It is suggested that an old Spanish slang word has nothing at all to do with Dutch pirates but instead adds weight to David Kleinecke’s generally discarded South American etymology of the word “pidgin”.
MG Cole writes from a farmstead on Bala Lake: I am disappointed that you, a Welshman, don’t publish more stories of interest to dope-crazed New Age pillocks and consumer goods purchasers like myself. Here then is an authentic photo of Hungarian stag-princess, Violant, on her way from the Lands of the Morning to her wedding…
If you’re coming to Barcelona in the summer you probably won’t want to do huge amounts of walking around town because the heat is exacerbated by air pollution and humidity. However, if you get out of town and climb a bit, the picture changes dramatically. There’s a difference of 10°C in mean July temperatures between…
In the course of a piece on the French economic wonder, the lifestyle des intermittents du spectacle, and (anti-)Americanism, Adam Gopnik writes that when “the country and its joys can be shut down by part-time trombonists …, something is wrong, or at least ridiculous.” Mr Gopnik underestimates the threat posed to global security by trombonists.…
Lie as they may, the truth is that all wind players share mouthpieces. So what’s your best risk mitigation strategy if you have to kiss a musician? Here’s some useful info: Potential risk of salivary-mediated viral hepatitis type B transmission from oral exposure to fomites. Osterholm MT, Max BJ, Hanson M, Polesky HF. Twelve grade…
Once upon a time Pere Quart (Joan Oliver to his friends) composed some often wickedly funny verses that were published with drawings by Xavier Nogués under the title Bestiari in Barcelona in 1937. His treatise on the camel and the dromedary is reminiscent of one by Ogden Nash that I blogged into melodious Catalan a…
I don’t see that selling a kidney is irreversible, and therefore worse than prostitution or working for the University of Manchester (normblog). Can’t you just purchase a new one when you’re better off and plug and play? Come to that, is there any limit to the number of kidneys you can have, either inside you…
Shop deliveries free on foot in Leeds LS1-8 & LS13 Dismiss
