Friday, 10th October 2008
TOUS ÇA CHANGE
All this change but everything remains the same. In fact, in certain areas, it’s getting worse.
Look at the European scene. The economy is going to the dogs, if the gloom-sayers are to be believed (and there doesn’t seem to be any reason not to believe them) and bigotry and intolerance are on the increase. 1920ish, anyone? Back then, from my sketchy grasp of history, within the context of crashing economic decline, Jew-baiting was the circus distracting the great unwashed from the fact that bread was getting expensive.
Now, a different ethnicity is being targeted, and the early signs of a lurch to the unacceptable right are there to be seen.
Austria, which has the unenviable distinction of being the birthplace of the most unacceptable thug of the right to infest the planet relatively recently, has gone in that direction and as belts tighten, the ineffectualness of the left will continue to look unattractive to voters everywhere, never mind that it is the abuse of the so-called “free market” that is taking us where we seem to be going.
As the feeling of well-being decreases, as the casualties of the financial incompetence displayed on both sides of the regulatory divide in the financial centres of the world begin to multiply, so does resentment increase.
Resentment manifests itself in much the same way all over the place, we’re all human. Governments, even if, like ours, they had little to do with the mess that’s been made (for all that people who like the sound of their own voice and think they know it all prattle differently) will feel the cold wind of blame wafting their way, and will hunker down to try to survive.
The bunker-mentality this will generate will, it is hoped, not spill over into bellicosity becoming the substitute for vigorous protection of the self-interest that lies at the heart of all policy, whether it is individual, corporate or national.
In other words, and I hope that my pessimism is a function of the fact that I’m writing this in the grey hours before dawn, having been listening to the financial news (isn’t all news financial at the moment?) let’s hope we haven’t forgotten the history of Europe, and the world’s, last 100 years or so.
Exaggerated? Perhaps. Manically depressive? Maybe. Totally out of the question? Not really.
Accepting fully that at this point I’m swerving wildly with the most tenuous of grasps on narrative continuity, this feeling of wonderment at how things don’t seem to change grows when I look at the Labour Party’s current situation.
According to the Lil’Elves (some day, I’ll work out where this marvellously convenient phrase had its genesis – I know it was forged in the white heat of comment, counter-comment and blog that powered the campaign during the last elections, but it would be interesting to pinpoint it) we’ve got a spanking new MLP, run by a whiz-kid who has reaped an earthquake.
Do you reap earthquakes? I don’t think so, and I suppose I’ll get mildly insulting emails and texts to tell me that I’m something that a certain garrulous lawyer sues for libel about, for using words in a manner that is not four square within the canon. When I coined, carelessly it has to be admitted, the descriptor of one of the weekly rags as “somewhat of a shrill”, I was told I was organically based, and spelt correctly to boot, unlike the way that lawyer’s supposed insult was spelt.
Is it possible to be a “shrill” and thus to be somewhat of a shrill? I have no idea and I’m not fagged to argue the toss – someone else can Google it to check. I tried Google to settle a sartorial point last week, and didn’t – can anyone help? Is it the right thing to do, to keep the flaps on your jacket pockets tucked in, or is not totally non-u to let them flap?
Back to that spanking new MLP, though.
From Doctor Alfred Sant, touted by his Baptists back in the day as the young technocrat poised to sweep Old Labour out on its less than tolerant backside, who managed to find a way for people to be grateful to him for stopping the thuggishness that was inherent in the MLP in the latter years of the twentieth century (gee thanks, AS, you stood up against illegality and bullying – seriously, thanks but that’s a bit like saying thank you to people for obeying the law) we’ve now got Doctor Joseph Muscat, a young technocrat poised to sweep old New Labour out on its more tolerant but equally incompetent backside.
The thing is, this sweeping out is being carried out in a moderately peculiar manner. Back on the scene is Toni Abela, for instance, who for many of us embodies the intellectual arm of Dom Mintoff’s latter-day Labour Party. To be fair, which columnists and bloggers needn’t be, Abela legged it when the MLP became even less acceptable in democratic circles than it was in the Seventies, but he can hardly claim to be a breath of fresh air in Muscat’s hurricane of change, can he?
