If your country had a slogan what it would be?

By: | Post date: December 5, 2016 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Australia, Greece

My country (Australia) already has a slogan. The Lucky Country.

The popular understanding, within and outside Australia, is that Australia being lucky (having lots of resources, affluent, stable) is a good thing. The original book, which everyone in this country should read (and which is still relevant 50 years on), argued that this was a very bad thing: it allows complacency. The full slogan, which not enough people realise, is:

Australia is a lucky country run mainly by second rate people who share its luck.

Nick Nicholas’ answer to What is the scariest thing about living in Australia?

My country (Greece) already has a slogan.

Όταν εμείς οι Έλληνες χτίζαμε Παρθενώνες, εσείς οι βάρβαροι τρώγατε βελανίδια.
When we Greeks were building Parthenons, you barbarians were still eating acorns.

2000 hits on Google for “οταν εμεις χτιζαμε παρθενωνες”.

Pegah, canım, you’re Torki not Farsi, but you know very well what it is to live in country arrogant about its long past. And you know that it’s not a healthy thing.

Who knew! I googled this, and found that a real guy had said this. Nikos Athanasopoulos, a member of parliament, who died this year. Spoken to Emile Mennens, a Belgian anti-corruption official of the European Union (then EEC), in 1990, who was testifying against Athanasopoulos in court, and criticising Greek public administration.

The context does not surprise anyone, does it…

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