Comment of the Week
Published:
May 28, 2010 at 4:58pm
Ara dan ukoll, dahal inbitwina.
Bejniethom becomes inbetween-hom….and it’s a freshly-minted noun to describe a place between two things.
Alan
The best bastardised one I’ve heard in all my life was when we were building a porch some years ago. I wanted lights to be placed at equidistant intervals between specific posts. I explained it to the builder, and he turned around, nodded, and said: “Mhux problema sur. Issa naghmlu id-dwal f’kull inbitwinhoms”.
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During an interview in Gozo some years ago, a Works Department foreman told us “kelli tmien lajbrijiet tahti”. We only cottoned on after some time that he was using the Maltese plural of labourer. On the other side of the irkotta divide I once heard an ultra-ricotta lady ask the Grocer “Chaahlie, ghandek “of-the-toqba cheese”.
[Daphne – She can’t have been very Ricotta if she said that. You’re probably thinking of one of those millions of chavs who bought “an apartment on Tower Road” (ahna li verament tal-pepe minn Tas-Sliema nghidu “A flat on the front”). On the rare occasions that I stop by at a Sliema cafe nowadays, I can’t help looking around me and thinking: “Who are these people?”. Not one familiar face, voice or accent (thank God).]
I knew her and believe me – she was ricotta personified. The Tower Road apartment chavs are something else altogether – would make a good subject for a sociolinguistics thesis.
We need to have this discussion on Xarabank.
Yes and once a loader where I worked commented that at head office today he saw “ħafna ċrimen”, which is the plural for chairman. Men in black suits were all chairmen to him.
“Crimen” is not the plural for “chairman”. It is the plural for the (presumably now official) “cermen”, a word which has made it to the news reports in Maltese newspapers.
I always refer to the “front” as “Tower Road”, and I prefer the word “apartment” to “flat. I guess I’m a chav.
[Daphne – Damn right.]
Daph, you’re not going to convince me that your socio-economic group doesn’t have its fair share of chicken brains.
[Daphne – Of course it does. But they always know how to read, unless they’re dyslexic.]
Stumped! Not that it has been said, but that the builder knew how to use ‘in between’…very intelligent builder you have there, Alan. I would have used a smiley thingy but they are verboten on this blog…But my comment is tongue-in-cheek.
[Daphne – I have a feeling that it’s because that builder got his instructions partly in English. But you know what? There isn’t a name for the space in between something – in English or Maltese – so that man coined a word.]
True! It merits the Comment of the Week accolade for reflecting the ingenuity of enterprise!
How about, ‘dawl fin-nofs bejn iz-zewg kolonni’?
Between and equidistant from the two posts is the midpoint.
I find no difficulty explaining in either language where I would want a light.
I suppose the space between two objects might be called interval.
[Daphne – Now isn’t that weird? On the face of it, yes – but in reality, no. Interval is the ‘separation’ between the objects or events, for want of a better word, but then when you try saying ‘put the lights in the intervals’ it just doesn’t work. You can go and have a drink in the interval, though….]
gaps?
Interval usually relates to time, not distance.
It’s called the empty chasm between two relationships.
What about:
intercolumniation (ĭn’tər-kə-lŭm’nē-ā’shən)
That’s because interval is temporal rather than spatial …
He could have said “Issa nqegħidlek dawl bejn kull żewġ kolonni” or between every pair of whatever they were.
“Inbitwinhoms” sounds silly, and it is, but I suspect the builder was much smarter than you’re all thinking, and that he was probably trying to avoid using a word which would have not been understood. The jargon used by Maltese builders is very specific, and they have words for anything imaginable related to the trade.
Perhaps the builder knew he was speaking to “tal pepe”people and therefore knew they would understand what he meant.
AFAIK the ‘holes’ in walls are called dawl. he could have said f’nofs id-dawl tal-kolonni but then he would have confused his client who would be puzzled by the strange placing of dawl.
I think we have to distinguish lazy idiots who are too lazy to formulate a well formed thought and communicate it against enterprising people who try to communicate with others who don’t understand their jargon.
I’d laugh at lazy attempts at communication any day, still remember our English teachers pointing out our lazy language in class, with exasperation I might add. I went to a Catholic school in Rabat.
A seagull might see it as a xaqq.
Hot Mama – The smiley does not imply sarcasm, as older people seem to think. It is simply an indication that what is being said is accompanied by a smile.
I think a certain Twanny used to like smileys, and he seems to have fallen down a crack…errr, sorry, inbitwinhom.
