ADVERTISEMENT

When the world is descending into chaos, the first thing we do, for better or worse, is make memes about it. Since the UK’s infamous vote to leave the EU in 2016, Brexit has given us a wealth of material. It also inspired talks of France’s Frexit, and a Dexit by Germany (Deutschland), the latter of which has fallen into such obscurity that its political meaning is now completely eclipsed in search engines by the downsizing of the Pokedex in new Pokemon games.

Could these campaigns have flourished with catchier names? Probably not, for reasons that are becoming clearer and clearer. But just in case, the internet’s punsters are parodying Brexit with suggestions for names that the rest of Europe can use if they decide they’ve had enough.

Those who feared that Brexit would lead to a number of copycat campaigns that would bring the EU crashing down actually got a surprise. It turns out that since the referendum passed, the three-and-a-half-year-long Brexit has been such a headache that even Europe’s most reactionary parties have begrudgingly gone quiet about leaving the EU, afraid of bringing similar humiliation to their countries.

As far as the general public, surveys of citizens of 10 of the largest EU member states showed that favorable views of the EU abruptly increased the year after the Brexit referendum. These results suggest that people who were on the fence saw the UK’s revolving door of politicians struggling to disentangle the country from all the agreements that they had taken for granted and thought, “Hmmm... the EU is alright, actually.”

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Hopefully, we won’t be seeing any of these campaigns in world news any time soon, but here are some punny names that might ensue if the EU’s remaining 27 members (Norway, not an EU member to this day, has always said Noway) went solo… in English-language news, that is. If you have any good puns in your language, you are encouraged to share them in the comments.

#11

Hungary

Hungary

flagpedia Report

Add photo comments
POST
jennunicornpopping avatar
Jenn Unicorn Popping
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I think I already told this story- my grandma came to Canada during WW2 and kept telling people "I'm Hungary" and they kept giving her food... her vocabulary has vastly grown since then ;)

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#12

Austria

Austria

flagpedia Report

Add photo comments
POST
chi-weishen avatar
chi-wei shen
Community Member
4 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In Austria the term Öxit as the name of a hypothetical exit from the EU has been used so often it already has its own Wikipedia page (German only). Even though Wikipedia claims otherwise this word is well understood by Austrians.

View more commentsArrow down menu
ADVERTISEMENT
#19

Belgium

Belgium

flagpedia Report

Add photo comments
POST
freyathewanderer_1 avatar
Freya the Wanderer
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

What happens if, as many predict, Belgium splits into Flanders and Wallonia? We might have Flan-desert and/or Farewell-onia.

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#20

Greece

Greece

flagpedia Report

Add photo comments
POST
cjwellings avatar
Chris
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You know this was before brexit? Only the Greek weren't so easily led by right-wing lunatics and press.

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
ADVERTISEMENT
See Also on Bored Panda