Il-fer tat-tediber
Is Labour councillor Keith Darmanin around, with one of those nice syringes?
My sister has just sent me a text message from the homework battlefields:
Today’s Maltese homework includes the words ‘il-fer tat-tediber’ in a work-book. I crossed them out and wrote ‘il-pil tat-teddy-bear’, in ink.
I don’t remember my sons having to deal with all this nonsense. Has there been a fundamentalist resurgence over the last 10 years? But surely that’s not right. Fundamentalists would insist on having the words spelled properly in the original language, and a ‘Maltese’ word used when it exists.
Linguistic fundamentalists would have it as ‘il-pil tat-teddy-bear’. Neo-morons would insist on ‘il-fer tat-tediber.’
Are we surprised at Maltastar and the elves? I assume they didn’t have parents capable of standing up to the teachers, crossing out this rubbish and writing it down properly for their children’s benefit.
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It’s a matter of “The blind ” leading “The blind” regarding the elves!
Daphne – thank you very much for the time you spend to keep this blog alive – the articles and commentaries are an education in themselves.
Ghax ilsienhom ma jdurilhomx biex jghidu ‘il-pil tat-tediber’. Barra min hekk il-fer tat-tediber’ tirrajmja ahjar!
And in most schools as well, it would seem. It is one big hell of a way to ensure that Maltese as a language, written and spoken, will be dumped by the upcoming generation.
Pitiful. This is one of my pet hates too. I read a good one this week I’d not seen before: ‘Jiena mhux hazin esaġġ’
It took me a minute to realize the writer meant ‘as such’ which made me giggle, but the real killer is that I’m pretty sure she actually thought she was using a bona fide Maltese word.
So that’s what ‘esagg’ means! I found it in the transcript of a statement I’d made to the police, and went over it several times without working out what it meant. But that’s probably because I never say ‘as such’, so the interrogating officer must have paraphrased.
What about ors it-teddy?
Was it Tedibojz in the sixties?
I know you’re not, but don’t blame the books for this. Our (publishers’) job is to publish books following the existing Maltese regulations. It’s just like having a law we don’t necessarily like – while it’s there it should be followed. Protested against, perhaps, but followed.
Why should it be followed? To learn how to speak, write and spell badly and make no sense at all in any language we try to speak?
That all depends on who lays down the regulations. If they are written by somebody who has a terrible accent and insists on phonetic spelling according to that accent, then that is the wrong attitude – hence words like ‘fer’ (incorrectly pronounced ‘fur’, naturally) worming their way into Maltese.
il-pil tat-teddy-ors
“This is not of my hand”
I just want to point out that the issue is not about standing up to the teachers. Most teachers are as appalled with these changes as you are.
So why don’t they kick up an almighty fuss and refuse to teach the wrong thing?
Can you imagine a maths teacher ever getting away with teaching children that 1 and 1 do not add up to 2?
They do kick up a fuss but it does not get them anywhere. Unfortunately teachers are considered to be on the bottom rung of the ladder of education. As ridiculous as it sounds, teachers actually have very little say in what they are teaching.
Since you mentioned maths teachers, there are some very strange things going on in the maths curriculum too.
I agree. “Standing up to the teacher/s” has absolutely nothing to do with it in my case, because it is all to do with the textbook, not with the teacher/s, who do a wonderful job.
I can’t imagine how I would deal with it were I in their shoes, because it would be very hard to pass on something which I do not believe in myself.
It is bad enough trying to explain to my own children why I sometimes correct the books in that way. I would really have to restrain myself from doing so had I been a teacher.
il-ginger, how about il-pil ta’ Teddy l-ors?
Makes more sense this way, I guess.
F’ax il-vulkan.
http://www.maltastar.com/pages/r1/ms10dart.asp?a=8469
Sabiha wisq l-ipokrizija. Hallina min-nejk. Jitkellmu mod u jaghmlu mod iehor u xorta l-pappa diehla.
Xi trid iktar mill-hajja? Nahseb AHNA c-cwiec, mhux huma.
AHNA li nikkummentaw fuq il-blogs u nahsbu li ghandna xi idejali grandjuzi x’naqsmu mad-dinja, meta fil- fatt NAFU SEW li kapaci nkunu ipokriti daqshom jekk mhux iktar minnhom jekk l-opportunita’ adegwata tipprezenta lila nfisha.
U zgur li tat-Torca ha jiktbu suppliment fuq il-Papa! Qed tiskantaw? Imbaghad go Malta, fejn kull fejn iddur issib knisja jew kappella jew salib quddiem wiccek!
Jahasra l-ahwa, ‘l ghala ma tirrejalizzawx li l-UNIKA mod kif tkampa f’pajjiz Gakbin bhal taghna huwa li tikkultiva hafna ucuh: wiehed lejn il-hbieb, iehor lejn id-datur tax-xoghol tieghek, iehor lejn l-interess sesswali tieghek, u iehor lejk innifsek (jekk tiflah tkun daqstant sadist)?
Dan pajjiz ippopulat b’nies loski, makkakki (f’sens annimalesk, mhux intellettwali), u imbruljuni. Nies, cioe’, li tghallmu tajjeb li l-onesta qatt m’hi se tghamlek kuntent jew sinjur, u illi bhala principju jaqbillek hafna tibni l-parenza tar-religjozita’. B’hekk tinganna ahjar, ghax dejjem tista tinheba wara s-superstizzjoni u wara l-biza li tigi mmarkat bhala apostata.
