Mr Justice Cocklecarrot: Now M. Chirac, you stand accused of - err, let me see... - ah yes, being a French President. A more serious crime than which it is difficult to imagine. Avez-vous, if you'll pardon the expression, quelque chose a dire in your defence?
Chirac: Sacre bleu! Eez zat any way to address an 'Ead of State?
Cocklecarrot: I will remind the defendant that he is no longer an 'Ead of State. 'E is now a drittsek*.
*Drittsek is the only word of Danish I know, and quite possibly the only one worth knowing. A Danish politican once called John Selwyn Gummer (peace be upon him) one, but it was a long time ago.
Or is it Norwegian?
ReplyDeletePG?????? Where are you when I need you?
Yes, it's Norwegian, meaning "bag of shit", and the politician who said it to his british colleague was Torbjörn Berntsen, the former norwegian minister for environmental affairs.
ReplyDeleteThank you to S.B. from Cartoon-land, for this version of the full story - what he calls "one of my fondest political memories, actually":
ReplyDelete"It's spelled DRITTSEKK and it's Norwegian. It was said in
1993 by the Norwegian Environmental Minister Thorbjoern
Berntsen when he and Gummer where discussing regional
acidification problems. The UK where at that time refusing
to allow international action against regional pollution in
the UK, if my memory serves me correctly."
Well, I offer my apologies to any Danes who were offended by my incorrect attribution of the word DRITTSEKK to their svelte, refined language.
Did Gummer call Berntsen a "Forpulte norske hvaldreper" in return? And if not, why not?
And what's Danish for Drittsekk?
Etc.