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Italian government seeks to penalize the use of English words

(www.cnn.com)
231 points rntn | 4 comments | 02 Apr 23 17:19 UTC | HN request time: 0.679s | source
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alex_suzuki ◴[02 Apr 23 17:36 UTC] No.35413018[source]▶
Italy really knows how to focus on what’s really important to address challenges like high unemployment and weak economy.
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1. tacone ◴[02 Apr 23 17:42 UTC] No.35413085[source]▶
Italians lose wars as if they were football matches, and football matches as if they were wars - Winston Churchill
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2. borroka ◴[02 Apr 23 17:53 UTC] No.35413232[source]▶
Like many of the things that were said ironically in the past, this one has aged badly. Yes, Italians could be very passionate about the results of football matches.

However, Churchill did not have to see how the English interpreted soccer matches in the 1970s and 1980s. Hooligans, for those too young, interpreted football games as wars. But not in the sense of passion for the sport, as they were killing fans of other teams in ways similar to wars.

Fortunately, things change over time.

It is also interesting how some ethnic groups or nations can be the object of ridicule without anyone protesting (all of Southern Europe, for example), while for other ethnic groups or nations there would be protests all over the world at the slightest hint of an attempt to ridicule them.

3. barrysteve ◴[02 Apr 23 18:05 UTC] No.35413351[source]▶
Probably never said it [0]. Those kinds of quotes are unlikely to be understood in today's cultural lense, because people don't see the world in national identities and the meaning those identities carried, like they used to 1800-1940.

[0] https://richardlangworth.com/quotes-churchill-never-said-2

4. jjgreen ◴[02 Apr 23 20:00 UTC] No.35414508[source]▶
Churchill suggested that chemical weapons should be used “against recalcitrant Arabs as an experiment.” He added “I am strongly in favor of using poisoned gas against uncivilized tribes to spread a lively terror” in Iraq.

https://english.alarabiya.net/special-reports/winston-church...