Sauer Grapes

After traveling to Munich and walloping Germany 5-1 in a historic World Cup qualifying soccer game last month, the English now seem to feel justified in insulting the Germans at will in their advertising.

We refer to the recent move by the U.K.’s ad standards board to declare the word “kraut” fit for use in ad copy. Though it’s been used in a derogatory manner since World War II, the term has evolved over the years into “a lighthearted reference to a national stereotype unlikely to cause serious or widespread offense,” the board says with apparent seriousness.