Update: Albert Mizzi v. Saviour Balzan
Dak sew, hej: jien niehu dak Saviour il-qorti u l-magistrata fil-kaz tistiednu ghad-drinks.
I have it on good authority (Albert Mizzi’s lawyer) that his case against Saviour Balzan is no longer pending before Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera.
Albert Mizzi withdrew the case on 6 August 2008 following settlement with Saviour Balzan of – and I quote – “all the libel cases that had been instituted against him”.
So when Magistrate Scerri Herrera invited Saviour Balzan – who, she said under oath, she doesn’t know and had met only once or twice – to her home for Christmas drinks, the only case involving him that was pending for judgement before her (there might be more, but I haven’t found them) was Dr Michael Falzon v. Saviour Balzan.
The magistrate, however, does not know that the case Albert Mizzi v. Saviour Balzan is no longer pending before her. That’s why it still shows up on her list. So when she issued her invitation to the defendant, she was under the impression that the case was still pending.
She had handed down an interim ruling on some procedural point, and one of the parties had been given leave to file an appeal on that point.
As a result, the case was adjourned sine die, pending the outcome of the appeal. The appeal was never heard as the plaintiff withdrew the case.
The withdrawal was not brought to the magistrate’s notice, and so she has not cancelled the case from her pending list.
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Daphne, kumment ġenerali (mhux speċifikament fuq dan li ktibt hawn fuq). Fi wħud mill-blogs inħossok tkun qbiżt il-linja u dan jistimulani noqgħod nixtarr id-definizzjoni tal-professjoni tal-ġurnaliżmu.
Iżda fil-biċċa l-kbira tal-blogs nara l-mertu kbir tiegħek u napprezza li kellek tkun int biex jitilgħu fil-wiċċ skandli kbar.
Iżda nitolbok tkun ħanina ma’ min iħobb l-arti tal-kitba: tiktibx bil-Malti. Taħt xi ritratt jew xi caption għandek ħabta tiddeċiedi li tuża l-Malti imma jidher ċar li l-Malti ma tafux. Mhux aħjar tkompli tpaxxini bl-Ingliż tajjeb tiegħek, għid?
[Daphne – Trid tara l-Malti li juzaw dawk in-nies li jiktbu bil-Malti biss f’dan is-sajt, hanini Louise. Nispicca nahli hafna hin nikkorregih. Il-Malti nafu sew, ferm iktar minn hafna nies li jafu l-Malti biss u jahsbu li huma paraguni tal-lingwa. Xi kultant l-ghajn naghmlu fejn mhux suppost, imma hukers (miniex nghid ghall-qhab hawnhekk)? Dawk li jakkuzawni li ma nafx nitkellem bil-Malti jahsbu li hemm forma wahda biss tal-lingwa – dik li jitkellmu huma li trabbew f’ambjent socjo-ekonomiku kompletament differenti minn dak li trabbejt fih jiena.
U nahseb ukoll li jekk int ikollok tikteb dan bl-Ingliz trid tuza dizzjunarju u tfittex l-ghajnuna minn xi hadd li jaf l-Ingliz idjomatiku, u xorta ma jigikx zewg. Hawn hafna nies li ma jistghux innizzlu l-fatt li jien nikteb spirtu pront u facilment biz-zewg lingwi. Ahjar ghalihom u mmorru jiffundaw ilkoll kemm huma – jew kif jghid Twanny taghna, imorru jinhxew (jien kieku nghid imorru jibilghuha f’s**mhom, imma dan huwa femilisajt).]
Daphne, qed tkun ostili anki ma min mhux qed ikun l-istess mieghek. Jiddispjacini li hadtha hekk. Il-problema mhix li ma tafx fejn taghmel l-gh. Mela inti wahda mill-hafna li mohhok fl-gh u l-h?
[Daphne – ‘Mihiex’, Louise, mhux ‘mhix’. L-attitudni tieghi mihiex wahda ta’ ostilita, imma attitudni li ma tantx issiba fil-kultura Maltija ghaliex gejja mil-kultura Ingliza. Nahseb dak li ghandna hawnhekk huwa kwistjoni ta’ cross cultural misunderstanding.]
U ma nafx ridtx tinsinwa li jien l-Ingliż ma nafux daqsek.
[Daphne – Jien hadt edjukejtid gess li int ma tafx bl-Ingliz daqs kemm naf jien bil-Malti, u nahseb li l-edjukejtid gess tieghi kien bulzaj.]
