A Little Something

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  • An emperor rules an empire.
  • A king rules a kingdom.
  • A prince rules a principality.
  • A duke rules a duchy.
  • What rules a country?
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A counter?

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As in bean-counter?

Anne Margarete

A?

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A Country Bumpkin.

Probably

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Daphne Xu's picture

I think that "Count" was the real answer. But I was thinking of the pronunciation of "country", and had a dirtier word in mind.

I heard that England used the term "Earl" instead of "Count" because that word was too close to the other word. However, a female Earl (and the wife of an Earl) is still called a Countess. At least last I checked...

BTW, both Shakespeare and TVtropes refer to "Country Matters". (Beating around the bush, of course.)

-- Daphne Xu

Another angle, or should that be saxon?

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Penny Lane's picture

I think that a Count originally ruled a County, not a country.

Because England is so small, relatively speaking, most counties ended up being ruled by Dukes rather than Counts but the usage goes way back to Roman times (comes).

The title Earl comes from Germanic parts or possibly Nordic parts - although there was a great deal of linkage between the two.

I'm just a local; I never studied Dark Ages history in any great detail, although I did at one time dig them up at weekends.

Penny

Dogs have owners; cats have staff. Grand-daughters have minions.

County or Country

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Daphne Xu's picture

You could be (and probably are) right about the unit a Count ruled. Most is speculation on my part, although I am aware that "Earl" was Anglo-Saxon while "Count" was (probably) from the Romance languages. I heard that "Earl" was kept for the male, but "Countess" adopted for the female, partly because "Count" sounded too close to the other word.

County vs. Country: compare their pronunciations. It's easy to see (hear) County maintaining the "ow" sound, with Country shifting to the schwa (or short-U sound).

-- Daphne Xu

Old Joke

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joannebarbarella's picture

At the Golf Club, one man says to another "I'm a country member." the other replies "How could I forget?"

The Golf/country Club

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Where being a snob is mandatory.

bitter? Yep. I was refused membership of my local Golf Club because I could not afford to sign up for 20 lessons from the Pro. This was mandatory before they'd let you on their of so precious greens. That club is now a housing estate. It went bust in the 1990's.