Divine drop

Off-location, but too exquisitely grisly to omit: In September, when the 13th of 27 condemned men was hanged, the rope snapped and the prisoner landed on the floor and shouted: “God saved me!” He lay on the ground praying and shouting while prison guards and the hangman discussed whether there had been divine intervention and…

Immigrant working conditions

Re this: I met some Senegalese olive pickers in Jaén two winters ago living in disused pigsties next to a marvellous ranch. We didn’t discuss religion.

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…

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.)

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.

Nicked

Barcepundit has caught Julio Valdeón Blanco in El Mundo plagiarising Julie Bosman in the NY Times. Julio’s narrative style is characterised by his brilliant use of language, unless it was he who wrote his Wikipedia profile. (PS Whatever happened to Rafael Ramos? Nothing, of course!)