In my part of the world, it’s “entrata”, not “intrata” – you know, very much like its Italian origin.

Everybody states he is saying he is rich, but nobody says how he made his money, was that obtained illegally too?

[Daphne – Noel Arrigo comes from a merchant family. That’s where some of the money came from, but the business isn’t doing as well as it once was because of various problems. He is not rich. If he were, he wouldn’t have had to grub about like that for a thousand euros here and there. His wife, on the other hand, has considerable property assets, including the Siggiewi house in which they live, which is hers, and he administers all those assets on her behalf. She adores him, respects him, but he is notorious for making passes at other women, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. That wouldn’t be worthy of comment, it’s their business, were it not for the fact that these attempts are often very sleazy and inept and also public and embarrassing, like repeatedly grabbing at the high commissioner’s wife’s bottom at a formal dinner on board a Royal Navy ship. I wouldn’t listen when people describe others as ‘rich’. The Maltese perception of rich is very peculiar: the people they think are rich really are not, while the people they think are ordinary are rolling in it.]

Was the ref entirely fair last Sunday? Impartial maybe. ( I’ve no doubt he was duped by CASHley.) Fair, alas, not.
Same old Chelsea…always cheating.
Not as bad as what happened at Anfield, I’ll give you, but unfair all the same.
M’hemmx x’taghmel. The power of incumbency works in reverse in the EPL. Ghalikom din-is-sena, Bocc. Liverpool have imploded, Arsenal don’t have the strength in depth, United are being cheated. C’est la vie.

Daphne

“Pretty good” may be somewhat relative and rather defensive. To be “acceptably good” you have to keep up with the times.

Giordano Bruno quoted George Borg Olivier! I assume the respectable gentleman made the remark he quoted in the 50’s or 60’s. That’s hardly up-to-date, don’t you think? We must accept the fact that language, especially a language like ours which is still in its infancy compared with other more established languages like Italian and English, is in a continuous process of development. We must accept the fact that borrowings from dominant languages, especially from the English language with which we have been in constant contact these last 200 years, is the present-day reality and we have to live with it.

With regards to “preservattivi” and “konservanti” I’m afraid that you are both wrong. The authoritative Maltese-English dictionary, compiled by the eminent Professor Joseph Aquilina, defines “preservattiv” as “preservative” in the English (not Italian) context. So much so that Aquilina further defines “priserv” as “tinned food”.

Hekk hu, Twanny. “Il-proċess ta’ Noel Arrigo …” forsi tinstema’ aħjar minn “il-proċess kontra …”. Jien kont biss qiegħed nikkwota ‘l Daphne.

Però xorta nippreferi li l-każ jibqa’ jiġi rrappurtat bħala “ġuri” mingħajr ġurati.

[Daphne – You haven’t explained that a ‘preservattiv’ is a condom. I speak no Italian, but my Maltese is pretty good. What you need with any language is respect for the meaning of words and for grammar. All else follows. These islands are full of people who have been raised speaking and knowing only Maltese, but whose Maltese is really dreadful. That’s why it’s dreadful, and why they end up saying things like ‘guri minghajr gurati’.]

Then again, people without a shred of decency in them would stoop to anything …