On the other side of the bookshelf is Anglu Farrugia, who wasn’t part of the Labour Party before – he was a copper, he couldn’t be. But his way of doing politics doesn’t seem to have traits that are different from the way it was done then – in those days, electoral fortunes were lost by the MLP because of foreign interference, in Anglu’s era, the interference is home-grown. Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you, but in this case, there doesn’t seem to be an excuse.
One of the things that irritated so many of us back in the day was Labour’s foreign policy. Then it was more serious, because they ran the country so the friends they made, for better or for worse, were our friends too.
Now, it’s not that much of an issue that the first bunch to whom Muscat makes nice, aided and abetted by none other than Alex Sceberras Trigona, whose latter-day notions of foreign policy administration back in the Eighties didn’t exactly cover him in glory (maybe it was because he was only nominally in charge, to be fair) are our southern neighbours.
I’ve got nothing against the Libyan government since they’re making an effort to rehabilitate themselves, though I’d love it if they took some responsibility for their geographical location, but does it say much for Muscat’s grasp of the importance of perception that the first thing he did after anointment was to trot off to Libya?
And then to come back to remind us that it was Mintoff who made us buddy-buddy with Gaddafi, when both of them were – how to put this charitably? – not precisely at the cutting forefront of the fight for human rights and democracy?
Swerving a bit again, you know what really hasn’t changed, not even after the drubbing they took only months ago at the hands of Austin Gatt?
The arrogance of taxi-drivers, that’s what, to say nothing of their apparent utter failure to understand what makes their world go around.
In the same breath, last week, they told us that there isn’t enough business to sustain the 200-odd white taxis that are currently enjoying the benefits of what is viewed as being a cartel, while making it clear that they had vowed to defend their businesses to the death.
Excuse me? You’re not making a decent living but you’re prepared to fight about it? Huh?
Or would it be more truthful to say that you’re actually doing very nicely by doing very little in the small market that exists, thank you, and you’re worried that if someone with a bit of commercial sense comes in and expands the market by making taking a taxi the painless experience it is in, say, London or New York, you’re going to have to compete and work to give a service, as opposed to intimidate and take people for a figurative ride?
So, really, things don’t change, they just gyrate round the same tired old pole, with us, the punters, looking into the hypnotising eye of the raddled old dancers.
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I just read:
-The Origami Bank has folded
-The Sumo Bank has gone belly up
-The Bonsai Bank has decided to cut its branches.
- The Karaoke Bank is for sale and will go for a song
- while shares in the Kamikaze bank nose dived.
- The Samurai Bank is soldiering on
- while 500 staff at the Karate Bank are getting the chop.
There is something fishy going on at the Sushi Bank and staff fear they may get a raw deal
:)
No doubt but in the pub you will sing "Cym Rhonda"
When I was stationed at RAF St Athan in South Wales c 1951
I played rughy against the local teams
The worst treatment we got was from the local police team from Llantwit Major
that we RAF irreverntly called "Twit".
Similarly in Malta we referred to Siggiewi as Siggy Wiggy but on Googling
that name I found it was in use in the USA
I must recount the joke that I heard on the BBC this morning:
A Japanese firm growing bonsai is doing so well that it has moved
into smaller premises.
Peter
When I wrote Calcara in an earler posting I was using the Italianate spelling as used in the early thirties of the last century but the moderators updated it.. Similary I use Cottonera for your Kottonera and I believe the two brothers as Grandmasters spelt it Cotoner. By the tunnels I guess you are referring to the ones under the Cottonera Lines but I jib at your
Xaghjra that I have always known as Xghajra and that gets confused with Xaghra in Gozo.
Need I say more about the spelling of Maltese place names? I have probably got it wrong anyway.
Concerning the two official languages of Malta I. would point out that Maltese is also the national language.
We have a caravan at Conway in north Wales and hear Welsh being spoken but I have never heard my own native language of Kernow (Cornish) being spoken except on specialist programmes on the radio. I was born in the Cornish village of Landewednack that is the southern most parish of mainland Britain-in The Lizard that is England's Delimara - but I was taken to Malta at the age of one.
“I’ve got nothing against the Libyan government since they’re making an effort to rehabilitate themselves, though I’d love it if they took some responsibility for their geographical location, but does it say much for Muscat’s grasp of the importance of perception that the first thing he did after anointment was to trot off to Libya?”
