what is the sudden hype with Halloween here in good ol’ Europe? don’t get me wrong, i have nothing against Halloween, it surely is a great festivity and an American tradition. so here is what bothers me: why do we have to celebrate it as well? the media is full of it: a weekend with special Halloween-style movies and shows… and this phenomenon is not restricted to Germany or Austria only… but also in France! i can hardly believe it! France! for example, most European countries that adopted it, the sub-unit of the Euro is called the Cent. France is the exception, as it gained permission to continue to use the existing term “Centime”. they even have an institution (“académie française“) that decides what foreign (e.g. english) terms and expressions are “imported” to french, but with the overall aim to keep the language “pure”.
welcome to the wonderful world of globalization. or as Rammstein put it in their new song “Amerika”:
Musik kommt aus dem Weißen Haus,
Und vor Paris steht Mickey Maus.
Yeah, the French are strict on their language. But when you’ve got the sexiest language in the world (well, tied with italiano), I suppose you need to be in control of it.