Exclamations of a European Luddite

摘要

When an american hears a colleague say something with which he violently disagrees, he may make a rude exclamation that can be approximately translated as male bovine excrement. On the other hand, although the Brit is sometimes heard to use the same expression, he is more likely to say "poppycock," "balderdash," "codswallop," or "fiddlesticks," the last phrase the mildest. As with the American term, the last three epithets are of unknown origin (poppycock comes from the Dutch for soft dung, according to the Oxford English Dictionary). What is this leading up to? Just that the European Union Directive on Waste in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) is a load of, er, codswallop! In a way, it's a pity the authors of this masterpiece of obfuscation differentiated between electrical and electronic equipment; had they not, it would have been called WEE ― also an apt description of their minds.