Don't Mention The War

BBC

The New York Times had a fun story today about possible trouble English football fans could encounter during the World Cup in Germany if they talk about certain history.

"Don't mention the war," he tells his staff, even as he descends into a xenophobic frenzy, repeating the Germans' lunch order of a prawn cocktail, pickled herring and four cold meat salads as "a prawn Goebbels, a Hermann Göring and four Colditz salads," and then high-kicking his way around the dining room, à la Hitler.

"So it's all forgotten and let's hear no more about it!" he says of Germany's wartime past. But somehow, he keeps bringing it up. When the Germans ask him to stop, Basil says that they started it.

"We did not start it," one says.

"Yes, you did," he replies. "You invaded Poland."

Posted by Jim at June 2, 2006 06:40 PM