Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations (1953): I contemplate a face, and then suddenly notice its likeness to another. I see that it has not changed; and yet I see it differently. I call this experience “noticing an aspect…” And I must distinguish between the ‘continuous seeing’ of an aspect and the ‘dawning’ of an aspect…. I…
Dictionaries source the Spanish word guay (current meaning: cool/super/excellent/smashing) back to an (Arab) cry, ay. This never makes any kind of sense to me, since the latter is used to signal woe, grief and all manner of misery. Where did the current guay come from, and how (if at all) did this reversal of meaning…
Transblawg posts re the adaptation of the language used in British novels for the American market and vice versa. This subject also occasionally exercises John of Iberian Notes (2003/10/17, for example), who thinks that it’s time we Brits started caring again about the eccentric pastimes of folk who were so very rude to us only…
Reuters is reporting that Philippine President, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, is using the APEC summit in Bangkok to pig herself on a favourite childhood delicacy: In May last year, Thailand used the fruit known as the “skunk of the orchards” to cement relations with Arroyo. Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra threw a special “durian buffet” for…
Transblawg has a translation of the Berlin police report of the capture of a Nigerian fraudster practising the famous 419 fraud. There’s now a growing industry of people pitching for readership by publishing (probably fictional) accounts of how they responded. The Raving Atheist is still my favourite: The Directors were immensely gratified that you are…
In May I posted a Dutch translation (1, 2) of an article by Vic prof, Manuel Llanas, describing the influence of German printers in Catalunya in the late C15th and early C16th. Technology transfer from Germany to Catalunya slowed subsequently, due less to religious and political rivalries than to the relatively slow progress of capitalism…
Something’s happening as a consequence of Wednesday’s missive from La Vanguardia’s ombudsman, Josep Maria Casasús re my original Rafael Ramos post, but I’m not sure exactly what: either they really are going after him, or they’re going to try to discredit me; given that they don’t seem to have done anything in three months, I…
Moving house, so orders may take longer until mid-February - mail me first if in doubt. Shop deliveries free on foot in Leeds LS1-8 & LS13. Dismiss
