Befuddled journalists glanced at each other and the Prime Minister s staff quickly stepped in after he had left the podium to translate into English for the press just what the PM had meant. Apparently, it turns out, the Prime Minister was speaking English but had managed to torture the language such that no one could understand him. Astonishing errors are not unknown elsewhere. The first President of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Havel, used to ride about the presidential palace on a tricycle. He also invited such distinguished drug addicts as Frank Zappa, to consult with during the formation of the Czech Republic.
Brazil is none too impressed with Canadian artists.
Having put a ban on Brazilian beef imports into Canada in retaliation for subsidizing their aircraft industry in competition with ours, Canada has become known as a country of boobs and bombasts in the southern hemisphere. Pundits in the Brazilian press have referred to Canadian artists with much acerbic discourse, even going so far as to inform the world that Canada s contribution to sculpture is the snowman. The fact that Canadians are willing to fund such progressive works of avant-garde art can only cement the world s image of us.