One pragmatic reason for creating and disseminating a standard language is to increase the political punch of speakers. Still, it’s going to be a while before Aragonese (English .doc here) overtakes Turkish. (I haven’t got time to check it, but I’ll bet the Turkish claim is flawed.)
“Spain (from the Latin term for Ass Pain) is a small, mountainous country in southern Yurp ruled by a gigantic animated marble statue of Generalissimo Francisco Franco and populated by dwarves, halflings and tunos.”/ “Polaquia is currently ruled by a moustache called Carod Rovira, with support from Pasqual Maragall and Malonda, the town drunk.” Check…
I know it’s banned in English, but it seems perfectly natural to me, just as natural as wetting one’s whistle: if it don’t rain it won’t grow, and the road to the kebab shop is awash with Blairite pub extensions. Gordonio, a medical treatise published in 1495, is against drinking between meals but recommends they…
I was just curious why only the occasional guy has stuff in Spanish, and the FAQs don’t explain. I guess it’s about speaking to victims’ families, officialdom and soon-to-be ex-colleagues, most of whom will be English-speaking. Sometimes the English is so strange (“somebody find Void”, “Into your hands Oh Lord, I commence my spirit”) that…
In I always get my sin, a new book by ex-Heineken boss, Maarten Rijkens (via Onze Taal) . Natashka over at Dunglish.nl has more. Is Dunglish funnier than Spanglish because Dutch and English are so close or because Dutch speakers are happier on thin ice?
Des von Bladet links to the story of Anna and Ulf Ström, who have cycled all the way from sunny Sweden to snappy Spain and say that poor Spanish road-planning has sometimes forced them to cycle on motorways. Contractors are actually obliged to build service roads along at least one side of motorways if there…
Giving stuff away to illegals as a commercial gimmick is a terrible thing to do. When I meet illegals crossing from France, I ask them whether they’ve got cash and want to go to a bar, and if the answer’s no I push them into a ravine. It’s the capitalist way, and they’ve got to…
Litus posted a little mood piece a year ago on his blog. Antoni Ibàñez / TdQ, “writer”, who’s on Litus blogroll, copied it, published it in a book, and went round reciting it and telling the world how happy he was with his prize (everyone gets prizes here). The fragment has disappeared from his site…
Mouse Hunter has another useful neologism: tun, as in “stay tunned”. It refers to the large casks used to hold beverages and is the alcoholic sibling of “stay cool”. (I don’t know what getting tunned is like in Tunisia, but the last time I tried it that side of the water I didn’t get any…