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WE ARE GREECE - THEY ARE JUST OUR SPONSORS

English translation: Our shirts might say \"Germany\", but we really are the Greek national team

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
English term or phrase:WE ARE GREECE - THEY ARE JUST OUR SPONSORS
Selected answer:Our shirts might say \"Germany\", but we really are the Greek national team
Entered by: Phong Le

08:54 Jun 23, 2012
English language (monolingual) [Non-PRO]
Art/Literary - General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters / business
English term or phrase: WE ARE GREECE - THEY ARE JUST OUR SPONSORS
context:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/cartoon/2012/jun/08/kippe...

please can you explain what the author means. It was translated into Vietnamese on a local magazine here and IMHO, was misunderstood.
Phong Le
Vietnam
Local time: 09:14
Our shirts might say "Germany", but we really are the Greek national team
Explanation:
The joke is that Greece is now so indebted to Germany that even its national team has to play football with "Germany" on its shirts. Not just about football: it means the Greek state is doing whatever the German Government wants it to.
Selected response from:

B D Finch
France
Local time: 04:14
Grading comment
many thanks
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
4 +3Our shirts might say "Germany", but we really are the Greek national team
B D Finch
4We are the Greek football team - Germany are just our sponsors
Charles Davis
4bitter joke - the photo was a "mockup"
Jenni Lukac (X)


Discussion entries: 4





  

Answers


7 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +3
we are greece - they are just our sponsors
Our shirts might say "Germany", but we really are the Greek national team


Explanation:
The joke is that Greece is now so indebted to Germany that even its national team has to play football with "Germany" on its shirts. Not just about football: it means the Greek state is doing whatever the German Government wants it to.

B D Finch
France
Local time: 04:14
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 192
Grading comment
many thanks

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Martin Riordan
4 hrs
  -> Thanks Martin
agree  Paul Lambert
14 hrs
  -> Thanks Paul
agree  Andrei Vrabtchev
1 day 3 hrs
  -> Thanks Andrei
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4 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
we are greece - they are just our sponsors
We are the Greek football team - Germany are just our sponsors


Explanation:
"Greece" means the Greek national football team. The character who says this is wearing a shirt with the name "Germany" on it, which might make people think they are the German football team. But Germany are just the sponsors of Greece. It is normal for the name of the sponsors of a football team to appear on the team's shirts. In this case, of course, it refers to the idea that Germany is the sponsor not of the Greek football team, but of Greece itself (since Greece has received a large amount of money from the EU, mainly Germany, to pay its debts).

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Note added at 12 mins (2012-06-23 09:07:06 GMT)
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The sponsors of a football team are companies (usually) which pay money to the team in return for the publicity they receive by having their name or logo appear on the team's shirts, where it is displayed to large numbers of people when the team plays a match. Here the joke is that Germany, as a country, has acted towards Greece like a sponsor to a football team, and so it's name appears on their shirts, as if the very identity of Greece as a nation had been subordinated to Germany. The joke also depends on the use of "Greece", the name of the country, to refer to the national football team, as if the team were the country.

Charles Davis
Spain
Local time: 04:14
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 572
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23 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
we are greece - they are just our sponsors
bitter joke - the photo was a "mockup"


Explanation:
The photo was retouched as a satire. As you might notice, the sign behind the figures reads "Euro 2012" not "Euro Cup 2012". Germany is pretty much calling the shots these days concerning whether Greece will be eliminated from the Euro (currency, not the cup, but football is a very emotional metaphor here.)

http://www.talksport.co.uk/magazine/virals/120622/picture-gr...

www.worldcrunch.com/...germany-greece.../570... -
19 hours ago – And the very confident Adesmeftos Typos added: “Greek football is better ... had a mockup picture of the Greek team wearing Germany jerseys with this caption: “Grateful Greeks show their new sponsors for the quarter-finals.” ...


Jenni Lukac (X)
Local time: 04:14
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 392

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  B D Finch: It is called Euro 2012 and, to rub salt in, Greece have just lost to Germany.
1 hr
  -> It's the Euro cup. The reference to Euro 2012 refers to Greece's chances of remaining in the Euro group.
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