L-Ingliz tieghi mhuwiex ta’ Ingliza. Huwa Ingliz ta’ Maltija li tistudja l-Malti, l-Ingliz, il-Franciz u t-Taljan. U li ma tixbax taqra kotba b’wahda minn dawn il-lingwi. Izda umilment nghid li naf nuzahom u naf nikteb bihom minghajr ma nuza dizzjunarju.
Insellimlek. Aghraf aghzel bejn min iridlek u min ma jridlekx il-hsara, Daphne. Titfax lil kulhadd fl-istess borza. Jien ridt biss li ma tibqax tikteb Malti hazin. Int ma jdejqekx min juza lingwa li ma jafhiex?
[Daphne – Ma niktibx bil-Malti hazin, Louise. Nikteb bil-Malti tal-klassi ta’ nies li trabbejt fih. Niddejjaq hafna nuza dik il-kelma, imma dak hu l-fatt. U int tuza l-Malti tal-klassi ta’ nies li trabbejt fih int. Il-problema hi li l-lingwa ufficjali hija dik tal-magguranza u mhux tal-minoranza- fil-fatt, l-oppost tas-sitwazzjoni f’pajjizi ohrajn.]
May I butt in, Daphne?
Louise, you have to put things in their context. Apart from running this blog Daphne has a very busy social, family and professional life to live. Given the chance, nit-pickers like you and I will occasionally be able to find some miniscule and insignificant fault in her writing but this blog is not meant to be an example of perfection in that art. If that’s what you’re mainly concerned about, look elsewhere but if you want to learn something meaningful here, I suggest you open your eyes and look deeper.
Er, Daphne, just found a nit – it’s ‘issibha fil-kultura’…
[Daphne – Thanks, Tim. It would also be opportune if you were to back me up in my explanation to Louise – as somebody who knows exactly what I mean – that the Maltese spoken by our parents would be very different from the Maltese spoken by her parents. My parents speak only Maltese between themselves, and have always done so, but I have yet to overhear a conversation between them that includes the words ‘aghraf aghzel’.]
Daphne, I have always been surprised at the journalistic quality and quantity of your English. I can’t understand how you can cope with this blog. In fact I was wondering if there is only one of you!
[Daphne – No, there are several of me. I have multiple personality disorder, which makes me eligible for recruitment by Media Today.]
As someone who has lived in the UK for over 30 years, I understand the cultural difference between Maltese and British sense of humour and why the Maltese who have never lived in the UK or lived with British people take offence at certain things you say in your blog.
@ Louise – “tigbghax” mhux “tixbax”
“iridhek”, mhux “iridlek”
Inkompli? Nahseb li l-kas tieghek huwa kas ta’ “the pot calling the kettle black”.
Forsi qeghda tghid li Daphne ma’ tantx taf bil-Mlti ghaliex titfa kelma bhal “majtezwel” l-hawn u l-hemm? Forsi ma’ ndunajtx li tkun qeghda taghmilha biex titmellah?
‘It would also be opportune if you were to back me up in my explanation to Louise – as somebody who knows exactly what I mean – that the Maltese spoken by our parents would be very different from the Maltese spoken by her parents.’
I don’t know if ‘aghraf aghzel’ is enough to justify your statement, but I know what you mean. The pervasive ‘anti-Sliema’ mentality conditions many people from outside the Sliema/St. Julians/Swieqi conurbation to believe that Slimizi’s Maltese is somehow inferior because it is (or can be) different.
I catch a hint of this in Louise’s remarks. She thinks her Maltese is superior but even she got ‘tixbax’ wrong. Hysterically, so did Grezz when he corrected her – it should be ‘tigbax’ as far as I know, using ‘jismax’ as an example. A ‘trilitteru’ verb doesn’t have the consonants stuck together in the imperative and present singular persons, Grezz, so even if you do show the ‘gh’ it should be ‘tigbaghx’. However, good though my Maltese is, I make no claim to write it perfectly and am glad to be corrected – politely, of course – by the experts.
I don’t like to get personal though, and I’m not going to put this in terms of what our various parents speak or spoke. And I’m definitely not going to go into class differences.
