Brilliant
The new word over in the grotto is ‘brilliant’. The elf-masters must have printed it out in 30-pt and tacked it to the grotto-walls. All over the internet, the elves are churning it out. Joseph Muscat is brilliant. His speech was brilliant. He made a brilliant move. What a brilliant new leader the Labour Party has (yup, he’s still ‘new’). Labour has a brilliant future. Just take a quick look beneath the story ‘Opposition demands Fenech’s resignation, tells PM to ‘forget pairing’ ‘ on timesofmalta.com.
When the elves first came to prominence around this time last year, in the thick of an election campaign, their mandated words were ‘tollerant’, ‘intollerant’, ‘tollerance’ and ‘intollerance’. Fortunately, brilliant will present no such problems to the linguistically challenged inhabitants of Kurt Farrugia’s grotto (from Maltastar.com editor to the party’s director of communications, and still without a crash course in English as a foreign language). Brilliant, in Maltese as in English, has two ls, so there is no room for confusion as with ‘intolleranti’.
Now before I dash off to the Bata Shoe Museum (I’m back in Toronto) I just have to ask this question after seeing a photograph of those two clod-hopping clowns Anglu Farrugia and Toni Abela gazing in awe at il-mexxej while sandwiched between the legend ‘Partit Laburista – Direzzjoni Success’ emblazoned TWICE – on the backdrop and on the podium.
Why is the Labour Party fixated on success for the party rather than success for the country?
No onlooker can be left in any doubt at all that Direzzjoni Success refers to the Labour Party and not to Malta. And that, to my mind, pretty much sums up the difference between Labour and the Nationalist Party. The one is obsessed with success for the party and the other with success for the country – and that is why it has been so successful itself.
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In truth, today’s speech was a masterclass of pompous and vacant rhetoric. Muscat speaks (read ‘sermonizes’) like a Californian lifestyle coach – doesn’t look like one though. Pathetic.
The fact that you had to rush out and instantly put Muscat down even though you’re in Toronto (who cares), shows that the whole lot of you are deeply worried by his brilliant speech. For that is what it was – simply BRILLIANT!
[Daphne – Can you hear me clearing my throat all the way across the Atlantic? I don’t imagine you’d care where I am, Gerald, but the elves might – I don’t want them making asses of themselves gossiping about how I post stuff on my blog at 3am. I thought I’d be kind and considerate and let them know that just occasionally, I might be in another time zone.]
sorry ta ghax nahseb ma smajtux l istess joseph li smajt jien dalghodu.
1. Anqas taxxi
Ghandhom jitnaqqsu t-taxxi fuq ix-xoghol. jitnaqqsu t-taxxi fuq min jinvesti. jitnaqqsu t-taxxi fuq il-familji. Meta lejn l-ahhar tat-tmenijiet u bidu tad-disghinijiet dan beda jsir mill-gvern ta’ dak iz-zmien, dan kien tajjeb u issa huwa z-zmien li nergghu naghmlu dan. Din hija l-unika ghodda finanzjarja f’idejna bhala pajjiz biex nghinu l-familji u wasal iz-zmien li nuzawha.
2. Aktar investiment produttiv
Ghandu jsir investiment ghaqli li jzid ix-xoghol u li jinvolvi lill-privat mal-Gvern, anki permezz ta’ tipi godda ta’ finanzjamenti u incentivi.
3. Investiment fir-ricerka
Ghandna ninvestu flusna mhux f’hofra fi pjazza izda biex ikollna aktar nies kwalifikati u specjalisti. Nimmiraw li jkollna aktar studenti jafu jiktbu u jaqraw, aktar studenti b’ hiliet teknici, aktar studenti li jkomplu jistudjaw wara l-Universita’ u li jsiru targets specifici biex ikollna anke persuni li jkomplu jistudjaw wara li jkunu ghamlu dottorat.
4. Investiment fil-potenzjal tan-nisa
Dan huwa rizors kbir ta’ pajjizna li ghadu mhux qed jinghata l-ispazju li jisthoqqlu biex johloq il-gid ekonomiku li jista’ johloq.
Mhemmx l-istrutturi necessarji biex nghinu lin-nisa jilliberaw lilhom infushom halli jahdmu. Nistghu nilliberaw dan il-potenzjal permezz ta’ politika konkreta favur il-familja li tghin lin-nisa biex jesprimu l-potenzjal kollu taghhom.
5. Investiment fil-familji
Irridu nnehhu minn mohh il-familji l-godda li ma jaqbillekx jew ma taffordjax li jkollok it-tfal. It-tfal huma l-potenzjal ta’ Malta Gdida. U b’hekk irridu naghtu incentivi biex intejbu l-hajja tat-tfal.