EFA was anointed PN leader in 1977. Although I stand to be corrected but wasn’t his first grasp of the importance of perception also a visit to Gaddafi. Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose.
Amnesia= Not knowing where you’ve been
Anaesthesia= Not knowing where you are.
Magnesia= knowing well where you’re going.
Now please let’s get on with some serious blogging.....sorry, debate.
Great expectations, great singing, a sea of banners and stuff with dragons, daffodils and leeks specially when they're playing England. Win: You'll never hear the end of it! Lose: self-doubt, self-blame, blame the referee, the injuries, luck, the English, the weather .... but there's a haven, not far, not far at all, sometimes, to drown one's sorrow.... the pub, there,until lulled into oblivion...
Next morning: still depressed? Not at all! We only lost this time to England!
"Age does not bring wisdom but it may bring understanding"
Wise words indeed!
Perhaps you should/do understand God's wisdom in where he planted you....
like I keep telling my better half (who most certainly does not hail from the parts that you mention!) ..
of all the places in the world that He could have chosen for me to spend my early youth and learn many a craft that would serve me well in my later years, God could not have chosen a better place than Senglea and the Kottonera area.
What I affectionately term (to her) as "The Centre of the Universe" which starts from "the tunnels" and ends at Xaghjra....
:)
1) supposititious= imaginary/supposed
Cogniscance = Knowledge
"perhaps supposititious cognisance" = perhaps immaginary/supposed knowledge
2) waffle = Speech or writing that is vague, pretentious or evasive
garrulously = given to prosy, rambling, or tedious loquacity : pointlessly or annoyingly talkative
and "waffle garrulously" =...
3) an impartment = The act of imparting, or that which is imparted, communicated, or disclosed
poignant = Neat, skillful, and to the point,
Astute and pertinent; relevant
Agreeably intense or stimulating
Sharp
"impartment" become "poignant" .... see above
Of course, I'm sure many a dictionary will give other versions of interpretation: these are just some.
>Anyway, it's an honour to cross metaphoric swords with the new Shakespeare.
Do put it away! Someone might get hurt.......
It brought back some lovely memories of watching the Robins play at the Racecourse. (I could never undertsand why anyone would call a footall garouns a racecourse, but I guess that's better than nieghbouring Shrewsbury who call theirs "Gay Meadow".....
My best memories are: one winter the region was hit by an incredible flu bug and Wrexham had to play Porto at home. The bug was so bad that the only way they could get a squad together was for the manager to play (ex football player) ... AND one of the groundsman!!!
Porto came along with ELEVEN international players in their squad plus the rest.
You can immagine the mumurs going round for days before.
And you can immagine the noise when Wrexham BEAT THEM 1-0!!!!
The next match was against Roma (including Players like Falco no less )
Again you can immagine the turnout for that match... which we lost a respectable 3-1 if my memory serves me well.
"Some for instance lean towards showing their proported and perhaps supposititious cognisance of the English vernacular/glottogonics by scribling cacography, incomprehansibilities and sobriquets which are burlesque not only in their sardonic use but also in their disproportionablenistic conation to waffle garrulously whilst passing no poignant impartment. "
This is a wonderful sentence with a 'disproportionablenistc' word that would do credit to Ms Poppins. I'm trying hard not to pick any nits but what do "supposititious cognisance" and "waffle garrulously" mean? And how does an "impartment" become "poignant"?
Anyway, it's an honour to cross metaphoric swords with the new Shakespeare.
I was dancing at the then Vernon Club in Valletta (it is now the central bank of Malta ) when the rather prim young lady that I was partnering asked me to speak in Maltese and I made the effort but she said I was using Arabic and abandoned me on the dance floor!
I vowed then that I would never use Maltese again and I have not attempted it since. I bitterly regret that decision for it cut me off from much that is Malta.
Today in the twilight of my life I ruminate on my attitude to the Maltese language. Age does not bring wisdom but it may bring understanding and maybe my antipathy towards the Maltese language arises partly from my inability to use it.
