Talk:Robert Briffault

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I thought he was famous for collaborating with the enemy. Or have I got confused ? Johncmullen1960 (talk) 08:07, 20 November 2007 (UTC)

Briffault's Law

I added Briffault's Law to the article because of its popularity on the web. I doubt Briffault actually came up with the theory, since I cannot find any sources, but it is associated with him. If it doesn't belong on Wikipedia, feel free to delete it. Oct13 (talk) 16:56, 7 April 2012 (UTC)

If there is no source for him saying it, it should be removed — Preceding unsigned comment added by Eggilicious (talk • contribs) 16:49, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

I added the source

Briffault's Law's Corollaries

The "corollaries" to Briffault's Law are fake; they are not from Briffault, but originate from Internet copypasta. I removed them; however, people keep adding them back. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.148.125.236 (talk) 15:27, 17 June 2018 (UTC)

Robert Briffault's birthplace, Nice or London?

Consider this. His father (Frederic Briffault) was a senior career diplomat, and had no other children. He held a diplomatic post in Scotland when his young wife became pregnant. There is NO WAY that he would have countenanced allowing his first child to be born in any country other than FRANCE. Virtually certainly, Frederic would have arranged for his wife to be in France as her time for childbirth approached. He would have chosen a NICE (!) place for her. Those who think he was born in London could easily have been influenced by his known affection for the British Library, and his long period of residence in London after his military service (for the NZ Medical Corps at Gallipoli, and later for the French Medical Corps in France) during WW1. [My wife Suzanne (nee Briffault) is a grand-daughter of Robert Briffault.]Dnsbrady4067 (talk) 00:30, 7 October 2013 (UTC)

I have a copy of Robert' Briffault's marriage certificate (May 11 1897, St Mark's church, Remuera) in which at age 25 (consistent with birth in 1871 or 1872) he states his birthplace as Nice, France. This is also written on the first two birth certificates of his children. Interestingly, on the third child's birth certificate it is listed as Nice, Italy :) My understanding from talking to his daughter Joan Hackelberg (In Chile in October 2001) and biographer Anne Webb, (in Wellington in May 2005) was that although he lived in Britain after the war for many years, he was in France researching/ writing the Troubadours at the outbreak of WW2 and had difficulty persuading Britain to let him return, although he managed this just before his death and I have a copy of the burial details from Hastings. My memory also is that due to his perceived communist sympathising, he was not actually allowed to visit the USA, despite his wife Herma returning there on the outbreak of WW2. <NZ Copy of Register of Marriage No 85538 I.897 11 MAY 1897> Robyn Brady (Daughter of Suzanne and Derek, great granddaughter of Robert Briffault)Robyn Brady (talk) 08:11, 11 April 2020 (UTC)

@Robyn Brady: Please WP:Bold and add information to expand the article, but note that information without reference is likely to be removed. Jonpatterns (talk) 06:56, 26 June 2021 (UTC)

Pseudo-Briffault's law

I have changed the Briffault's law to Pseudo-Briffault'law as it is widely known on the internet but nobody can find a serious scientific reference to explicit Briffaut's law. Adding complete reference to original text, adding the name of the chapter "Social relations among animals". — Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.99.252.191 (talk) 16:12, 5 January 2020 (UTC)

Briffault Law - what to include

A couple of things have recently been removed from the article:

It is a common argument used to demonstrate that in modern society, women tend to choose a sexual partner with the highest possible income. Actually, that sentence comes from the chapter Social relations among animals. Briffault never quoted it as a law, nor related directly to human behaviour.

This link which has three corollaries. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/machiavellians-gulling-the-rubes/201610/briffaults-law-women-rule

There seems to conflicting accounts of how much of a law this theory was presented as by Briffault. Some saying it wasn't much and mainly about non-human animals, other saying it was a law and was even expanded upon. Jonpatterns (talk) 06:52, 26 June 2021 (UTC)