6. Efficjenza fl-Energija u l-Ambjent
Dan isir mhux permezz ta’ kontijiet oghla tad-dawl u l-ilma, izda permezz ta’ incentivi li jiswew il-flus izda li jwasslu biex il-pajjiz jiffranka bi pjan serju ghat-tul.
7. Kompetizzjoni ta’ veru
Dan ifisser li noholqux monopolji godda, li minflok ikunu monopolji tal-Gvern ikunu tal-privat, izda li jkun hemm kompetizzjoni veru li minnha jgawdi l-konsumatur u mhux li thalli l-affarijiet l-istess. Hemm setturi qed jaghmlu l-gid mill-kompetizzjoni bhas-settur tat-telekomunikazzjoni. Imma hemm setturi ohrajn li qed jispiccaw monoplju fil-privat u dan jehtieg li nevitawh.
8. Stat aktar efficjenti
Ghandha titnaqqas il-hela u l-Istat ghandu jara li l-flus tat-taxpayers imorru lura ghand it-taxpayers f’forma ta’ servizz ahjar, fejn lill-istat issibu meta tfittxu, u li jaqdik fil-hin.
9. Fast track ghall-investituri
Kull min jinvesti b’mod produttiv f’pajjizna, Malti jew barrani, ghandu jinghata dak li ghandu bzonn fi zmien miftiehem u minghajr burokrazija zejda li xxekkel l-investiment.
Ghandna nigu f’punt fejn inharsu ‘il quddiem biex jekk nemmnu li pajjizna ghandu bzonn investiment innaqqsu x-xkiel biex dan l-investiment jasal.
10. Kwalita’ nazzjonali
Naraw li pajjizna jaddotta standards godda ta’ kwalita’ fejn ic-cittadini ta’ pajjizna u t-turisti li jigu jzuruna ikunu certi li s-servizz f’Malta u Ghawdex huwa servizz tal-aqwa kwalita’.
[Daphne – Ustja, kemm hu brillanti. Sori, brilanti.]
I am not going to comment on the article. Do you know why Mr Borg named his shoe store in Hamrun, “Gauda”? Because he reasoned in Maltese “jekk dak BATA jien GAUDA”! I’m not joking.
[Daphne – I doubt it. The tense is wrong.]
Naqra brillantina ma xaghru jonqsu
jesmond
Ħa nwieġbek bil-Malti, la għoġbok tikteb bil-Malti fuq blog bl-Ingliż.
Possibbli ma tindunax li minn dak kollu li tkibt m’hemm xejn li huwa konkret imma hemm biss qabda kliem vojt u platitudnijiet?
John Schembri: “Gauda”? Because he reasoned in Maltese “jekk dak BATA jien GAUDA”! I’m not joking.
The subject of your comment not only has no relevance to the subject of the article, it is also incorrect.
The story pre-dates the Hamrun shop by decades. The shops that originally bore those names were located quite opposite each other across St Paul’s Street in Valletta, in the flat section of the street just below the incline leading up to St Paul Shipwrecked Church. Probably the GAUDA shop owner was just displaying his ignorance rather than a sense of humour. About the same time, similar displays of ignorance were evident in other shop names, UPIMO an Italianised version of UPIM, and possibly an attempt at reversal of the Maltese tendency to drop the final vowel on Italian words, cf Pac for Pace – striving to be more Catholic than the pope, as it were. And “LUPINS” the Anglicised version of UPIM.
The politically inclined might also read into the two names undertones of the then nascent pro-Italian Nationalist and pro-British Stricklandian factions in the adoption of the names of the shops in question.
one can find other comments such as :
Well Done Joseph!!!!! UUUUUR GREAT!!!
I TRUST in you Joseph Muscat.
Keep it up DR Muscat, you are simply GREAT.
…
tad-dardir, dont know why The Times have to show these comments.
[Daphne – One should avoid telling a male politician to keep it up. It’s most ill advised and has obscene connotations.]
Watching Muscat’s speech (I couldn’t bear to have the sound on) for a few seconds whilst switching channels last night, my immediate reaction was “Kemm u antipatiku u tad-daqqiet ta’ harta!” His self-satisfied farty look was akin to that of a squat 9-year-old child delivering his “priedka tat-tifel” to an audience of gloating relatives – after having practised it in front of a mirror several times, no doubt.
[Daphne – In fact, I was about to point out to ‘Jesmond’ that keeping the sound off while a politician is talking is one of the best ways to read what he/she is saying: through the body language, which almost never lies. It allows your brain to pick up important signals and messages from which you might be distracted when you’ve got the sound on and are concentrating on the actual words.]
