The Spanish word
discusión doesn't mean 'discussion' but 'argument'. Which probably
appropriate, given the way things are commonly discussed. Loudly and
simultaneously. It doesn't take long for Spanish opponents to get ad hominem. And you quickly learn as a foreigner that, firstly, you
don't have a right to participate as you're not Spanish and,
secondly, the best thing you could do is to go back to your own
country and criticise issues there. It's almost as if Spaniards were
natural trolls even before the internet came along.
Having just insulted
(some) Spaniards, I'm making amends by citing this list from The
Local of the 10 things you shouldn't say to a Spaniard.
I don't think it was
long ago that the Spanish government was crowing about higher
forecasts for economic growth this year. But the EU Commission has
now sprinkled cold water on this parade. We face years of pain, it
says, having substantially reduced its previous forecasts.
By the way - The
Russian RT TV channel attributes the EU's woes to the slowdown
produced by the sanctions on Russia. The other point they laughably stressed this morning is that a free media is essential. Not the one used
by the (US) government to snoop on you.
If you read the Reuters
article yesterday, you'll know that the Spanish commercio-political
nexus is universally referred to as la casta. Or 'the caste.' The
(very) privileged few. Many with connections going back to the Franco
era and beyond. And displaying the nepotism and croneyism for which,
sadly, Spain is justifiably famous. Will Pablo Iglesias and Podemos
clean out the Augean stables? I fear not. So, who or what will?
Dunno. The EU? I rather doubt it. I mean, it's not as if the
institution's dubious accounts have been auditor-approved for almost
20 years now.
In bribe-ridden
countries, politicians are are said to be suffering from a form of
desert disease - sticky palms. This is a reference, of course to the
custom of taking, in the case of Spain, 2 or 3% off the top of each
contract 'adjudicated' by the national, regional or local
governments. Of these, the possibly pointless regional governments
are said to be the worse. Our local government is not thought to be
corrupt but the reason for this, a friend claims, is that the mayor
is too stupid to be corrupt. Which I'm sure is not true.
A few days before it's
scheduled to take place, on Sunday next, Spain's Constitutional Court
- again acting with unusual speed - has declared illegal Cataluña's
planned vote on secession. Even if it's informal and non-binding.
Notably, though, it hasn't warned the Catalan President that he'll be
keel-hauled, if it does take place. As it surely will. So, what
happens then? I don't think anyone has any idea but I hope the
Spanish President has a Plan B, involving Devolution Max. His Plan A
("You will not do anything!") has been a comprehensive failure. Some
say the Catalan President will be arrested for the crime of civil
disobedience. And there are reports that armoured cars are being sent
to the North East but I don't believe either of these.
The slow death of
religion in the West has produced, they say, a moral vacuum in which
a child is likely to tell an adult "That's just your view",
if given any moral guidance. So, there's talk of putting Morality in
the school curriculum. Spain has already tried this with the subject
of Citizenship and Human Rights. This was introduced by the last
left-of-centre PSOE government in 2007 but has since been modified by
the current right-of-centre PP party. Thus neatly demonstrating the
problem of teaching Morality in schools.
Talking of political
parties . . . The Spanish branch of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party
has been registered here in Spain. At the moment it doesn't have
either a website nor a public program. But it does have a Twitter
account. Such are the times.
Finally . . . Dipping
into Chaucer yesterday - as you do - I found that the word for a
cheek-pillow back then was 'wonger'. Shame we lost it. I also
discovered that the past participle of 'glide' used to be 'glood'.
Which is rather nice. Better than 'glided'. Of course, past
participles can be a challenge in English. British and American
versions differ at times, for example 'to spit' (spat, spit), 'to
get' (got, gotten) and 'to fit' (fitted, fit). Such fun.
No comments:
Post a Comment