The WSJ re the 2007 meeting: Mr. Loughner said he asked the lawmaker, “How do you know words mean anything?” recalled Mr. Montanaro. He said Mr. Loughner was “aggravated” when Ms. Giffords, after pausing for a couple of seconds, “responded to him in Spanish and moved on with the meeting.” So what got his goat?…
The Basque provinces demand observance of protected geographical status for their lousy wine, but Burgos fights back with a costly study centre project that will prove that they make lousy wine too. ¡Viva la crisis!
Over at Mr Harvey’s place, to whom and all a happy Christmas. One day I’ll explain how for certain folks “Vamos a comprar un pato” came to mean “Let’s get stoned out of our fricking tree,” but today is a day of joy, hope and peace, and so they may slumber on while I cook…
One of the more interesting developments at the guided tours business over the past few years has been an increase in the proportion of weird walks sold as younger customers have started using decent, cheap handheld-hosted apps to cover the basic “¡Look! ¡Ze catedral!” legacy (OK, zombie) guide territory. Real-time optical character recognition with machine…
Here, and just as the regional election campaign was getting underway. The state-financed separatist organisation, Òmnium Cultural, believes there is a plot, and is therefore mounting its own campaign to nobble Google Translate. (H/t Alex)
Studiolum over at the excellent Poemas del río Wang has dug up a German-Russian lexicon, published in 1942 by Mittler & Sohn for use by Germany’s armed forces, which introduces itself thus: The war has demonstrated the simplicity of the means with which the German soldier can make himself understood anywhere. The correct words, juxtaposed…
Programmes are rarely distributed at bullfights, and are never translated into English. There is an excellent reason for this, recounted over at La Aldea del Tauro in an interesting piece on the Taurine Bibliophiles of America (via Salmonetes no nos quedan): It’s said that while negotiating with Cagancho the possibility of him filming a movie…