For more entertainment, switch to TVM tomorrow night to watch Mintoff’s biography, though be sure to have a “spit-screen” properly installed in front of your TV first. (Assuming that the decrepit fool still manages to provoke feelings of revulsion in you, as he does in so many.)
@Antoine Vella
il kliem vojt hu ta dak li qal:
1. li qal li jaf min qatel lil raymond caruana u caren grech u ma qalx min
2. ta min sa l ahhar elezzjoni wighed crafts village ta qali u issa le
3. ta min ilu 20 sena iwied progett ta bieb il belt
4. ta min jilghab l imhatri li jghalqu l fabriki
5. ta min wighed riforma fil mepa
6. ta min wighed riforma fit trasport pubbliku
7. ta min wighed it tabib tal ghazla tighek b xejn
8. ta min wighed 5 liri lil mara tad dar
etc atc
sorry hafna li ktibt bil malti imma bl inglis ma nafx.
daph brillanti tajba ktibta double LL. mhux L wahda. (ALMENU NAHSEB)
[Daphne – Dik cajta kienet. Qisni ma nafx nisspelli brillanti… U jekk ma tafx bl-Ingliz, kif qrajt dak li ktibt jiena? Jew xi hadd qalbu bil-Malti biex tkun tista tifhem?]
According to TVM’s news, Joseph Muscat’s speech lasted over two hours….yawn. I’ve always found it fascinating how some people prefer to spend a much awaited lazy Sunday morning in some party club/quarters listening faithfully to yet another boring politician’s speech. And if someone tells me that these people are mostly pensioners who have nothing else to do, well then the politicians are wasting their own Sunday rest preaching to the converted.
[Daphne – No Anna, they’re not preaching at a political club. That’s just the platform. They’re preaching to the nation, via television. The alternative would be sticking him on a soap-box at a street corner, or tucking him behind yet another slogan at the party headquarters.]
Perhaps they are learning English after all. Obviously, they wish to do this quickly and therefore resort to something quick; something with the word “Fast” in the title would do the trick, wouldn’t it?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knYOcaQ-x5o&feature=PlayList&p=F66E98BA22C2A56A&index=0&playnext=1
You’ve already mentioned Swiss Toni, so it sounds like they’re working their way through the list of characters :-)
BATA is or was a trading name of a Czech enterprise dealing in footwear.
[Daphne – Canadian, actually, though originally Czech, which is why the Bata shoe museum they set up is down the road from my hotel in Toronto. An amazing story: http://www.bata.com/about_us/heritage/heritage_1894_now.php ]
u mela ma tafx .
billi naqbad ftit mighek.
insiba bi tqila nikteb bl inglis that’s why.
Can anyone answer one simple question?
Why is it that after all these years, years of mistakes galore, decrepit people and I am not just referring to one idiot only, after years of ”university” degrees, Masters of this and that, losing umpteen elections, and getting everything wrong all the time, they still just cannot get ONE thing right ?
Sorry about the long sentence, Daphne. I had to restrain my self not to go on and on. The LP does nothing but give the public rope, enough to hang the LP ten times over.
Jesmond, int anke bil-Malti donnok issibha bi tqila.
Stupendous is where it’s at; brilliant was so last week.
@jesmond
“sorry hafna li ktibt bil malti imma bl inglis ma nafx.”
Jesmond, ghandi ahbar ghalik, donnok lanqas bil-malti ma taf tikteb ta, ghax ghaddejtlek tal-inqas ghaxar zbalji tal-Malti. Ghallinqas, jekk kont bi hsiebek tuza l-kelma ‘wieghed’ sitt darbiet, stajt iccekkjajt kif tinkiteb! Qed naqbad ftit mieghek ta, tiehux ghalik.
It might seem predictable for me to criticise Joseph Muscat but I cannot help noting his irritating habit of making overlong pauses every couple of words, breaking up his sentences into a number of disjointed phrases or even single words. Perhaps he’s trying to imitate Mintoff who also addressed his audience like a teacher talking down to a class of not very bright children. Whatever the reason, I do wish he’d start speaking normally, like other people.
Gerald
“…the whole lot of you are deeply worried by his brilliant speech. For that is what it was – simply BRILLIANT!”
Did you actually hear it this time?
Anna, jien ma’ tantx naf nikteb bil-Malti imma sibtlek xi zewg gheltijiet, jien issa: nahseb ridt tikteb “GhOddejtlek” ( I counted you), ghaddejtlek tfisser ” I passed you” u nahseb ridt tikteb “ta’ l-anqas”.