Brilliant word and interesting subject.
There is actually a German word for ‘inbetweenhom’:
Zwischenraum. I didn’t know there isn’t an English equivalent.
http://dict.leo.org/ende?lp=ende&lang=de&searchLoc=0&cmpType=relaxed§Hdr=on&spellToler=&search=Zwischenraum
None of those English translations is as precise as ‘inbetweenhom’.
I discovered that in a language forum:
“This question (the word Zwischenraum) also puzzled a famous German Poet:
Der Lattenzaun
Christian Morgenstern, 1871-1914
Es war einmal ein Lattenzaun,
mit Zwischenraum, hindurchzuschaun.
Ein Architekt, der dieses sah,
stand eines Abends plötzlich da
und nahm den Zwischenraum heraus
und baute draus ein großes Haus.
Der Zaun indessen stand ganz dumm,
mit Latten ohne was herum.
Ein Anblick grässlich und gemein.
Drum zog ihn der Senat auch ein.
Der Architekt jedoch entfloh
nach Afri- od- Ameriko.
English translation:
One time there was a picket fence
with space to gaze from hence to thence.
An architect who saw this sight
approached it suddenly one night,
removed the spaces from the fence,
and built of them a residence.
The picket fence stood there dumbfounded
with pickets wholly unsurrounded,
a view so loathsome and obscene,
the Senate had to intervene.
The architect, however, flew
to Afri- or Americoo.”
http://forum.dict.cc/?pagenum=7763&hilite=335995&kw=#entry335995
This reminds me of when I went to pick up my (at the time) girlfriend and her friend asked me:
“Int qieghed fejsbuk? Ha NEDITJAK!”
I asked her how she will manage to hack and edit my profile. She thought this was silly and told me that on Facebook you can actually “EDIT people as friends!”
Aaa! So… “Ser inzidek bhala habib” became “ha NEDDJAK as Frrend” and now the latest is…
“Issa NEDITJAK ta!”
The survival of a language – like humankind- depends on its adaptability.
Well said Sandro.
true — but lazy use of language is dangerous and leads to expensive misunderstandings.
We cannot point at things and grunt any more … When my cat wants to eat he scratches the cat food canister. When my kelb tal-fenek wants to go out she stays near the front door. I hope homo sapiens sapiens is capable of better communication and strives to achieve it…
We need to communicate very complex things to each other nowadays and cannot wait for a year or more to understand each other. Life is getting very busy and the zeitgeist is evolving daily!
Daphne,in my profession I meet people from all walks of life from Sliema, to Mosta,to Zejtun etc..What I hate most is that I speak in Maltese and they answer in their broken English or what I call their ‘Englished’ Maltese and feel superior through their own imagination.Others speak half improper Maltese and half English and they switch between the two languages as it suits them.
I remember a driving instructor who used to keep reminding me to keep to my side of the road, by telling me “Zomm sajdek, zomm sajdek!”
Yes, I’ve heard that one too. And it seems that there was a place in Marsa called “the laboratory”. Some stevedores referred to it as “il-labatri”.
Laboratory Wharf aka Il-Labattri.
The sergeant major in charge of the detail for the Valletta/Water Police in the 1980s used to head the entry in his detail sheet as “La Battery Wharf”.
‘ A. Battery Wharf’ hence the corrupt ‘Labatri’ ( L- A. Battery )
[Daphne – More details, please. I think I’ve finally got the explanation I needed here. I used to wonder where the laboratory was on Laboratory Wharf. Battery as in military battery?]
At Lab Wharf, as it is commonly known, did you ever hear of ”il-kreen il-kbir (gantry crane) qed jahdmu fuqu l-inginira ghax igummja”.
Jidher li kellu raġun mela, l-maġġur, jewwilla!
Aquilina, a diehard Stricklandjan if ever there was one, says “Labatri: [Dockyard slang], n.m. Laboratory in the dockyard, a place where the ammunition was kept. [Corruption of Eng. laboratory]” (p. 718).
It was originally “Parlatorio Wharf”—-can’t remember the origin of this, but possibly where one could speak to people when they were in quarantine?(not sure about this and stand to be corrected)
Daphne, A. Battery was a Military mini installation like the Beach Posts.
[Daphne – I know what a battery is. Most of the men in my father’s family were soldiers.]
The first time I heard that I couldn’t make out what the person was saying but now I find it amusing. Although the word is definitely not considered “Malti standart”, at least in 2010, it is interesting to note it follows the rules of Maltese word-formation mechanisms. English stem + Maltese particella.
