Quibbling over jam vs marmalade.

[Mindful]

Is this bureaucratic pettiness what the EU is all about?

German MEP demands that Brexit ends hated EU marmalade law

 

[konradv]

Is this bureaucratic pettiness what the EU is all about?

German MEP demands that Brexit ends hated EU marmalade law

NO, it's the fallacy of taking a part to represent the whole. One argument isn't what the EU "is all about".

 

[Mindful]

Since posting that, a bit of slightly shame faced mea culpa on my part.

In the last hour, watching the wonderfully eloquent (in English) Jakob von Weizsäcker explain the linguistic convolutions concerning the issue, I see the other side to the argument.

Beautifully spoken English, and with a charming sense of humour, he should be snapped up for a top job in the UK.

 

[montelatici]

In Italian the translation of the English "jam" was "marmellata" until the British brought that to court and won. Now, officially it is "confettura" but no one uses the word in normal conversation and marmellata is still used in normal speech.

Strangely, the source of the word is Portuguese and it did not refer to the citrus based marmalade the British won the court case for. In Portuguese "marmelo" is the quince tree which has a fruit that looks like a pear but is much more sour and tough. A very good candidate for making jam, i.e., cooking it and adding sugar/honey.