Spanglish:
The Local believes these 10 English words have been not just taken
aboard by the Spanish but improved on:-
- Footing
- Parking
- Hacer Zapping
- Crack
- Gin-tonic
- Esmoquin
- Lifting
- El face
- El office
- Quiqui
You'll
have realised that 2 of these are not really English words.
Explanations here.
Spanish
tragedies: 1. The total of men/fools killed in bull-running this year
has risen to 13; 2. There were 7 people killed at a motor rally in
northern Spain last week, when a car left the road. I've often
wondered why this doesn't happen more often, given that spectators
stand so close to the tracks. There was an incident in Portugal a few
years back when a guy was hit and then flew through the air,
somersaulting 2 or 3 times. The Spanish media loves this sort of
stuff and the news channel I was watching felt it necessary to show
the incident 4 or 5 times in quick succession, to ensure we got every
nuance of the fatal tragedy.
British
singer, Paloma Faith, who has a Spanish father, recently performed in
Gibraltar. The audience was less than pleased when her first words
were: "Hola, España!". I hope she doesn't give up her day
job.
One
of the pluses of using a public hospital in the UK is that you
witness the whole range of British society - from the wealthy, thin
lefties who wouldn't be seen dead in a private hospital to the fat,
ugly, tattooed white trash that features on TV programs on benefit
fraud. I saw 2 males of the latter species when entering the Delivery
Ward last night, dressed in baseball caps, leery shirts and trousers
cut off at the calf. Them, not me. Anyway, I recalled I'd seen them a
few minutes earlier, getting out of a car parked in a bay which had a
sign saying, in large letters:- Reserved for Consultants on Emergency
Call-out. I thought they were strangely dressed for consultants and
wondered whether they were off on a fishing trip. But when I saw them
on the ward, I felt disgusted and angered at their loutish and
potentially dangerous behaviour. But then I realised the pair were
probably illiterate and couldn't read the sign. There surely can't be
any other explanation.
Incidentally,
parking charges at the hospital were over a quid an hour, with a
minimum of 3 quid. Happily, though, my son-in-law had been told of a
wheeze with which you could get the barrier to rise without paying.
So, I'd better not tell you which hospital it is. Unless you send
cash.
Finally
. . . According to one of the senior UK papers this morning, I'll
soon be able to avail myself of a "£10 urine test for rostate
cancer". As if I weren't worried enough about prostate cancer!
Finally,
finally . . . I can't resist showing you these fotos of me and my
first grandchild, Grace-Marie. I've been instructed to stop calling
her Peanut. Which was the pre-birth nickname of an un-sexed foetus. And quite acceptable back then, an eon ago.
Our
first kiss.
Me, testing the monkey-grip theory. It worked. But I refrained from lifting her up by one hand, as my daughter was watching.
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