English news: horsemeat in “beef” products in UK and France

 

This has been a very big headline (and slightly amusing story) in the UK in the last week:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21401111

 

There has been some anger because some food products such as beef lasagnes have been found to contain “up to 100% horsemeat”. Although not harmful, this is obviously deceiving.

 

Despite the anger, this story has allowed the British media to make a lot of typically awful English jokes and puns about horses. Below are some examples:

 

“I could eat a horse”

We sometimes use this expression to explain that we are feeling very hungry. However, the story above proves that British people do not like eating horses at all!

 

“Horsing around”

If you are “horsing around”, you are not being serious. We could argue that the Food Standards Authority (FSA), which is supposed to regulate the quality of food, has been “horsing around” if they allowed this to happen!

 

“Why the long face?”

If someone has a “long face”, they are sad or unhappy as this makes their face longer. We often combine this saying with jokes about horses. It is safe to assume a lot of people who like beef lasagnes will have long faces now!

 

“Classic” British joke

A horse walks into a bar. The bartender asks, “Why the long face?”

(Bartenders normally check if people are sad – that’s the basis of this terrible joke.)

 

French cuisine

There have been a lot of jokes about the French since this story emerged because we imagine they will buy more beef lasagne now that they know it has horsemeat in it.

We have the impression the French like to eat horsemeat and this is strange to us, so we make many jokes about it.

British people and French people are always making jokes about each other!