http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/2009/08/30/michael.html

A few excerpts from the article:

“They do not realise that deprecating the place where you come from is actually a very sad implicit admission of your own inferiority complex. Some Maltese who try to promote themselves by detaching themselves from their own community and criticising their country – implicitly claiming they are superior to their peers – in the end leave a bad impression about themselves. ………Self-flagellation seems to be an appalling syndrome of the collective psyche of the Maltese nation……….. We seem to be goaded by a perverse desire to see our country hurt: the idea that Valletta could (or should?) lose its World Heritage status, for example, obviously sprung from a Maltese source……… This leads some to think that they can succeed in life via an ego trip that relies on deprecating what is Maltese and demeaning their own origin – the ‘I-am-better-than-the-rest’ syndrome, if you like………….If only we always pursue our efforts with dignity, avoiding practices that disgrace our own birthright and that – in the end – can only harm our individual selves as well.”

Ray Bondin please note.

The one word Falzon forgets to mention is “deceit” – self-flagellation is often accompanied by deceit and misinformation.

Why does Mr. Green from Rockingham, if he exists, decide to write about Malta and Bondin? Would it not be more useful for him to write to a national or regional Australian newspaper about Rockingham, or Perth or Adelaide or Katanning or whatever?

Bondin made a fool of himself with his story of Valletta losing its world heritage status and he knows it. Is this letter a puerile attempt to start fixing the damage to his credibility?

‘skop’ is derived from ‘scopo’ in Italian and therefore it is correctly used by the Maltese to mean ‘purpose, reason’.

[Daphne – Only in Maltese, but not in English.]

Daphne, I don’t really understand what you mean by ‘REAL Sliema people’.

If ‘Sliema people’ are indistinguishable, to a British person, from a British English native speaker when they speak, than they are truly native speakers of English but I very much doubt it.

[Daphne – It’s hard to explain the distinction to people who didn’t grow up there. Few people under 60 still speak like that, but the Union Club used to be packed with them when I was a child. I don’t know why you’re so surprised. Haven’t you ever heard the cut-glass English accent of some interviewees on the BBC World Service, only to find out from the name that they are Indian? People don’t just ‘learn English; they learn an accent and nuances too.]

‘Tipretendi’ (to expect) in Maltese and ‘to pretend’ (to make believe) in English are false friends.

These are pitfalls for many related languages, such as French, Italian and Spanish.

Maybe someone should compile a list of these words and publish it as a booklet. This would be invaluable to Maltese students.

There are some interesting comments on Valletta’s world heritage status under the “Oh so very Maltese” post.

Conflict of interest occurs where someone uses his official position for personal gain. Where there is potential conflict of interest, a person can declare it and withdraw from participating in a decision which could potentially benefit him personally. All codes of ethics have provisions to allow for such declaration and withdrawal from the decision.

Leo Brincat does not understand the meaning of conflict of interest. In the Independent of today he writes as follows:

“Conflict of interest: I have been following with interest the recent spat in the local media as to how Valletta risks losing its UNESCO Heritage site status due to over development in the whereabouts. What I found strange was that one of the persons who tried to mitigate the irreparable damage done is an architect who has been deeply involved in the developments concerned. If that is not conflict of interest, then I must be George W. Bush!”

Leo Brincat is referring to letters sent by Alex Torpiano to the Times. Alex Torpiano argued that the Times report of the 11th August entitled “Concerns on heritage status of Valletta” was misleading. In particular the Times report includes the claim that “Concerns about the capital’s privileged status were raised in the last meeting of Unesco’s World Heritage Committee in Seville” – a statement which Alex Torpiano demonstrates to be incorrect.

Alex Torpiano signs the letters as AOM Partnership which is the architectural firm entrusted with the Midi project. Prof. Torpiano is defending the interests of the developers. He has the right and duty to do so.

So please Leo Brincat, where is the conflict of interest?

In all probability, Leo Brincat was instigated to write this nonsense by someone else; someone who is either too stupid to understand conflict of interest or who is sufficiently devious and manipulative to make an MP include a gross piece of stupidity in his writings.

Next time you look in the mirror, Mr. Brincat, pinch yourself hard, just to make sure that you are not George W. Bush.

…..which means that mistakes due to ignorance or poor education are classed as official usage……

Hahaha, that’s the best explanation I’ve ever heard.
Scooter is at least as perplexing as Wagner.