Peter
“Yom Kippur means Day of Atonement not Day of Purity. The Maltese 'pur' is derived from the Italian 'puro' and is of semitic origin. That's why it has an Italian plural ('puri') while the semitic 'bir' (well) becomes 'bjar' rather than 'biri'”.
Travu-travi
Tir-Tiri
Torta-torti
Qaqucca,qaquctejn ,qaqoc.
Gizirana,gizirajjen,gizirani.
Tapit,twapet,tapiti.
Sayyara,sayyarten,sayyari.
Puro,puri
Uomo,uomini.
Maltese people, here, in the hinterland (!) are thin on the ground, as you very probably know. So, I and only by coincidence was asked if I would extend a welcome in Maltese, lill-Furjanizi (also to the Maltese High Commissioner and some of his staff who ventured this way)
A big privelege, too, it was, when on that Saturday afternoon, I read out, from the box , l-ismijiet tal-players Furjanizi.
I wonder what became of them, now, come to think of it!?
Absolutely agree re tolerance of various human foibles ...
Some for instance lean towards showing their proported and perhaps supposititious cognisance of the English vernacular/glottogonics by scribling cacography, incomprehansibilities and sobriquets which are burlesque not only in their sardonic use but also in their disproportionablenistic conation to waffle garrulously whilst passing no poignant impartment.
or , as more aptly put by better minds then mine:
"in promulgating their esoteric cogitations, or articulating their superficial sentimentalities and amicable, philosophical or psychological observations, beware of platitudinous ponderosity. Let their conversational communications possess a clarified conciseness, a compacted comprehensibleness, coalescent consistency, and a concatenated cogency. Eschew all conglomerations of flatulent garrulity, jejune babblement, and asinine affectations. "
Personally I prefer straight talk and relevant issues of today.
Then again I might think otherwise if I were paid enough to do so!
;)
I understand the importance of communication (and knowing foreign languages ), but I could never grasp why our constitution states that English is an official language of Malta.
About as crazy as the islands of Upolu and Savaii claiming the German a native language just because they were once part of its colonial empire.
Wales hey? Many a happy memory at Wrexhams footall ground on a wintry Saturday afternoon watching some great football! Still follow them to this day and get funny looks when asked "who do you support then? Liverpool? Chelsea? United? Aresnal?
"nope. Wrexham..." (!!)
Very big Grin!
Re (f) somethingelse :
Yes: bilinguilism - needing to use two "currencies" - English and Maltese with, sort of, equal deftness the one being our mother tongue, the other, we have to graft on the brain. Not fair! And let's face it: it makes us a bit insecure.
Mr Prictoe: yes bilinguilism, having to change mode, depending whom you're speaking to - same as here in this part of Wales. They're always talking about language or rather "the language" (yr iath) - So all of us lot seem to have language on the brain!
Ivan Grech Mintoff.
Re your comment about pedants: Correcting other people’s spelling and grammatical errors is childish however people do have a tendency to hit back when they are criticised and I do not exclude myself from that weakness.
Nevertheless a lot of people who are not ostentatious find it educational and interesting to debate and\or discuss etymology (the study of the origins of words or parts of words and how they have arrived at their current form and meaning)
Having stated that, it is also true that the subject borders on boredom to other people but there again not all topics interest all and sundry and therefore we deed be tolerant with each other.
And speaking of il-Bocca's headers (and I'm merely using them out of boredom and for a bit of fun, acknowledging il-Bocca's authorship thereof).....
I have a feeling that the message of "repetitive headers & repetitive content" will still not be well received.
Perhaps we're being a bit harsh.... but how else might there be a "MICRO/MACRO" chance of getting the message over albeit that this would mean that an old dog ("WOOF, GOOD PUPPY!") would have to learn new tricks.
I can see our simple message going "UP (in) THE SMOKE" and causing "PANIC PANIC" for which I make no "ABJECT APOLOGIES".
"YES, INDEED" it has all become so "PREDICTABLE” with no "COMPARE AND CONTRAST".
One might even say that Il-Bocca & the other Hearties have become mere "HAUNTING SPECTRE"s of their former selves.
"PITY THEM" in their “RELIGION (pn) MATTERS".
They need some "COOLING OFF" time in their "HUMAN TRAGEDY". "
To face new "CHALLENGES" and face up to today!
