Thursday 7 April 2016

Slightly off (by 26911)

I only half-listened to this story on More or Less earlier today, but I think it's kind of amusing (if it wasn't kind of sad for the implications it has...).

Apparently, there's a myth which is cyclically resuscitated (mainly by politicians) that the document describing EU regulations about the sale of cabbage is 26911 words long. 

In fact, as it turns out, this is a very old story, originated in the 1940s in the US, which has taken on a parallel life and basically (as you can listen in the radio programme here) this estimate is kind of off $-$ by 26911 words! The sad part of this is that things get said and immediately become "truth", while not having a single shred of truth attached to them... 

Anyway: probably not the best argument to Brexit... 

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