A favourite pastime in EU Brussels is wordplay with words starting with ‘eur’, ‘euro’ or ‘EU’. Funnily enough, most of the new words have negative associations. Here are some fun ones – both positive and negative.

First are the words to describe people involved in EU affairs. The most known is ‘eurocrat’, to describe EU civil servants. Their children are sometimes called ‘eurobrats’, a rather unfair pejorative for those who cannot help what their parents do for a living. Other derogatory terms used by EU haters are: ‘euromutt’, ‘eurofatcat’ and a real favourite:‘eunichs’.

There is a whole battery of terms used to describe MEPs and consultants, including: ‘euroleech’,‘euroscum’ and ‘europeewee’. But the most egregious term is so charged that few dare to use it: ’eurofederast’, used to describe ‘one who is attracted towards an immature federation’.

And then there are the terms for the pro-, anti- and converted: ‘europhiles, ‘europhobes’ and ‘euroverts’.

There are also words to describe different views on EU integration. Top of the positive word list are ‘eutopia’, ‘euphoria’ and ‘eunique’. The negative list includes ‘euch’ ‘euseless’, ‘eurohell’, ‘euphobic,’ and ‘euronate’. When it comes to economic matters top words are: ‘eurosclerosis’, ‘euroneurosis’, ‘eutrophication’ and ‘eurostress’.

Lastly, there are words and phrases related to euro concepts. There is the type of horrid English spoken in European political circles called ‘euroglish’, European pop culture is ‘eurotrash’, the so-called Islamification of Europe leads to ‘eurabia’, the increase of EU regulation is‘eurocreep’ and a derogatory word used to describe any bad place is ‘eurinal’.