Frogmarch

SAME-SAME BUT DIFFERENT L ast Thursday I was at my hairdresser, and we talked about the Danish referendum, which was being held the same day. I asked her, if she thought her status as a Thai immigrant would change with the election, and she answered "It will be same-same but different". The question of whether Quebec should be recognised a sovereign Canadian state or not, is the core of the fable Frogmarch. The title indicates …

…is needed for political reasons, and with little or no effect in everyday life. The latter are people like the two swamp frogs and my hairdresser, who thinks it will be same-same but different. Arnason illustrates this humorously by using the "chugarum", as the only word in "Frog". The only answer to the referendum is "chugarum", the sparrow cannot see any coherence in this, because it will always be "chugarum", and thus never be anything.