in Scotland, so I want that back too. The title has been vacant for a few generations, but some guy from New Zealand is currently making a claim as the rightful heir.
 

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Posted by King of Men (Member # 6684) on :
 
Gosh darn it, I want Samara back from Poland. That's the third war I've lost in a row.
 

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Posted by Shan (Member # 4550) on :
 

quote:

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Gosh darn it, I want Samara back from Poland. That's the third war I've lost in a row.

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It's good to be the king . . .


 

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Posted by GodSpoken (Member # 9358) on :
 
I guess I'll have to fight for my right to a piece of Denmark. My fief-slumlord ancestor got out of Denmark under his wife's hoop skirt.

What I really want back is some civility, and it's not gonna happen until I can relocate. Alas.
 

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Posted by Zalmoxis (Member # 2327) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Noemon:
Zalmoxis, didn't you create a thread about the place at one point?

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