Talk:Nation of shopkeepers

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The quote as given was wrong, and differs significantly from what Adam Smith's meaning. I corrected it to what the man actually said, and explained that the attribution to Napoleon was uncertain..

I've heard it associated with Benjamin Franklin, but this may be wrong.

--GwydionM 18:49, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

Ooops, the other version wasn't wrong, it was what Smith said in the first edition. Corrected my mistake. --GwydionM 18:22, 2 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] UK or England?

Surely "Angleterre" refers to England, NOT the United Kingdom. I always understood the quote to imply just England. 86.133.72.79 21:47, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

- Indeed. Surely if he'd meant the UK he would have said "le Royaume-Uni" rather than "Angleterre".

Mmm.... thinking along these lines leads me to the conclusion that "perfidious Albion" must refer only to the County of Kent, where the White Cliffs are located. But see Metonymy... --Wetman 19:03, 24 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Napoleon

Not discussed here already is what Napoleon meant by using the expression. It was a disparaging remark based on the notion of shopkeepers as penny pinching, short changing bean counters. Interesting to note that the UK now has more accountants than the rest of the EU combined, perhaps there was something in that original remark.

On the question of what Napoleon might have meant by "Angleterre", this almost certainly referred to the UK as a whole, as is currently common amongst non UK (and many UK!) citizens. —Preceding unsigned comment added by AGENBYTE (talk • contribs) 09:53, 21 September 2007 (UTC)