There's an episode of Friends where Chandler challenges the gang to name all 50 US States within a time limit I've forgotten. Joey 'the idiot' comes up with a load of his usual ridiculous stuff. Meanwhile, Ross 'the clever one' gets stuck on 48, before refusing to eat his Thanksgiving meal until he's named them all, which he never does. The latter is pretty much what happens to me whenever I do it. But, hey, 48 isn't bad for a limey.
Anyway, it got me thinking overnight. Everyone's busting out to say how we're doomed if we leave Europe, or doomed if we don't, and when I think about I'm not even sure I know what Europe or, in this case, the European Union, is exactly. So this morning I gave myself five minutes to name as many of the EU member states as I could, without knowing how many there are exactly. (Turns out there's 28).
I named 26, but three of those were wrong (Albania anyone?). Which makes me closer to Joey than Ross, I guess. And that's certainly food for thought. Next time someone is banging on about Europe with utter certainty, one way or the other, how about asking them to have a go?
And do have a go yourself...
Answers here...
Anyway, it got me thinking overnight. Everyone's busting out to say how we're doomed if we leave Europe, or doomed if we don't, and when I think about I'm not even sure I know what Europe or, in this case, the European Union, is exactly. So this morning I gave myself five minutes to name as many of the EU member states as I could, without knowing how many there are exactly. (Turns out there's 28).
I named 26, but three of those were wrong (Albania anyone?). Which makes me closer to Joey than Ross, I guess. And that's certainly food for thought. Next time someone is banging on about Europe with utter certainty, one way or the other, how about asking them to have a go?
And do have a go yourself...
Answers here...
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