From the The Hai-Lu (1783-1797), as quoted on this page on this excellent site, again via TdiT: Portugal (called Ta-hsi-yang, or Pu-luchi-shih ". . . has a climate colder than that of Fukien and Kwangtung. Her chief seaport [Lisbon] faces the south and is protected by two forts manned by 2000 soldiers and equipped with…
Good to see civic leaders lining up to praise local rag, La Vanguardia, on its 125th, particularly since the former have just pushed through a crackdown on prostitution, while the latter derives a substantial proportion of its revenues from prostitution- and sex-related advertising and services.
OK, Jordanian Starbucks customers (via Taccuino di Traduzione). More on Arabizi and language death from Jordanian blogger Lina. I know an Itsi-Bitsi-Teeny-Weeny-Honolulu-Strandbikini bit about East African Arabic creoles, but this is new to me. I guess that there must have also existed Romance-Arabic creoles at some stage (Mozarabic was, of course, not one), but I’m…
Someone told me the other night that Joan Maragall’s little jingle is metaphorically cunnilingual, but I’m afraid I’ve forgotten the explanation. I guess you could make a case for lines 1-4:
The other day I was having a beer with Simon Hughes when he suddenly said, “Trevor, I want you to know that I’m gay,” and then tried to cover it up by asking the barman for yet another Freudian Pils. (Thanks Paul. Furt is appearing April 3rd in Norwich and April 22nd in Leeds.)
I went through a phase in which I agreed (although slightly less volubly) with R Hughes re R Rauschenberg, but then I found WS Burroughs playing with similar ideas with more aggression and originality (although with less skill) and I changed sides. Further, Rauschenberg couldn’t write, while Burroughs’ Tangier stuff is better even than that…
I’d like to see Guus Hiddink take over England asap, but then I was supporting Mark Oaten (go on, get me one for my birthday!) to run the Lib Dems until he started chasing the England job, leaving Boris Johnson as the LDs’ only potentially electable leader. (Apparently the Koreans gave Guus a villa on…