Re the War of Jackson’s Sneer, Colin Davies notes the presence of trolls in Spain but suggests they have still not discovered the woods and grottoes of the Royal Academy. Not so: it’s just that the RAE, for reasons that are logical but probably doomed, calls them trol. If their behaviour is anything like that…
Code-swapping, rather than Gibraltar-Andalusian. This week’s instalment comments on the stateless national soap opera, maritime conflicts and confusions with Spain.
I think they mean tourist guides. (The link doesn’t take you to the English version, unfortunately, so you’ll have to look for it yourself. Globally speaking, Turisme de Vic’s has got to be one of the worst-built sites out there.)
Many thanks to Lenox Napier, who says this has been inflicted on businesses in Almería since at least the 1970s, and who notes the loving care with which fonts were matched when phone numbers changed from 6 to 9 digits.
It’s difficult to imagine a European medieval library where no one spoke Latin. The modern Biblioteca de Catalunya appears to be devoid of English speakers.
“The price for getting to Spain on a canoe has gone down. It used to cost almost £1000, but in 2006 went down to £450. Now it is possible to buy a passage for £350. It must be the only thing in Senegal which has gone down in price. A loaf of bread has gone…
Some Andalusians overheard this afternoon seemed to believe that Casa Milà was built as the municipal dogs’ home. Other famous landmarks–Parky Gay, Sangria Familia, Sangrada Familia, Passage Gracias–here.
There was a lot of it: Mirá, hay putas graciosas más que hermosas, y putas que son putas antes que mochachas, hay putas apasionadas, putas estregadas, afeitadas, putas esclarecidas, putas reputadas, reprobadas, hay putas mozárabes de Zocodover, putas carceveras: hay putas de cabo de ronda, putas ursianas, putas güelfas, gibelinas, putas injuinas, putas de rapalo…
Critique of John Pinkerton’s Modern geography (1807) in The Edinburgh Review: Or Critical Journal: The original is, ‘Hay en esta cuidad unas beatas que ganan su vida ensenando [sic] a hablar a los loros,’ — i.e. by teaching parrots to speak. Mr Pinkerton has probably seen hablar in the title-page of some spelling book, and…
This is the trailer (currently unsubtitled) for El infierno vasco, about the ethnic cleansing conducted by the nationalist government and the terrorists with a view to reducing the non-nationalist vote and thus achieving a pro-independence majority. The process, of which the latest episode is the removal of the constitutional right to use Spanish in schools,…