With the introduction of the euro approaching, words like effect, influence, impact, significance, advantages and disadvantages, and implications are being used with increasing frequency. People’s choiceof these words gives away their attitude to this kind of change, first of all whether it is positive or negative.Talking about disadvantages is clearlynegative, and advantages equallypositive.

Effect (effects) is prettymuch neutral (but in speaking people show their attitude through their intonation). Significance is like importance, so it could be positive. Influence is more abstract, producing changes in people’s thinking. Implications are not as bad as complications, but could still be negative. Impact suggests strong, even violent contact, possibly with damaging results for less resilient people,so that sounds definitely negative. As for me, I suspect my trouser pockets will not be resilient enough to take the mass of coins we’re goingto have to carry around, and the old meaning of “purse” (mešec) will comeback into use.