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How to Euro-Speak: A phrasebook for the presidential tourist
EFL - RTWT Europeans hate the way Americans talk. They think we're loud and uncouth and they don't like our jokes, except for Michael Moore. Plus, they resent the fact that they've had to learn our language because if they didn't we wouldn't buy their stupid metric widgets or visit their overpriced ruins. So when the president goes to Europe to give his speech to all the EU-niks in Brussels on Tuesday, it's important that he speak clearly — or at least clearfully. Because there are a few things he needs to say, and they can all be summed up in seven handy, easy-to-utter phrases: 1. Get a job. With their endless vacations and pint-sized workweeks, Europe can't produce enough of anything — including more Europeans — to save themselves from doom. So the French and Germans have only one realistic strategy when it comes to revitalizing their comatose economies: Wait for the U.S. economy to rise high enough to float their petits bateaux. Meanwhile, the EU's own reports have long shown the complete failure of the Lisbon strategy that was supposed to have the EU on a competitive par with the U.S. by 2010. Now, as noted in the EU Observer, the EU is failing to compete in technology and research, lagging behind not only the U.S., but also countries such as India *snip* RTWT Posted by: Frank G 2005-02-20 |
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