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YOU DON’T EXPECT to hear a TD quoting The Simpsons in the Dáil, much less when talking about a serious subject like the Budget.
But that’s exactly what Eamon Ryan did.
In his Budget statement yesterday, the Green Party leader used a rather unusual word to express his dissatisfaction with the whole thing.
Ryan was upset that the Budget contained a number of small measures, but no massive changes to how Irish society is run.
I asked a colleague earlier this morning and he said it was “cromulent”. I asked what that meant and he said it does not mean anything. That is the sense from this budget. There are lots of small measures, lots of different changes, but nothing that is really changing the direction of this State or this society.
‘Cromulent’? What in the name of God is he on about?
Well, even the most casual of Simpsons fans (which Ryan apparently is not) will recognise it as a bit of Springfieldese:
The word is used by Springfieldianites as a synonym for acceptable or usable.
It is used in reference to the Springfield town slogan:
“A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man.”
Which means to fans, ‘cromulent’ is a perfectly cromulent word.
A Green Party spokesperson told TheJournal.ie that Ryan knew what he was talking about:
“He did indeed – the word came up during our internal discussions on the Budget, and Eamon picked it up as a tongue-in-cheek description of the budget proposals.”
The ever eagle-eyed members of the Ireland’s Simpsons Fans Facebook page spotted the reference, and have declared Ryan a hero.
The quote is from the episode Lisa The Iconoclast if you want to educate yourself (or learn a few references to drop in the Dáil).
Written by Valerie Loftus and posted on DailyEdge.ie
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Not good at all! I look forward to the day when we start seeing these major corporations taking on people rather than letting them go.
Did you not hear the announcement from Intel about their expansion? Take note Journal.ie.
Just remember folks these are the same guys urging a yes vote, who ll cut jobs here and drop us in an instant just to save a few cent. NOT the type of people whose opinion should be trusted on sovereign affairs! Deeply sad news, let’s hope the loss of jobs here is small.
This is just to do with supply and demand, HP is going down as it has not diversified to meet the competition.. The saved money may be invested back into the company and hopefully improve it..
So would it be fair to say that supply and demand will remain the same regardless of whether we are on board this packed metaphorical train? If that’s the case, and as you point out below, Irelands democratic wish won’t make a blind bit of notice to FDI investment and retraction in Ireland? More spoof so from Yes side?
Well your right there about FDI whether we vote yes or no, no difference,
There “hiring” alright, 40+ hrs a week for unpaid “work experience”.
Jesus can we have one story were someone doesn’t bring up the stability treaty or government.
This is bad news. But am I crazy or did I recently read somewhere that HP were actually taking on staff ??
They seem to hire a lot of their engineers etc through a independent subsidiary called HP CDS this allows them to offer lower terms and less benefits as opposed to normal HP engineers.
Stability !!!! Yeah right.
This has nothing to do with the treaty.. If industry X goes bust it’s because of the market shifts
have your say