A sulky is a Russian dog

The hilarious case (via Malaprensa) of Pedro J Soriano, Alicante policeman, trade unionist, and columnist for Las Provincias in Valencia, who plagiarised an article published on Orsai by Hernán Casciari without having the faintest as to what it meant, and who, when interviewed alla Ali G by Casciari (check the magnificent recording), said the equivalent…

Denominación de origen 4-lane highway

The excellent Catavino is upset that the authorities want to tarmac over 100 hectares of vineyards in the Duero. I’m a bit more blasé: the Spanish only buy their own product because the Chinese don’t make it cheaper, and I cherish little hope for green open spaces in a country where the most popular form…

How to flavour your cake with shashlyk for free

This Nasreddin Hodja story (via Ray Girvan) reminds me of the custom in at least one particularly poor part of England in the early 20th century of having the man in the cornershop slice one’s bread with the ham knife in order to add taste.

Error squared

Regret the error includes an item from the Denver Post: Because of an editor’s error, a sentence on page 8D on Tuesday in a story about Rockies prospect Hector Gomez buying a bus was changed from “On the back he put ‘Los Peloteros’ which in Spanish means ‘The Ballplayers'” to “he put ‘Los Plotters’ which…

Camel trammel

RMF over at Fum i estalzí has the lowdown, with before and after pics, on the death of a camel (or is it a dromedary?) at Ataturk International Airport. Grey Wolf would not have been chuffed. (More on Google in English.)

Charles Nodier on marginal languages

Nodier was a distinguished bibliophile and member of the Académie Française who ran the library at the Parisian Arsenal, which, according to Musset, was where romanticism set up shop. (Émile de Girardin says in Mme de Girardin that Hugo, like everyone else, fell in love with Mrs and called her Notre-Dame de l’Arsenal.) His novel…

Spanish spelling reform

“Eñe rrepresenta balore ma elebao de tradision ispanika y primero kaeremo mueto ante ke asetar bejasione a simbolo ke a sio korason bibifikante de istoria epañola unibersa,” and so forth, via JPQ, and without apologies to whoever wrote what may be the original.