I hope all this does not put the "CATS (amongst the)... PIGEONS"
.. but just gets a simple message over.
:) :)
I welcome your return: you have much to contribute.
Irelevant as to whether we see eye to eye, I always felt it important to listen to all sides and then decide. The more the merrier.
To me, Yourwriting is very fair in content, not in any way malicious & certainly not pedantic!
So please ignore the 'silly' comments and treat them as such.
>I am a little intrigued by the Maltese obsession with language ....
Ah! Might I try to enlighten? It could be:
a) a mere way of trying to express superiority ( by exposing that your 'opponent' has made (shock, horror) a spelling mistake. You of course are seen as superior by pointing out such an error, thereby enjoying a fuzzy warm feeling that alas some people seem to need.
b) a tactic to avoid the meaning of what is being stated and side track into , meaningless (in the case of the facts being put forward) side shows.
c) a genuine interest in the english language's grammer...... ?
d) An intrinsic need to show that your 'opponent' (some are seen as such) has made a mistake
e) A mixture of any of the above...
f) somethingelse?
@Antoine Vella.
Atonement-penitence, compensation, penance, apology, reparation and recompense are acts to cleanse and purify the soul.
Yom Kippur (also known in English as the Day of Atonement) is called a Sabbath; the general customs for the Sabbath are in order. Yom Kippur is a fast day, so the late afternoon holiday meal is vital. The table is set with the best white linen and silver. Throughout the high holy days, white holds a special meaning as it symbolizes our hope for ‘purity’ and forgiveness. Hence the day to purity. Literarily translated to our tongue-‘Jum il- Pur (ifikazzjoni)
Zakiah means pure in Hebrew but in the Semitic Family it also means ‘Safi’ (Arabic for ‘pur’.)
Puro is derived from the Latin ‘purus’which predates the Arab influence in the Med. granted, perhaps you can tell us what convinced you that Latin didn’t influence the group of languages belonging to the Semites.
I rest my case. Amen, Ammen, Hekk ikun,ilham di Allah.
Re: [sic] - Ok...no problem ;)
Any etymological dictionary will tell you that the Italian word 'puro' comes directly from the Latin 'purus' which predates any Arab influence in the Mediterranean. Don't let your imagination get the better of you: I've already told you that 'kippur' means 'atonement' not 'purity'. I don't speak Hebrew but I know that the name Zakiah means 'pure' in that language and, as you can see, it has a totally different sound.
Semitic is a group of languages belonging to the Afro-Asiatic family and spoken in North Africa and Southwest Asia, including Hebrew, Arabic, Aramaic, Maltese, and Amharic.
My statement was that ‘pur’is derived from Semitic and I wasn’t categorical as to whether its Arabic or Hebrew based. The Arabic term for pure is the same as in Maltese-Safi but it is probable that the Hebrew term is ‘pur’ as also used by us. The Italian term ‘puro’may have also been influenced by Semitic for all we know. The Jews and the Arabs didn’t leave their mark on us only.
As regards "prodigal son" it is true that if I am critical of the Maltese for being thin-skinned and prickly then I should not take the hump myself for the odd barb. In fact these TOM blogs are remarkedly free from xenophobia as a rule.
I am a little intrigued by the Maltese obsession with language for surely no lingo has a more mixed origin than our English.
ABC makes the request "1920ish anyone?"
I am a son of that decade but consider the thirties worse. The Wall St Crash was indeed 1929 but I started school the next year and it wasn't only in Malta that kids went barefoot and hungr and then there was the British weather!
Britain does not have a climate - only weather.
"The Emigrants Commission said today that immigrant arrivals this year, for the first time, exceeded the local birth rate, something which had not taken place ANYWHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD."
Do you think we will go down in the Guinness book of world records as the most christian country in the world, or the most foolish country in the world?
@Kenneth Cassar (CORRECTION)
I would like to change this
"...or the one that said: 'positive discrimination is proper or just' ?"
with this : '...or the one that virtually said: 'positive discrimination is somewhat proper or just'
Thank you very much. I stand corrected! :)
@ Mary M
>Why hasn't anybody noticed (as yet) that Andrew surely meant "Plus ça change, plus c'est ....."?!
