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Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
23,814 posts, read 34,666,340 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bigpaul
if the EU goes on the way it does, bullying everyone and not listening to real grievances it will be dead in the water within 10 years anyway, the common market was a good idea but this political union suits nobody but Germany and France.
I always thought that one sign of the one sided nature of the UK's relationship with Europe was when we had to rename JIF ...CIF because continentals couldn't pronounce their j's, that was just a small sign of how this relationship would evolve.
Product names can get very funny when it is sold in other countries. Vicks becomes Wicks in Germany. When spelled Wicks it's pronounced Vicks. However, Vicks is an obscenity in German. The "V" is pronounced as "F".
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
23,814 posts, read 34,666,340 times
Reputation: 10256
Quote:
Originally Posted by bigpaul
my (now retired) doctor had a German surname, spelt with a W pronounced with a V.
Shopping in Germany can be surreal. So much is just plain in English. Years ago I was in a store looking at packaging that said Wicks and was reading it as wicks when it hit me, first that I needed to change the W to V, then why.
Many years ago I read an article that listed US products that had to change name in certain countries. Ford had to change the name of their Vega in Spanish speaking countries because it meant something like doesn't go or doesn't work. It was one of the funniest articles that I've ever read.
as far as the Eurozone is concerned its not the UK that is on the edge of recession, the EU is facing its 3rd recession in 10 years.
growth in the EU is sluggish and they have just recorded the weakest growth in 4 years, at 0.2% the fourth quarter of 2018 is the same as the previous quarter.
Italy has just gone into recession and we all know what a mess Greece is in and Spain isn't doing that well either, France is in a mess with Macron's policies and those yellow vest protests don't look like stopping any time soon.
given all that you'd think the EU would want to do a deal wouldn't you??
It's funny how Britain can organise a fairly simplified customs checks, yet the EU are trying to make an issue out of the Irish border and Northern Irelands population of less than 2 million people.
The same system could easily be used in terms of Ireland and the EU know it.
This is something of a non-sequitur.
The information which would allow UK importers to update their shipments for a kind of pre-approval and quick entry has to come from EU sources. It is not a magic act done by Brits alone. It is the Brits who are changing their system once they have the usual information supplied by the EU source. It is not like the border has magically disappeared, it is your clearing procedures that have changed.
You certainly don't think that this dissolves the hard border problem between the EU and the UK, do you? This system is all about hard borders!
The same procedures between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland would still involve having a hard border.
I also do not see in the article from the BBC how the movement of French citizens into the UK has been similarly streamlined. And if this is not the case, then it has no applicability to how the movement of people would be handled between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Neither the UK nor the EU can pretend to have complete control and independence of their separate political territories until both sides agree to the fiction that there is - but is not - a hard border between the Republic of Ireland and NI. I have not heard nor read of either side being willing to play this game of "Let's Pretend" to the max, which is what would be required. The DUPers, for one, would wet their knickers over it.
Shopping in Germany can be surreal. So much is just plain in English. Years ago I was in a store looking at packaging that said Wicks and was reading it as wicks when it hit me, first that I needed to change the W to V, then why.
Many years ago I read an article that listed US products that had to change name in certain countries. Ford had to change the name of their Vega in Spanish speaking countries because it meant something like doesn't go or doesn't work. It was one of the funniest articles that I've ever read.
Vega means valley, or meadow. You're thinking Nova (no va, won't go/work) which is better than Mazdas Laputa I'll let you figure that out yourself, or Mitsubishis Pajero in South America.
There is a sad kind of amusement in all this shambles. The EU insist they won't back down, and Theresa is flying everywhere, and getting nowhere.
The days pass, and we get closer to the end of March. The Irish have been told by the EU there will have to be a hard border, if the UK leaves without a deal. "No there won't" squeals Leo the Lion. "Oh yes there will" say the EU.
They actually said a hard border is more important to them, than peace in Ireland.
It won't take much for the Irish to start taking pot shots at each other again. Those 'peace' walls never did come down.
we have to leave 2 years after Article 50 was triggered, that's March 29th, unless the EU alter the NI backstop its going to be "no deal" which is quite acceptable to me and many I have spoken to.
Product names can get very funny when it is sold in other countries. Vicks becomes Wicks in Germany. When spelled Wicks it's pronounced Vicks. However, Vicks is an obscenity in German. The "V" is pronounced as "F".
No. The brand in Germany has always been Wick, without the S. Wicks and Vick would both be obscene - with different meanings and pronunciation, although V in non-German words is often not pronounced as F.
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