A politician in Denmark has proposed a novel way to protect the country’s native tongue…by taxing the use of foreign words in adverts.
Alex Ahrendtsen of the right-wing Danish People’s Party, which holds four seats in the European Parliament, is concerned by the use of English in particular.
More than 80% of Danes are thought to speak English as a second language, but Ahrendtsen is worried about the country’s native tongue entering a “death spiral” according to reports in Danish newspaper Fyens.
“We want them to stop speaking to us in English. It irritates me to no end,” Ahrendtsen said in a speech to Parliament.
We’re trying to imagine how he’d react to adverts like this one for Stella Artois Cidre…
H/T Daily Telegraph