Creating gender-neutral Catalan

Teresa Amat has uncovered an extraordinary document (PDF) produced by the Catalan language police and the Catalan Women’s Institute (which, unlike its British namesake, does not make jam). Its slightly puzzling premise is that language is a mirror of society, and by changing the mirror we can change society, and its creators believe that their…

Planet France

The French are going to reject the Euroconstitution, and for some reason this is worrying some Brits. There’s some interesting anthropology in this post by Jon Henley, and here‘s a contrasting piece from a couple of years ago. (There’s a much more exciting effort from Boris Johnston here (free reg), which includes the following: The…

Barcelona anarchist bought Chelsea flat with proceeds of 1936 war crimes

I haven’t seen Entre el roig i el negre (“Between red and black”) yet, but hope to soon. It’s the diary, apparently genuine, of one of the anarcho-syndicalist gunmen who, when war broke out in July 1936, set out to exterminate the clergy and the Catalan upper middle class, virtually none of whom had anything…

Gossips

The mayor of Icononzo, Colombia says (via Puerta del Sol) that he’s more frightened of gossip than of guerrillas or paramilitaries and has acquired powers to fine tabbies almost four million pesos (that’s roughly 4,100 Belarussian roubles). However, gossips aren’t only dangerous in war zones: A large part of our middle class not only lives…