Another etymology of “Spain”

Re Cuniculandia, the Wikipedia Phoenicia article currently says that “the name Spain comes from the Phoenician word Sapan, which means ‘that which is hidden’.”

Expelled for school for using wrong alphabet

Another book I’d like to get hold of: Industrias y andanzas de Alfanhuí by (1951) Rafael Sánchez Ferlosio, apparently “the story of a boy who is kicked out of school for writing in an unintelligible alphabet.” It cannot possibly have been as bad as Rotor, but teachers were probably stricter then.

On yer bike

The polls are fine, but Blair secretly expects to lose: he now has an official spokes-man. (OK, so you’ve never heard of Norman Tebbit.)

Literary Spanglish

Yotro’s got some good Graves and something even better. Congratulations!

Pechelingues

Someone has picked up on my pechelingue post and introduced it into the Spanish Wikipedia (“la expresión inglish pichinglish”, March 2005). A link back would have been cool, as would a scientific health warning.

Mañana

Good one over at Normblog.

Rabbit rabbit

Emphatically not a rodent; possibly Herb Alpert’s true muse.

Lunching lads

Fine, but where’s the marketplace, and how long before it takes off in Spain?