We did. and the answer is simple:
Because (as you well know, I'm sure ) that means:
"the more things change, the more they stay the same "
And we couldn't have that as the header for EVERY "Blog" (sic!) could we...?
Can you immagine the same header AND the same tick list... week in week out?!
:)
@ Peter
Apologies that instead of getting the prodigal son treatment you got the "tar-brush" treatment. All because of me.
Anyway THANKS for clarifying what you meant i.e. - all this change - i.e. "Tout ce changement".
Andrew, you have already made quite a few English mistakes in your articles and blog [ok, ok, you are the blogger and we the commentators, point taken!] and you have sometimes 'corrected' the good English of others, changing it to obvious bad English. And now you are bold enough to try your French. Pray, what does 'Tous ça change' mean? It seems to me that this is terrible French, but perhaps you can check again and correct the bad French. Do you mean 'Plus ça change' maybe?
@ABC. Mind your French 2
Andrew, 'Tous ça change' does not mean 'All this change' either! In fact it means nothing at all. I asked someone who knows French well. Don't you think you are digging yourself deeper, my friend?
@Andrew Borg-Cardona
The fact that you always finds sympathy with all the things Pappa Nerik writes, says and does should really worry you far, far far more than it worries us. In fact, it worries us not at all, though it should really worry your protégées. Andrew ‘too much of a good thing spoils it’ and you are certainly spoiling Pappa’s efforts to gain some credibility. You are being seen by some as a fifth-column in league with Labour.
‘ plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose’
‘The more that changes, the more it's the same thing’ is often shortened to ‘plus ça change’
ABC is correct. Mary if you mess with the best you’ll die like the rest and Andrew is The best. At least that’s what he thinks. lol
Unlike our second language, Maltese like the other Semitic group of languages,besides plural and singular we also have ‘dual’which is now very rarely used. ‘Bahrain’ may be used as an ezample for ‘dual’-Two Seas. The geographical position of Bahrain is between the Gulf of Bahrain on the side of the Atlantic Ocean and the Persian Gulf on the side of the Pacific. This means that Bahrain does not mean ‘Bahrin’( Seafarers)
Bahri= One sailor
Bahrin=Two sailors
Bahhara is the plural.
Bahar,bahrejn,ibhra.
Hobza,hbiztejn,hobz.
Bajda,battejn,bajd.
Ratal,ratlejn,irtal.
Wizna,wizintejn,wizniet.
Uqija,uqitejn,uqiji.
And to bring a smile- Nose=Minhar,minhrijiet ,minhra.’Mnieher’ is a misuse for nose as its actual meaning is ‘his\her nose’ ie ‘Mnieher it-Tork’
Peter P - the fact that you are finding sympathy with many things Grech Mintoff writes should worry you far, far more than it worries me. In fact, it worries me not at all, though it should still worry you.
You are all making a mountain out of a molehill.
Every day, 350 people, between the ages of 18 and 44, die in automobile accidents within the EU (according to the World Health Organization). These are all in the prime of life and leave behind not only their grieving families and friends, but also a job.
If all current immigrants, now in Malta, were to be allowed to travel to the mainland, no one would notice them.
In fact, if 75% of the Maltese workforce were to pack up tomorrow and fly over to the mainland, they would barely make up for the loss in car accidents during the last 9 months.
Anyone who asserts that immigrants from Africa are about to flood the EU is as credible as a flat-earther explaining the nature of the universe.
@Denis Catania
What is bizarre about your crusade against these unfortunate souls is the fact that you are a migrant yourself.
Why you want to bar others from seeking the same economic opportunities that you have sought -- and obviously found -- is mind-boggling.
@ABC
While your unequivocal stand in support of the human rights of the migrants is to be admired, the lack of proposing a solution is puzzling.
As things stand, the EU is nothing more than a mish-mash of overlapping treaties whose interpretation seems to favour those who are stronger.
Malta is, just like the rest of the member-states, a sovereign nation, and as such can grant citizenship to anyone without the prior approval of any other member-state.
Under The Treaty of Maastricht, a citizen of any member-state is, as a result, a citizen of the Union.
