Thursday, April 13, 2006

Charm Offensive, Part 2

A month or so back, I commented on the "charm offensive" the host nation was launching in advance of the World Cup. Today, the Beeb has a report on how the city of Berlin is doing their part:

By adopting "A time to make friends" as the tournament slogan, World Cup organisers want national stereotypes lingering since World War II to be smothered under a friendly embrace.

Note the undertonal menace of that last passive participle. I can't decide if this is some manifestation of a Lacanian textual unconscious or if they're just trying to be funny.

Also amusing this description of English fans, offered up by a German sports journalist:

"Sun protection seems to be an alien concept for a lot of them and they like to drink at 10 o'clock in the morning, but that's OK if they don't hit passers-by."

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