No the PM is not correct on this Arjuplan word .You forgot the word AJRU.

[Daphne – Ajru is the entrenched mispronunciation of aria/arja. The ‘j’ sound should not come before the ‘r’ sound, but after it. Also, while I appreciate the distinction you make and know the usage of ‘ajru’, it remains an entrenched error. The distinction you make between the air which we breathe and the air in which planes fly does not exist in any other language which I know of in which the word ‘air’ is combined with ‘plane’.]

A Maltese saying goes like this: “L-AJRU ghandu ghajnu, u l-hajt ghandu widintu ” literal translation “the sky has its eye and the wall has its ear”.
When dark clouds build up in the skies we say “Kemm krieh l-ajru!”
Arja is more like the air we breathe and Ajru is used only to refer to the place where planes can fly (linguistically).
I have never seen the word Arjuplan written on a Maltese dictionary.

[Daphne – Ah, but I have seen xorz and kuxin, and that’s why I don’t take Maltese dictionaries as the last word on spelling and pronunciation.]

Baxxter as long as someone talks sense I don’t mind him or her talking slang or with a different accent. Dr Gonzi talks sense on the airplane servicing industry even though he refers to airplanes as ‘arjuplani’.

[Daphne – Actually, it’s the PM who’s correct: aria, arja, aereo, therefore arjuplani. Ajruplani is either the result of mispronunciation like petlor or pirmli – or, like many other things which in Malta we got to know through the British forces, a mispronunciation of the English way of saying it: some British accents had it as AY-roplane before it became simply airplane or now just plane.]

Did anyone see Eddie Fenech Adami patiently giving an explanation to an uncontrolled discussion panel on One TV’s Epoka? The TV presenter burst into tears at one point because Labour supporters were buried in unconsecrated ground (il-Mizbla). In Maltese we say “Bikja ta’ mara qisa’ bewla ta’ kelb”.

[Daphne – Guess what? I’m halfway through my life, grew up surrounded by women, and I can’t remember seeing any of them cry except in exceptional and warranted circumstances like death – and sometimes not even then.]

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20091125/local/muscat-does-not-take-part-in-opm-budget-debate

And the Burmarrad accent breaks out in spite of all the Brussels lifestyle.

Today’s password is: Il-Middleclass

No self-respecting teen should refer to himself as a zaghzugh. It reminds me of those stupid shows on Favourite and Super 1 where they get a bunch of teens in a studio and they talk about how great they are and how responsible they are and bla, bla, bla, while discussing the issues like sex and drugs. “Ghax ahna, iz-zghazagh…” What a bunch of nerds.

Look on the brighter side – at least the plant behind his behind was not a fully grown cactus!

[Daphne – The word ‘youth’ refers to young people in general only when used as a generic noun. When used for ONE young person, that person must be male. When used as a plural noun (youths) it means young males, and not young people. Trust me on this. Nobody who speaks idiomatic English would ever refer to a young woman as a youth, or to young women as youths. Youths are young men.]

Regarding the age group of youth there is no fixed age. As far as I know one can be a member of some youth
organizations even if one is over thirty years old.

[Daphne – That’s not the meaning of the word. That’s wishful thinking.]

Mr Joseph Muscat is however better described as a young adult.

[Daphne – No. Young adults are people like my sons, in their early 20s (and they class Muscat in the same generational bracket as their mother, and certainly not with them). In one’s mid- to late 30s one is middle-aged, and not a young adult. Prolonged life and the postponement of reproduction have led to the false interpretation of large parts of adulthood as youth, when it is anything but and biology brings us face to face with this harsh reality when we try to have a baby and can’t at the ‘youthful’ age of 30-something.]

…or better still, just don’t write anything at all and we’d think you are the wiser.

[Daphne – Effing pathetic. Tal-biki.]

Then he continued with the litany of potential voters: “U minn haw nixtieq insellem lil-middle class, tal-hwienet, is-self employed” and so on.

Next came the health sector: “U minn hawn irrid insellem lin-nersis, tobba, specjalisti, fisjoterapisti” …and so on.

He forgot us, ‘id-deffiena’, the people who he’s trying to rob of our daily bread! Isn’t he trying hard to bury his and his party’s dark past?

After half an hour I changed channel to watch ‘Affari Tuoi’. After watching some news, at around quarter past eight I watched the last part and saw the bear hug which inspector Anglu (who was probably nodding near him for the whole two hours) gave to the great young leader and the rehearsed hand shakes from his MPs.

Finally I noticed that at the “press conference without questions” there was Dr Tony ‘shuttlecock’ Abela sitting together with the other MPs. Was he secretly co-opted as an MP without our knowledge?