Comment by tjwebbnorfolk
17 days ago
This literary device is so common it has a name: synecdoche. e.g. "The pentagon" to refer to the US military.
Now we just need a word for performative dense-ness.
17 days ago
This literary device is so common it has a name: synecdoche. e.g. "The pentagon" to refer to the US military.
Now we just need a word for performative dense-ness.
I would not assume denseness -- many/most languages do not have this habit of referring to the capital. So it can easily sound weird if you aren't that immersed in English news and discussions.
I am not assuming denseness, I'm assuming performative denseness. People very often pretend to have stuff go over their head in a sad attempt to make a point.
It's kinda funny because in French, it depends on the situation.
If it's a French decision, you say "Matignon has done x" with Matignon being the home France's President. If it's local, you say "the mayor" , and if its European, you say Brussels.
In Canada, if it's federal, you say Carey's government, if it's provincial the name of the prime minister, or the name of the party and if its local, you use the mayor's name.
But in this situation, the ECB cited in the article is in Germany, not Brussels, with a high independence from the EU, but yes, with the Parliament in Brussels.
So I was downvoted because I asked why OP mentioned Brussels just to be sure that is wasn't the usual "eu bad" post.
Cunningham's law in action I guess.