The great cabbage myth BBC News 6 April 2016 It has been suggested recently that there are 26,911 words of European Union regulation on the sale of cabbage. The claim is not true, but it has a long and interesting history dating back to the US in the 1940s. "Lord's Prayer - 66 words, 10 Commandments - 179 words, Gettysburg address - 286 words, EU regulations on the sale of cabbage - 26,911 words." With a referendum on UK membership of the European Union just around the corner, this cabbage statistic is proving rather popular on social media. It's cited as evidence that the EU is too bureaucratic and exerts excessive control over its members. But surprisingly, it seems the origins of the statement lie not in Europe at all, but on the other side of the Atlantic in 1940s America. During World War Two, the US government issued a memo to control the price of cabbage seeds. It was 2,600 words long, says Barry O'Neill, professor of political science at the University of California, who has researched the origins of the cabbage myth. But at some point a rumour surfaced that the cabbage regulations were back - this time 10 times longer and not just confined to seeds. In 1951 the president of a Chicago pickle and relish company mentioned it in a letter to food brokers across the country, and a newspaper quiz asked readers to match word counts with documents (Test Your Horse Sense 1951) - the cabbage regulation was said to be 25,000 words long. Soon this became 26,911 "suggesting careful research", says O'Neill. The following year, American media commentator Walter Winchell "stated it as fact in 1952 in an attack on federal price controls during the Korean War," according to O'Neill. He also notes that it was cited by a deputy secretary of agriculture in 1984, and even President Ronald Reagan. In the mid-90s Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah repeated the myth on the Senate floor. "The claim that there was such a price control kept on coming up again and again whenever people started getting concerned about government regulation," says O'Neill. But how did the claim leap across the Atlantic to become a much-quoted European statistic?.......................see here
There's a lot of words in that article telling me some have a lot of time on their hands. Why is this important, Terry?
It's not unless you are interested in cabbages or the way statistics are drastically distorted over time, what to you is more interesting than the number of words in the cabbage regulation report in the US and the EU?
Yes Chrissy, it was crazy! Even I wanted one, a newborn, boy. My mother in law bought me one for Christmas. His name was Duncan.
EASY COLE SLAW RECIPE INGREDIENTS 4 cups (8 ounces) packaged coleslaw mix 1/2 cup light or regular mayo 1 tablespoon cider vinegar 1/4 teaspoon celery seed coarse salt and ground pepper DIRECTIONS In a medium bowl, combine coleslaw mix, mayonnaise, vinegar, and celery seed. Season with salt and pepper, and toss to combine. Ok..buy a rotisserie chicken and cut up a cantaloupe and take your plate outside on the patio or whatever and enjoy