“Further south” has an ominous secessionist sound in this context which makes me cringe.
Sidenote, autocorrect was of the opinion it should be “Fürther south”, which made it even more ominous.
Before you book tickets, check on the outcome of the European elections (and the aftermath in Germany; quite literally math regarding political proportionialism of the current gouvernment).
Interesting on “Further South”, it’s an idiom I use without really examining. Agree, “Fürther south” is a direction I hope we all avoid.
I’m friends with ex-pat Brits, they always thought that well, if America gets worse, we can always go back to a saner Britain. Then Brexit happened and now they’re not so sure.
Just for documentation, Fürth is a smallish town west of Nuremberg, and the south of Fürth (Fürther Süden, in German) wouldn’t be as bad as it sounds to anglophones.
“Going south” is a common American idiom, with no creepy connotations. The OED attributes it to the stock exchange, where south=down because maps. (They also give a Douglas Fairbanks mention; he was once in a movie called “Headin’ South.”)
Thanks, I knew the idiom but not the origin.
And the punning connotation was singularly mine.
Ok, sure, the last 40 years, Lucy has pulled that ball away ever single time the electorate tried to kick it. But maybe this will be the year, if we really campaign our hearts out, get a good running start, put our all into really focusing all our force into kickking that ball…
Maybe she’ll forget to yank it away at the last minute? And everything will turn out just fine.
They voted for Reagan just to avoid having to face the reality of their own “good-natured” uncles.
I don’t think it is a human trait. I think the specific kind of bad decision we are looking at is the result of a particular philosophy that has taken root in English-speaking nations. Some kinds of bad decisions get made everywhere, but the whole vote-less-and-less-leg-room thing seems to happen a lot more in America, Canada, the UK, and Australia than in Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands and Italy.
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