In which I am uncivilized

[steepholm]

Those who know me well will probably at some point have been exposed to my unpleasant habit of complaining about London as a hubristic parasite that hoovers up resources and talent from the rest of the country, then preens itself on being a 'world city'. Well, in fairness, today I'm going to leave London alone and take my metropolis-bashing abroad.

Whilst googling for other information entirely, I happened upon the fact that Rome and Paris are 'sister cities'. Nothing surprising there - but apparently they've coined a slogan to encapsulate their mutual besotment. In French, it goes like this: "Seule Paris est digne de Rome; seule Rome est digne de Paris." Or, in Italian: "Solo Parigi è degna di Roma; solo Roma è degna di Parigi".

Am alone in finding this a little vomit-inducing? If someone said of their partner, "The great thing about our relationship is that I'm really the only person worthy of her, and she's the only person worthy of me," wouldn't one's natural reaction be to flip them in the face with a haddock? Why is it okay when it's cities? Am I missing something? Answers on a postcard of the Eiffel Tower, please.

Comments

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

Reminds me of Tennyson's (apparently) comment on the marriage of Thomas and Jane Carlyle: "By any other arrangement, four people would have been unhappy instead of two."

[lamentables.livejournal.com]

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

ROFL! My goodness, lamentables, you have outdone yourself!

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Tennyson was very wise.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

It's obnoxious no matter who is saying it--or what language.

[hafren.livejournal.com]

They've both got terrible traffic and bloody rude inhabitants, so maybe being twinned is for them what marriage was said to be for the Carlyles; it makes two people miserable instead of four....

I hate really big cities, full stop. Especially capitals.

PS

[hafren.livejournal.com]

sorry - only just noticed someone else had mentioned the Carlyles!

Re: PS

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Now I'm wondering where Carlisle is twinned with...

Re: PS

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

To answer my own question - and I'm sure you've been dying to hear the answer - Carlisle turns out to be twinned with Flensburg and Slupsk, in a tri-partite arrangement that the council claims is "the first of its kind in Europe". But surely not the last...?

Ah, all this talk of twinning makes me think of the lamented Linda Smith and her line about her home town of Erith not being twinned with anywhere, but having a suicide pact with Dagenham. Happy times.

[mraltariel.livejournal.com]

That's very brilliant.

Re: PS

[hafren.livejournal.com]

Slupsk, in Poland. Who could forget a name like that?

Re: PS

[hafren.livejournal.com]

It's always rather enchanted me that Bolton is twinned with Le Mans.