Nikbru w nitghalmu.
@ Michael A Vella: I was a colleague of one of his grandsons; his grandfather originally was a shoemaker (and repairer) and set up shop in Valletta. The old man had some sense of humour, that’s all.
@jesmond – insiba bi tqila nikteb bl inglis that’s why.
You could have at least tried. Surely it can’t get half as bad as your Maltese. As for your contribution, nearly as pathetic as the joseph, who albeit seemed to have dazzled you with his speech, never mentioned the ways and means how he would achieve his earthquake fantasies.
Having followed the synopsis of what Joseph Muscat said, (I can’t stand watching him), I cannot help conclude that it did not take him long to shed his staged ‘inhobbkhom’ image, and to become another stale copy of all Labour leaders I can remember. It seems that Labour leaders (and their echo GWU) only feel secure, and assured to get the rowdy applause of their audience and the repeated coverage by the left media, when they oppose everything just for the sake of opposing, which obviously greatly appeals to their brainless followers. To see him flanked by the two moustachioed bookends, who then try to outdo him with their shrill militancy, just reinforces my opinion that the PL needs to keep on searching for a decent leadership. Many of them know it and that’s why they are so pissed off with Gonzi’s choice of George Abela for President, since only Abela has the stuff to be able to stand on the same platform as Gonzi and Fenech Adami.
Jesmond
‘tal-inqas’ hija t-tajba skond l-aħħar deċiżjonijiet tal-Kunsill tal-Malti; il-partiċella trid dejjem tingħaqad mal-artiklu. Il-kelma ‘għelt’ ħadd ma jużaha ħlief xi ktieb tal-grammatika: kullħadd ‘żball’ jgħid.
Maybe Daphne, the folowing paragraph as reported by the Times of Malta of Friday, 28th November 2008 with the heading of “Labour is now Partit Laburista” gives you the answer to your question “Why is the Labour Party fixated on success for the party rather than success for the country?”
“Toni Abela, the party’s deputy leader for party affairs, compared the Labour Party to a ship that entered the Drydocks for renovation and was ready to begin its voyage – with its final destination being Castille.”
[Daphne – Funny sort of ship – must have wheels to be able to go up Great Siege Road to the Auberge de Castille.]
Jesmond hemm min bghat lin nies jilghabu l imhatri
li il L abour kien se jirbah l ahhar elezzjoni . Taf min hu hux ? Dak li ir rapport qal li kellu hafna tort tat telfa u ma tistux tehilsu minnu Heq u taf ghaliex hokkli dahri ha nhokk tieghek
@john schembri
John, irbahtli fuq ghOddejtlek, imma ‘tal-inqas’ hija tajba ghax kemm ilhom li hargu l-emendi fl-ortografija tal-Malti, il-prepozizzjonijiet ta’, sa, ma’ u go’ issa dejjem jinghaqdu mal-artiklu. NitghaLLmu dejjem John.
Lots of PN voters who usually have no truck with the PL grudgingly admitted that JM’s speech was quite good. We can obviously go on disagreeing on how the speech came across and how ‘antipatku’ he is (I wonder if some people have a mirror at home) but the truth of the matter is that he is starting to make inroads in the undecided-voters camp – a camp which split for the PN in 2008 because they just couldn’t stomach Alfred Sant. It’s obvious that if JM wins that battle it will be a landslide next time round.
@Antoine Vella
Usually the teacher to student attitude is the territory of Lawrence Gonzi. ‘Ghaddejna mill-ezami’ and suchlike – you know what I mean.
@Gerald
It seems that you set a really low bar for the next PM. I am not surprised that “il simpaticone” might be acceptable to you, because you’re easily and naively impressed. The Maltese electorate is generally not that detailed and analytical.
I recently watched the YouTube video of the 1986 debate in parliament (a week after Raymond Caruana was killed and the Zejtun incidents), and still can’t fathom the logic behind the fact that half the electorate still voted for KMB and Lorry Sant in 1987.
Gerald
“Għaddejna mill-eżami” implies that Gonzi considers himself the ‘student’ i.e the person being examined and it is as it should be. Politicians need to be aware that the electorate is judging them and Gonzi himself often invites people to judge his government (“iġġudikawna fuq li nagħmlu”). This is definitely not a teacher-to-student attitude and the phrase that you’ve quoted does not strengthen your argument but actually contradicts it.
You obviously enjoy listening to someone continuously interrupting his own speech with annoying pauses. I suppose it’s an acquired taste.
Is it a coincidence that the Labour Party’s slogan ‘Direzzjoni Suċċess’ is so similar to Net TV’s programme ‘Destinazzjoni Suċċess’?
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