Marketing, PR, u Lobby Advocacy Legislation: dawn huma kollha sononimi ghall- ipokrizija, u kollha qeghdin jigu mghallma fl-universatijiet. Hemm bzonn immorru pass il-QUDDIEM u nibdew nghallmu l-ipokrizija nnfisha fl-istat indigenu taghha: cioe’, kif tigdeb bit-tbissima, kif tinganna b’mod konvincenti, kif dejjem thares l-interessi tieghek a skaptu ta’ haddiehor, u kif tizviluppa memorja ghall- gideb. Dan kollu b’mod xjentifiku u mizurat ghall- beneficcji socjali li jista joffri.
Manifesto ghall-partit politiku gdid, forsi? Min jaf?
Bilfors trid tikkultiva hafna ucuh. Meta tkun il-habs tikkultiva image ta’ hard-as-nails bastard, imbaghad fil-kwiet tac-cella tieghek tpingi l-fjuri u tikteb il-poeziji u thares imxennaq lejn dik ir-roqgha sema fit-tieqa. Dak l-uniku mod kif tista’ tkampa f’daz-zikk ta’ pajjiz. Tghix imdejjaq imma ghallinqas tghix.
The mispronunciation which tops the charts must be ‘bowl.
Gej bawlink il-lejla?
Haddt bawl cornflakes ghall-brejkfast.
The coincidence of bowl sounding much alike ‘bewl’ in Maltese has made us (or should I say them), change the way of pronouncing it correctly.
Bewl and bowl do not sound alike any more than dug and dog do.
Bear in mind that in some Maltese areas, ‘bewl’ is pronounced ‘bowl’ …
Dug and dog do sound the same in Scotland (ie “I took my dug for a walk” not “I dog the garden”)
Vejz/vase fall into the same category of mis-pronounced words.
U baydeewey, nahseb li l-ispronunzja fonetika ta’ dal-kliem hija non-issue. Qeghdin tinhlew fuq ix-xejn. Jekk ha tokkupaw ruhkom b’xi haga, ahjar tikkunsidraw kif il- vokabularju taghna qed jeckien u jiftaqar, u illi dan jirrefletti poverta’ mentali tal- ewwel ordni… nies li mhux biss ma jafux jiktbu tajjeb, izda illi huwa impossibbli ghalihom jiktbu tajjeb ghax m’ghandhom XEJN fuq xiex jiktbu.
I am not a linguistic fundmentalist but I do get very irritated listening to the garbage Maltese on radio. It’s worse when it comes to English. A word used quite often is ‘entratura’ for entrance when the correct word should be ‘dhul’.
@ Karlu
I don’t agree that honesty will not make you rich. There are wealthy persons who have stuck to the right values and have an honest work ethic. Altrimenti, these kliem bil-Maltinglish ihawdun.
BS, habib. Plain dealing is a jewel, but those who practice it die paupers. How’s that for a sublime contradiction?
Please don’t remind me fish bawl. My pet hates are bawl, krissmiss fader and air-condition.
[Daphne – Drajv-in.]
Jew “woxing-maxin”.
Ma nifhimx kif dawn in-nies suppost jifhmu fil-lingwa u suppost jirfinawha.
Terga’, ma jghinx fit-taghlim ta’ l-Ingliz. Il-hoss ta’ “th” u “d” mhux l-istess, u “air condition” ma tezistix.
and rovelver
excuse me.. it’s ‘lovelver’
pirmli
denfil
sliper
What’s wrong with Id-Denfil?
Delfin
…and petlor
What about mowbajl?
“Mowbajl” is actually a “Maltese” word which has wormed its way into school books.
Please don’t get me started on the subject – then there are:
xawer
pokit (for pencil-case)
flett (flat/apartment)
kuxin
vann
trakk
wajer (plural: wajers)
tajer (plural: tajers)
kuker (plural: kukers)
frigg
kompjuter
fajl
emejl
maws (tal-kompjuter)
What’s the plural of frigg? frigiz?
It’s imajl, not emajl, according to my phone bill.
All the Maltese mechanics I’ve dealt with referred to shock absorbers as “xikapsovers”; so they’ll feel at home.
I heard that email could be refered to as ‘ittra e’ in Maltese. ‘Kuxin’ doesn’t exist – the word is ‘mhadda’. ‘Tajer’ would be ‘rota’.
The funny thing is that the plural of ‘wajer’ is ‘wajers’. Since when do we use the addition of an ‘s’ for Maltese plurals? So first we insist on writing ‘wire’ as ‘wajer’ in Maltese then we use English grammar rules to conjugate the plural. Simply unbelievable!
I don’t agree with spelling English words in a Maltese way. It doesn’t make sense at all and I think that this brings with it too many complications.
When I’m writing in Maltese, my rule of thumb is to write all English words in English but within inverted commas. The inverted commas show that those particular words are spelled using different grammar than the rest of the text. It has to be accepted that English makes up a substantial chunk of commonly used Maltese.
I’ve heard the cleaner call it a “Mobajz”
L-Akkademja tal-Malti ghadha tezisti jew saret bhat-tlett xadini? Allahares ghadu haj is-Sur Muscat (l-ghalliem tieghi tal-Malti) ghax kieku ma tantx idum ma jtih attakk tal-qalb.
What about TELEFOWN written on XARABANK this evening? Such a posh pronunciation it gives to the word too!
Hilarious.
Xi dwejjaq, ergajna bid-dibattitu sempiternu fuq il-lingwa. Din wahda kontra Strickland, Daphne. Kieku ma kienx daqshekk terrorizzat mill-possibilità li nsiru kollha Taljanizzati, forsi ma kienitx tigih l-idea li l-Malti jaghtih statut ta’ lingwa miktuba bir-regoli taghha.