I thoroughly approve of British attempts to imitate Spain and introduce round the clock drinking. Maybe it will encourage the drongos who were singing outside my window at 5 this morning will stay at home next year.
For reasons still unclear, MM has been investigating Chinese punishment and bondage gear. Ah, if I had but the spondoolicks… (The first person I heard using “spondoolicks” was a well-off British public (that is to say, private) schoolboy whose Cockneyisms have brought him fortune and a certain degree of fame. Ach well!)
In a piece here Amina Talhimet observes that in order to make it in southern Europe, it is no longer enough for African emigrants to be odd-job men. That’s true to a certain extent, but sometimes the skills that enable the boat people to earn a living here are obtained on the road. There’s a…
Why’s there no Spanish expression for silly season / big gooseberry time / komkommertijd (nl: cucumber time) / Sauregurkenzeit (de: gherkin time) / morte-saison (fr: dead season) / nyhetstorka (sv: news drought) etc? Do the Spanish press and their readers really think important stuff is getting published in August (or the rest of the year,…