Endlich: Der Deal

[Arneb]

So, they did it? They did it. On Christmas eve, after last-last-last minute talks. Apparently, it finally dawned on some that Proud Brits, Buy British Bananas is hard to do when you haven't got the British Empire zo provide them 'n'more.

[Richard A]

Yes indeed. I have to say, I found it a relief, given which Brits were negotiating the deal. Disappointingly, some opposition MPs voted against it on the basis that they disapproved of Brexit at all - the argument being that the deal would pass anyway, therefore they could refuse to be part of it without risking No Deal. As it happened, the hard-core Brexiteers backed it - even Nigel Farage said it was time to settle this - so they were right. But if it had gone wrong, I'd have been angry, not merely disappointed as I was when the same MPs - and others (including ours) - voted against EEA membership in the hope of stopping Brexit completely.

But we have - from my point of view, anyway - an acceptable deal. We can continue to sell goods to the EU and buy goods from it, so hopefully a few car plants will survive and the food we import won't shoot up in price. We can travel visa-free to the EU for 90 days in any 180 day period, so if and when the pandemic eases, I'll be able to go to Berlin again (I see the new airport's now open), the family can go enjoy waffles and chocolate in Belgium (and I can enjoy mussels and beer) and I may even persuade the odd university to invite me to speak. (As long as they don't pay me - but this is academia, so that's not likely to be an issue!) Of course, all of that depends not only on the UK getting the covid rate down significantly but on the EU not following China's lead in barring those who test positive for covid antigens or antibodies, not just the virus itself. But the latter would catch anyone who's been vaccinated, so that's hopefully unlikely.

An interesting one is the other deal, which has taken up far less space on the BBC website. The UK and Spain have agreed that Gibraltar will become part of Schengen - so the border between Gibraltar and Spain will go, but Brits going to Gibraltar will be treated as foreigners. Passport control at Gibraltar port and airport will be by Frontex - what the long-term implications of that are for the EU Member States is an interesting question. But what's even more interesting is that I haven't seen any outpourings of outrage from the Daily Mail readers. I suspect they haven't noticed yet!

[Мастер]

So, today I learn that “Deal” is masculine. And from Google Translate, the plural is apparently Angebote.

Very Arneb-suitable music playing in this restaurant right now.

[Arneb]

Yes, it's masculine. As always, gender is ectremely iffy in German (did you know that most people here say "die URL"?)

Google Translate hit the plural right, but Angebote is the wrong expression in the our context. Angebote ("offers") would would be correct in the context of "Call 1-800-FUCK-OFF and get great deals at your local Walmart". "Deal" in German is only used as in the infamous "The Art of the Deal", meaning a kind of compromise, contract or agreement. Saying "Deal" German often implies that the deal is at least a little bit questionable or dirty ("schmutziger Deal"). Perhaps unsurprisingly, the third meaning, for "transaction" or "selling", is used in a very specific contect in German: Ein Dealer or eine Dealerin is always and exclusively a drug dealer. For dealers of more innocent commodities, you use "Händler" (from handeln, to trade). So your German teacher might say: "Im Deutschen ist ein Dealer nicht einfach nur ein Händler, sondern immer ein Drogenhändler".