The return of the Holy Roman Empire?
Our lucky neighbours on the other side of the Channel / North Sea are about to see one of their high speed trains decorated with, gulp, 'the logo of European Year of Intercultural Dialogue 2008 (EYID)'. Pretty exciting, eh?
However, not really worth blogging about, except on a slow day.
However, compare and contrast this statement from Ján Figeľ (he does have that apostrophe, honest) :
"Thalys trains link the capitals and cities of four EU member states"
with this map:
Paris - check. Brussels - check. Netherlands - Amsterdam - check.
And the fourth capital city? It does sat 'the capitals', not 'capitals' of 'four EU member states'. Aachen was the seat of the Holy Roman Empire (insert the old joke here) of the German Nation, but a reborn Heiliges Römisches Reich deutscher Nation would rather cancel out Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam...
The other possibilities are that Cologne is a free city again, that the Archbishop thereof has resumed his role as a prince elector or Figel' knows something about the breakup of Belgium that the rest of us do not.
Extra special pedantic point, The Hague is not a capital of the Netherlands, although it is the seat of government.
However, not really worth blogging about, except on a slow day.
However, compare and contrast this statement from Ján Figeľ (he does have that apostrophe, honest) :
"Thalys trains link the capitals and cities of four EU member states"
with this map:
Paris - check. Brussels - check. Netherlands - Amsterdam - check.
And the fourth capital city? It does sat 'the capitals', not 'capitals' of 'four EU member states'. Aachen was the seat of the Holy Roman Empire (insert the old joke here) of the German Nation, but a reborn Heiliges Römisches Reich deutscher Nation would rather cancel out Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam...
The other possibilities are that Cologne is a free city again, that the Archbishop thereof has resumed his role as a prince elector or Figel' knows something about the breakup of Belgium that the rest of us do not.
Extra special pedantic point, The Hague is not a capital of the Netherlands, although it is the seat of government.
Labels: EU fun and games, pedantry
This entry was posted
on Monday, June 23, 2008 at 12:41 pm.
You can skip to the end and leave a response.
» Post a Comment