So?
That's how TheEditor begins every single newroom conference.
I'd like to write something where I use the expression vociferous vindictive viper.
Why?
Why was TheEditor so monosyllabic that day, no one knows, and it* did not elaborate.
Because I keep writing posts with simple words and sentences, I'm worried one day I'll neither speak good English nor good German.
You worry about that now?
Also, when I woke up today, this was the first thing that came to my mind, and I can't get rid of it. Preparing the coffee, I found myself staring at the coffee machine, thinking how can I use vociferous vindictive viper to describe the process of coffee making.
Compare the American minimum wage to the German minimum wage.
OYG**, I mean OMG for atheists, you are so right, thank you.
Yeah.
TheEditor was right, simply be that vociferous vindictive viper, and I don't have to make any further effort.
Today's FAZ has an article about how American officials are doing a pilgrimage to Germany to learn about the current German jobs miracle. We'll get back to that but right now, the minimum wage comparison in the article beckons.
The German minimum wage at 8.50 euros is higher that the U.S. at 7.25 dollars (5.70 euros), and the Obama administration official likes that. [our translation]
That's hilarious.
Germany does not have a minimum wage.
They just passed a law to institute one, starting in 2015 for most sectors but leaving loopholes and gradual implementation for the most needy until 2017. Which is the next general election year.
Seattle, WA, must have separated from the U.S. and joined Canada in the last few months without us noticing it. How else could the article not mention their 15 dollars minimum wage.
What can you buy for this hugely attractive German minimum wage when your electricity costs about 40 U.S. cents a kilowatt, your gas over 8 dollars a gallon, your aspirin against the economic headaches some 8 dollars for 40 pills, your hydrogen peroxide for bleaching the worried-grey-hair to an acceptable labor market standard some 15 dollars a quart?
Even comparing apples and oranges makes more sense than comparing the German minimum wage to the U.S. federal minimum wage. Oh, orange juice? Same price as gasoline.
Pleased about the abundant use of vociferous vindictive viper things, yours truly.
* TheEditor went gender neutral a couple of years ago, and insists on it.
** Courtesy of Neil deGrasse Tyson, thank you.
[Update 5/17/2016] Grammar. At the rate we are going, most posts should pass basic grammar and spelling requirements by 2040.
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