Daphne nahseb li lil din Louise Vella hsibta li qeda toffendik ghax qaltlek hekk. Jien mhux bhalek nahsiba ghax inhoss li irrealizzajt x’riedet tfisser Louise. Jien nemmen li int veru ghandek kitba tajba hafna bil-Malti u esperta bl-Ingliz. Jien nirringrazzjak li tikkoregini meta nikteb u mhux se niehu ghaliha pero nahseb li ma kontx fair ma’ Louise Vella meta ktibt dak il-kliem biex tirrispondiha. Donnu li int ma irrealizzajtx li din il-mara hija wahda mil hafna li jiehdu pjacir jaqraw il-blog tieghek. Daphne, jien lil din il-mara lanqas nafa pero xorta inhoss li kelli nkun ta’ support ghaliha bhal wara kollox dejjem inkun ta support ghalik.
[Daphne – Emanuel, emmen meta nghidlek li ghandi hafna u hafna esperjenza bil-kummenti tan-nies wara dan iz-zmien kollu, u ili hafna sirt naf kif naghzel bejn dawk li huma genwini u dawk li jridu jghaddu kumment antipatiku u biex l-antipatija ma tkunx ovvja jlibbsuha b’hafna kumplimenti.]
Daphne donnu li mhux tikteb u taqra bl-Ingliz u bil-Malti taf – jista jkun li anke taf taqra between the lines jekk kif qeda tassumi int.
Eman
@Emanuel – Mhux ovvja li “Louise” kitbet/kiteb sarkastikament?
Spjega xi trid tghid biha ‘paraguni tal-lingwa’. dikn qatt ma smajtha. Turi li ma tafx il-Malti. Il-hobz hallih ghal min jaf jieklu. Il-lingwa tieghek hi l-Ingliz. Taf tuzah tajjeb u ibqa’ uzah.
[Daphne – Nahseb ghaliex ma tafx xi jfisser ‘paraguni’, sabih. Mur saqsi wahda l-Glenn Dangerfield, forsi jghidlek.Note to Glenn: not to be confused with ‘pagun’. That one has wings, like the sanitary towel.]
Daphne, you seem to lack the art of diplomacy:
I found this definition really amusing: Diplomacy is like telling people to get f****d, but saying in such a manner that in the end they really long for it.
Keep up your good work.
Ikteb kif trid, Daphne – ahna ghalina xorta l-aqwa is-sugu. Li tghid qahba, prostituta, whore jew callgirl ma tghamilx differenza – l’aqwa li nafu ghal min tkun qieda tirreferi.
Jien jidhirli li “titfghax” u mhux “titfax”.
Imma sejjer żball, ħabib(a).
Classic come-back remarks…. You just made me chuckle out loud!
So funny I cannot contain myself. All you lot wanting another boring diplomatic site would you kindly piss off to timesofmalta.com or boringpeople.com if it exists.
I suspect that the reason you return in your thousands to this site is precisely because there is no diplomacy here. Just hard hitting facts and arguments.
And really good jokes: the fine art of mockery.
The problem with the jokes is people who take things literally just don’t get them, do they? Apart from the fact that a lack of a sense of humour generally reflects a lack of intelligence.
Sa fejn naf jien, ahna nghidu PAMPALUNI tal-lingwa.
[Daphne – Pampaluni tal-partit jew ta’ xi bendklabb.]
Jiena naf l-espressjoni bhal, perezempju, “pampalun ta’ Mintoff”.
Correcting wrong corrections…
@grezz
“Louise – “tigbghax” mhux “tixbax” – wrong.
The mamma is xeba’ or xaba’ not ġaba’ so the negative can never be tiġbagħax… Louise was right.
“iridhek”, mhux “iridlek” – again Louise was right, iridlek was correct. And iridhek is a form you invented – since when do we have a ‘h’ in irid? It is never written with an ‘h’ unless it’s iridilha or iridha, tridha, iriduha etc…
@Daphne
“‘Mihiex’, Louise, mhux ‘mhix'”… actually Louise was right again.
‘mhix’ is good Maltese, while ‘mihiex’ does not exist.
‘mhijiex’ and ‘mhix’ are both correct.
Check ‘id-deċiżjonijiet’ by the Akkademja tal-Malti plus other useful Maltese grammar books.
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There are other mistakes I can point out but I don’t want to nitpick. I only pointed out these 3 points above because the ‘corrections’ were so blatantly erroneous. Let’s all just enjoy reading Daphne’s blog, as she pleases to write it; informative, interesting and hilarious. I love your humour Daphne! Keep up the good work.