When did you born? Birth, agency and Whorfian politicology

Wine-buff Víctor de la Serna (via Carlos Ferrero) has nailed Domecq Bodegas for an amusing slip on the otherwise impeccable site, “When did you born?” I haven’t really looked for literary or scientific evidence, and I’m pretty ignorant of non-me dialectal forms, but I’d hazard that this form is actually quite common among some groups…

Discover the fascinating world of blondes!

Is one of the slogans on this package of Schwarzkopf & Henkel (Black-head & Bomber) Professional Quality Nordic Blonde highlight potion: Lowlights are cheaper and possibly less dangerous. The Scandinavians seem to have deserted the peculiarly unappetising Gimnasio Nórdico in a rain gulley in Horta near the Casa Regional de Navarra, or whatever it’s called:…

Blonde virgins

Last week I snapped a Scandinavian blonde Maria in Vilafranca del Penedès. Joan Amades (El pessebre (1959)) tells us that, in Catalan nativity scenes, the Mother of God was always represented by a young, very white girl with hyper-perfect features, and that her whiteness is both traditional and proverbial (“white as a Mother of God”).…

Yet another (2D) pessebre

In Plaça Jaume I in Vilafranca del Penedès, with the Three Kings creeping up on a haute blonde Mary: