Did She Mean It?

[Khandro]

'The EU’s final words to the UK as it departed the union after nearly half a century were “thank you, goodbye, and good riddance”. 

'The misspoken farewell, spoken by the Croatian ambassador to her UK counterpart Tim Barrow last week, perhaps sums up 47 years of the Britons being lost in translation in Brussels. 

Irena Andrassy, the Croatian ambassador, was chairing the UK’s final meeting of EU envoys as a member state because her country holds the six-month EU presidency. She assumed “good riddance” was akin to “good luck”, said diplomats present in the room. 

Despite some feelings running high towards the UK over Brexit, the goodbye was not a barb in disguise, they insisted. '

Oh really?

[emmie]

good riddance to them, its time we did a Donald Trump and put the UK first...

[Old_Geezer]

Maybe the writer/translator had a devilish sense of humour.

[naomi24]

Total EU spend in Croatia – € 1.120 billion

Total contribution to EU budget – € 0.451 billion

https://europa.eu/european-union/about-eu/countries/member-countries/croatia_en

Let’s hope she’s as happy when her country’s hand-outs are cut.

[emmie]

maybe, but one has to give the benefit of the doubt.

[ichkeria]

And what was the UK’s reply in Croatian I wonder?

Silence .... or something in English : “Split” would have been appropriate.

For potentially mischievous “translations” the Dutch headline ***, with a picture of Theresa May, after her Brexit DEFEAT, would take some beating.

[ichkeria]

You’ll have to get a Dutch English dictionary then

[ichkeria]

Some Like A Good dictionary :-)

[Old_Geezer]

Have to investigate the Dutch newspaper archives.

[emmie]

not a nice word...

[Old_Geezer]

Ah, naughty AD.

[Khandro]

ich //And what was the UK’s reply in Croatian I wonder?//

Why would a UK representative speak Croatian? or put another way, why would anybody other than the 4 million Croats speak it or want to learn it? and English is the Lingua Franca of the EU.

[ichkeria]

Surely that should change now :-)

[Khandro]

No it wasn't for the convenience of the Brits (perish the thought!) in fact German is the most native spoken language in Europe, but it seems English is the most spoken 2nd language & it looks like the EU will stick with it - much to the chagrin of the French.

[youngmafbog]

Does it matter whether she meant it or not?

Amusingly though that will go down as the last words spoken to the UK. Guess it will be in pub quizzes for years to come :-)

[ludwig]

// Does it matter whether she meant it or not? //

Just what I was thinking. Who cares?

[Canary42]

After 45 years of Moaning from Brexiteers, please don't tell me we'll now be getting 45 years of Gloating (at least I won't last that long, even if Little England does).

[The Builder]

Could have been worse.
It might have been the Swedish Ambassador.

In Swedish, when something is over, it is...

... *** ;o)