Chirac flees summit in a fury over use of English

[Dis]

Originally posted by Lawrence of Arabia


what? french?

It's easier to learn than English. I just had the pleasure of learning Englsih since I was about 0 years old.

And german is just impossible.

[Pekka]

"What is the deal with Finnish food anyway? Am I wrong or have Chirac and Berlusconi both been ridiculed it at some point?"

That's not really it. While our cuisine might not be at the level of licking frog legs, it started when Italy and Finland were both wanting some kind of food institution of the EU. It started from there, Berlusconi was as charming as always.

So Chirac wanted to be funny man and dissed Finland, not even knowing the food in here.

Of course, we did not appreciate it from buttpirate such as Chirac, who dances around in pantyhose, insulting everyone and has he ever done something useful? I can't recall a single time he has EVER done anything, except insulting countries, like all the new EU members. Basically, he should just shut up.

[Dauphin]

Hehehe

[Winston]

[Pekka]

That pic serves him right. I mean, a lot of people are upset about Dubya and the things he says. But let's face it, he doesn't mean disrespect when he fumbles with some words. He just isn't the most articulate person and the master of the poetry. And he's on TV every day around the world, people get fed up with stuff like that. People think he's an idiot.

But Chirac means disrespect. He's not on TV every day. Yet, he manages to come up with offensive material, upsetting people all the time. He doesn't fumble with words like Dubya. GWB might be an idiot if you ask some people, but Chirac is outright jerk.

[Chemical Ollie]

But Finnish cousine DO suck, apart from some of the fish dishes, especially bleech caviar, that is (which I actually ate today).

[Pekka]

Newsflash, most cuisines sucks. I've never claimed anything else.

[Kassiopeia]

I'm not sure there even is a Finnish cuisine. Most of what we eat has been stolen from the Russians or the Swedes.

[Chemical Ollie]

Steeling food kept you going during times of starvation

[The Emperor Fabulous]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
What a freaking turd. One wonders how somone like Chirac ended up being President of a country.

Didn't you vote for Bush?

[Provost Harrison]

Originally posted by Elok
I've never been to Europe, but it's always been my impression that all Good Europeans smolder with repressed hatred for each other, a hatred which has not flared into war for the past fifty years only because of their common fear and loathing of America and the Soviet Union. They were once the jewel of the world's civilizations, and now they're just second fiddle to those fat, overbearing brutes across the pond. So they take turns clinging to their traditions, looking down on each other and the outside world, and trying to find out how they turned into such a joke without admitting any fault on their own part.

I think I remember somebody (Dave Barry?) once comparing Europe to a boarding house whose residents have been living together for way too long--but they can't move out. They hate their neighbors' habits, their smell, their way of speaking, everything. They know, on some level, that they've picked up each others' habits, but that just makes them even more grouchy. They've given up direct antagonism, which just makes it worse, but they're too tired and bitter to extend the olive branch for old grudges. So they just sit in their own rooms, act superficially friendly when socializing can't be avoided, and sulk.

Every once in a while, two of them bump into each other by chance, and are forced to make awkward conversation. They talk about work, their plans for the day, but eventually they run out of things to say. Neither can express his own deep loathing for his neighbor, or for himself, but for the sake of relief they tacitly agree to verbally abuse some third party, either within the boarding house or outside it. When they finally part, each returns to his room, puts on his headphones, cranks up his favorite CD, and relishes in putting down an exact mental catalogue of everything his "friend" just did that annoyed him... [/QUOTE]

For the most part, no, things are very amicable, just that the French government likes to spit its dummy now and again. Now we English don't speak English to piss off the French or anyone, we do it because it has become such a dominant language globally, we have difficulty speaking anything else...yet I think the French seem to think we do it to purposefully annoy them (that's just a fringe benefit )...the rest of Europe nicely accommodates this fact, and also tries to placate the French. But in terms of population, I think the open borders and trade have changed things at a speedy pace, coupled with the internet. There may be linguistic differences, but nowadays, I find more identity with my European counterpart than I do with my American counterpart, despite the common language.

So no, from my opinion, there is no hostility there. If you learn not to take our respective governments and their posturing seriously, we're all a pretty friendly bunch to one another.

[Gatekeeper]

*tsk* I know it's hard for the Western world to accept, but accept it, it must: Chinese will become the global language of the future, either by economic necessity ... or at the business end of a bayonet.

Gatekeeper

("Oh, no! The Russians, err, Chinese are coming, the Chinese are coming!")

[Provost Harrison]

Originally posted by Gatekeeper
*tsk* I know it's hard for the Western world to accept, but accept it, it must: Chinese will become the global language of the future, either by economic necessity ... or at the business end of a bayonet.

Gatekeeper

("Oh, no! The Russians, err, Chinese are coming, the Chinese are coming!")

Well in that case, my money is on India...far more productive and educated and a comparable size in terms of population...

I, for one, welcome our new Indian overlords...

[alva]

Originally posted by Elok


See, that's what I don't get. Are they still talking about the EU as though they want to unify it into a real political force? Right now they seem kind of like the U.S. was under the Articles of Confederation, just a loose-knit alliance. And I doubt they'll ever be more than that. They don't have the common identity to make it work, any more than the Iraqis do.

I've never been to Europe, but it's always been my impression that all Good Europeans smolder with repressed hatred for each other, a hatred which has not flared into war for the past fifty years only because of their common fear and loathing of America and the Soviet Union. They were once the jewel of the world's civilizations, and now they're just second fiddle to those fat, overbearing brutes across the pond. So they take turns clinging to their traditions, looking down on each other and the outside world, and trying to find out how they turned into such a joke without admitting any fault on their own part.

Wow...just wow.

[Elok]

Originally posted by VetLegion
Elok, what a weird and failed analysis

Really? Don't you think of each other as "French" or "Finnish" or "Polish" first, and European second? And for no reason I can see. Some of your unemployment rates are ridiculous, but that might fix itself because most of you are reproducing far too slowly to maintain your current population. Our social security woes are nothing compared to yours. Whatever distinct cultures you once had are on their way out; I've met plenty of exchange students, and they remind me of Canadians. They look down their noses at American Imperialism but their ways are almost ours just the same. You're rearing our children, more or less.

It's just that their countries, unlike ours, are slowly dying. The U.S.'s current political problems are driven by a massive social upheaval. Europeans barely have a society to upheave. You're just recirculating the same tired ideas you've had since WWII or before, and salving your pride with contempt for foreigners (hence the recent spike in xenophobia). What's come out of Europe in the past two centuries? Communism, Fascism, some decent art. Which is why I hear so much harping about the virtues of the Enlightenment, I suppose. You haven't been really inspired by anything noble since.

Well, no, the Brits had Churchill, and also Lewis and Tolkien, only now you're mostly atheists, so, well, so much for the latter two. And you had Einstein too, before Hitler scared him and all the rest of your talent out. After that it was just the bleary half-nihilism of people like Camus, followed by a slew of pompous deconstructionists. America is beginning to catch the same rot, but it's got you down to the core. When we look for unmerited pretension and failed pride, our heads turn eastwards.

Edit: Don't take this too seriously, though. I just felt a need to vent my own counter-snobbery after all the crap you Euros throw our way...