So, the question is, what is stopping Malta from granting citizenship to these unfortunate people in order for them to be able to move on?
"It is so mind numbing to read the same stuff, week in week out."
Have you considered not reading it? Perhaps you look forward to having your mind numbed, after all.
Regarding the similarities between Maltese and Hebrew there is something else I forgot to point out in my previous post.
Yom Kippur means Day of Atonement not Day of Purity. The Maltese 'pur' is derived from the Italian 'puro' and is of semitic origin. That's why it has an Italian plural ('puri') while the semitic 'bir' (well) becomes 'bjar' rather than 'biri'.
Everbyvody accepts that Maltese is derived from a semitic (that is, Arabic) dialect. Hebrew and Arabic have many words that are similar but Maltese is definitely derived from a north African Arabic dialect.
Ivan Grech Mintoff
The 'Saud' of Saudi Arabia refers to the name (we would call it the surname) of the ruling family and does not mean black (iswed)
Well if the "numbers" and the numerous sematic words, xemx, qamar, lejl, jum, ilma, nar, Tifhir, nanieh, bigilla, dawl, Bahrin (Bahrain), Qatar (Qatra), (Saudi) sewdi (iswed) , Magreb (Gharb) etc don't convince you...
How about Sliem, Shalom, Salam, Schlom (Aramaic)
"Sclom lejch Mariam"
"Is-Sliem ghalik, Maria"
etc etc
Yom Kippur probably translates to ‘Purity Day’or ‘The day to purify’If we were to translate that literarily to Maltese it would sound something like ‘Jum il Pur’. Any doubt about the Semitic roots in our Tongue?
I suppose the usual rag tag and bobtail will soon join in but it was good while it lasted despite your rather uninspiring pre-dawn thoughts.
Starts well (with relevant present topics) ... and ends up in the usual mire that you seem to be quite happy to roll in.
Please don't call this blogging.
Hardly! More like ticking away off the old well worn checklist... for the umpteenth time.
Try to improve your poor standard in this regard, Bocc.
It is so mind numbing to read the same stuff, week in week out.
You can do better than that, you know.
Hmmm...ok, so they do both in the Jewish ritual...perhaps that was why I was unsure which one was the case.
Thanks for the clarification ;)
If my memory serves me right, TWO goats are used in Jewish rutual (Today) of Yom Kippur (which I believe ended yesterday?).
One is "For the Lord" which has its throat slit & whose blood is sprinkled etc and the other is sent into the wilderness with the peoples' sin on its back... the scapegoat.
Yom (Jum?) Kippur is the last part of the Yamim (Jiem?) Noraimone & is meant to be very solemn , though, I'm told the Sukkot would be more in style with Bocca's culinary habits...
:)
When you read this http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20081010/local/immigrant-arrivals-exceed-local-birth-rate will you persist in calling people who are less than enamoured with immigration bigots?
I can see why you take such an uncompromising stand, for fear of a surge of racist sentiments.
However your, and other columnists', constant opprobium against anyone who so much as mentions the immigrant problem in a less than favourable light and putting him/her in the same basket with the few real racists, you are unwittingly strengthening their ranks.
We are facing a problem whose scale is unprecedented to any other country in the world.
We are being swamped. Their arrivals alone have exceeded the local birth rate. Let alone when one starts taking into account their birth rate a few more years down the line.
BTW, the term Lil' Elves was first used by Daphne CG sometime in Jan/Feb when she twigged to a concerted Gonzi bashing and Sant deification campaign through letters to the editorial by seemingly independent Joe Citizen types when in reality they were MLP Youth Forum or Pulse activists. The Malta Independent also carried an article on that opinion piece.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scapegoat
The term derives from an interesting history when primitive peoples, through ritual, used to "route" the evils of their population into an actual goat and then sacrifice that goat in the belief that the evils would die with the scapegoat. Of course, we know the outcome. The evils naturally did not go away with the death of the scapegoat.
The scapegoating of immigrants is only the latest of a long trend, commencing with that unlucky goat. But while the scapegoats vary in time, the outcome is always the same. The source of any problem with immigration is not to be found with the immigrants themselves. Scapegoating, apart from being unjust, is a futile exercise. Scapegoating blinds us to the real source of the problem.