Μια κι έπεσα σήμερα πάνω στον τρίλογο, να μην τα πω εγώ για τον trialogue, τα έχουν πει και άλλοι. (Εμένα δεν με ενοχλεί καθόλου το γλωσσικό παιχνίδι...)
EU Trialogue Tries 2 Hard
By Daniel Michaels (20/12/2012)
Oh, the linguistic trials of a trialogue.
Brussels is aflurry with them this week, as officials race to meet year-end deadlines for agreements on a range of new European Union laws and regulations. (In some cases, this last-minute rush was in vain – final deals on a Common European Asylum System, new capital requirements for banks and a single supervisor for euro-zone lenders won’t be concluded until 2013, despite promises to get them done in 2012.)
In Eurospeak, trialogues are “informal tripartite meetings attended by representatives of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission.” They fit within the more formal three-way negotiations known as codecision–laws, proposed by the Commission, the EU’s executive arm, that must be approved by member states AND the Parliament.
In other words, a three-way chat (tri + dialogue) in which representatives of the EU’s three main institutions try to forge compromises on often-clashing positions.
The EU didn’t coin the word trialogue (or trilogue), but officials use the neologism frequently. It’s concise and fits with an EU love of latinate language. Indeed, the European Commission’s official glossary of codecision puts a classical touch on its definition of trilogue by noting: “Any agreement in trilogues is informal and ‘ad referendum’.”
Sophisticated – but apparently incorrect. The word trilogue/trialogue seems to embody a fundamental misunderstanding of the word dialogue.
As previously noted in Real Time Brussels, EU officials don’t just mangle latinate words. They also abuse modern English by using phrases no native speaker would ever use in the same context. For instance, when officials mention Wolfgang Schäuble’s “intervention” at the last get-together of EU finance ministers, it’s unlikely that Mr. Schäuble was urging any of his colleagues to drink less or stop obsessing over a lost love. Instead, “intervention” is often used as just another word for “comment”—falling victim to a false friend from the French, “intervention.”
Trilogue/trialogue appears to have been adopted on the assumption that the “di” in “dialogue” is the same “di” as in “carbon dioxide” and “diatomic,” which is the Greek version of the Latin “bi” in “bicycle,” and means two or dual.
But dialogue doesn’t begin with “di” – it starts with “dia,” the same Greek prefix as in diagonal, diameter and dialysis. It has a variety of meanings, including through, between, apart and across. But “2” does not seem to be one of them.
Perhaps the EU could take a language lesson from retired National Basketball Association coach Pat Riley. In the late 1980s, as his Los Angeles Lakers shot for their third consecutive NBA title, he took to saying “three-peat” for a triple repeat. Even though the contraction already existed, he managed to get it trademarked.
Maybe if the EU got a trademark on trilogue from the EU Patent Office, the word could be certified as correct.
Gabriele Steinhauser contributed to this article.
http://blogs.wsj.com/brussels/2012/12/20/eu-trialogue-tries-2-hard/
EU Trialogue Tries 2 Hard
By Daniel Michaels (20/12/2012)
Oh, the linguistic trials of a trialogue.
Brussels is aflurry with them this week, as officials race to meet year-end deadlines for agreements on a range of new European Union laws and regulations. (In some cases, this last-minute rush was in vain – final deals on a Common European Asylum System, new capital requirements for banks and a single supervisor for euro-zone lenders won’t be concluded until 2013, despite promises to get them done in 2012.)
In Eurospeak, trialogues are “informal tripartite meetings attended by representatives of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission.” They fit within the more formal three-way negotiations known as codecision–laws, proposed by the Commission, the EU’s executive arm, that must be approved by member states AND the Parliament.
In other words, a three-way chat (tri + dialogue) in which representatives of the EU’s three main institutions try to forge compromises on often-clashing positions.
The EU didn’t coin the word trialogue (or trilogue), but officials use the neologism frequently. It’s concise and fits with an EU love of latinate language. Indeed, the European Commission’s official glossary of codecision puts a classical touch on its definition of trilogue by noting: “Any agreement in trilogues is informal and ‘ad referendum’.”
Sophisticated – but apparently incorrect. The word trilogue/trialogue seems to embody a fundamental misunderstanding of the word dialogue.
As previously noted in Real Time Brussels, EU officials don’t just mangle latinate words. They also abuse modern English by using phrases no native speaker would ever use in the same context. For instance, when officials mention Wolfgang Schäuble’s “intervention” at the last get-together of EU finance ministers, it’s unlikely that Mr. Schäuble was urging any of his colleagues to drink less or stop obsessing over a lost love. Instead, “intervention” is often used as just another word for “comment”—falling victim to a false friend from the French, “intervention.”
Trilogue/trialogue appears to have been adopted on the assumption that the “di” in “dialogue” is the same “di” as in “carbon dioxide” and “diatomic,” which is the Greek version of the Latin “bi” in “bicycle,” and means two or dual.
But dialogue doesn’t begin with “di” – it starts with “dia,” the same Greek prefix as in diagonal, diameter and dialysis. It has a variety of meanings, including through, between, apart and across. But “2” does not seem to be one of them.
Perhaps the EU could take a language lesson from retired National Basketball Association coach Pat Riley. In the late 1980s, as his Los Angeles Lakers shot for their third consecutive NBA title, he took to saying “three-peat” for a triple repeat. Even though the contraction already existed, he managed to get it trademarked.
Maybe if the EU got a trademark on trilogue from the EU Patent Office, the word could be certified as correct.
Gabriele Steinhauser contributed to this article.
http://blogs.wsj.com/brussels/2012/12/20/eu-trialogue-tries-2-hard/