[Daphne – Are you serious about the Malti standart? Please say No.]
Yes Daphne, that’s how we refer to the accepted variant.
why did you not publish the rest of the comment?
[Daphne – Which?]
Illostra! Jien smajt bir-Russki Standart. U issa ghandna l-Malti Standart! Di kink.
‘Malti standard’, surely!
This post reminded me when, many many years ago, my friends and I were at the trade fair in Naxxar, obviously because going to the trade fair those days was one way of going out, and we overheard one of two ladies who were admiring a fountain saying, and I quote “iiiiiii, look, that’s a shower bil-maqlub”!!!! I could tell you what one of my friends answered but I’d rather not!
Bidet?
A name for the space in between something – how about ‘bejniethom – f’nofshom’ depending on the situation.
The root cause of the ever increasing Maltese spelling problems now is that the know-alls isolated within the Akkademja tal-Malti all stem from the wrong side of the Great Ricotta Divide.
For the first time in the whole of its existence, teh Akkademja. is on its way to succeeding at something: rendering Maltese spelling unintelligible. By corrupting the spoken word, it ensures that use of Maltese will, within the space of one generation, be jettisoned – unfortunately only to be replaced by a badly pronounced and badly spelled mix of Maltese and English, a process that is already well underway.
The Akkademja tal-Malti ceased to dictate rules of Maltese orthography ages ago.
The rules are now (since 2004) the responsibility of the Maltese government, through a National Council specifically constituted to advise on linguistic matters.
This move was deemed a necessity since certain Akkademja members in the 90s made it a point not to let it operate as it should have.
If you are not even aware of this simple fact, imagine what meaning your comments manage to impart.
[Daphne – Just switch Akkademja with Kunsill, for heaven’s sake. The meaning still holds true.]
Have you ever heard, Two with the lastas?
Gawxuwn is the caution triangle sign used at road sides to indicate that there are met at work
One question: those on the “irkotta” side by far number those on the “ricotta” side. Shouldn´t they be in government?
[Daphne – Why, have they formed a political party? Or do you imagine that the only people who vote for the Nationalist Party are those who say ricotta? The Big-Enders and the Little-Enders….source material for Jonathan Swift.]
Don’t cross the road how come come cause a car will fly you…. translation anyone? :-)
Gahan indeed.
… and if it flies you the car you will get a bad lettuce.
Bon weekend
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0VqTYrYncs
Bon weekend, lilek wkoll Lenart, siehbi.
@ BUSDRIVER: I fully concur with what you have written.
While we’re on this subject, why do most Maltese feel the need to speak to little children in English? As if Maltese was not appropriate for their innocent ears.
Please note I am not referring to people who can actually speak the language well. I refer to those who would not normally attempt to speak in English and when they do they make a complete mess.
[Daphne – It is out of genuine parental concern that their children will have fewer educational opportunities without English, and in this they are right. Yes, a few of them are just pretentious, but they are the few. The others are just worried. They don’t know enough to teach their children, but they are doing the best they can – and in this they are far better parents than the ones who determinedly stick to Maltese for political (as opposed to partisan) reasons or because of the chips on their shoulder. Getting through secondary and then tertiary education is difficult enough for most; for those who don’t know English it is a daily battle of frustration, with 70% of energy going into keeping up with the language and 30% on the actual subject. Can you imagine trying to write a dissertation when you have learned English (very badly) as a foreign language?]
And at least it prevents them getting chips on their shoulders about English
“Shoulder-chips-about-Maltese, anyone? Shoulder-chips-about-Maltese!” cried the street vendor under the scorching, merciless sun. But his hoarse voice was drowned in the hustle and bustle of the treeless Mediterranean piazza, where not even a line of shade was to be found.
From the cool penumbra of the central intercolumniation of the loggia on the farthest side of the piazza, a cold, bespectacled look spied the vendor. The man behind those spectacles, wearing spectator shoes, an ascot, and a hat that swallowed his head, was pitilessly waiting for the first client to approach the vendor.
http://pics.livejournal.com/andrea_sperelli/pic/000rbkrf/s320x240
It might prevent them getting any chips but it makes them incomprehensible to anyone but their own kind. Do you think anyone from the rest of the world can understand a phrase like “Don’t cross the road how come come cause a car will fly you”? (Thanks to Gahan for the quote).
Daphne, I would like to think you were right on this one. However, I think those worried parents would be better off buying their children a few books and showing them some good programmes on TV. My generation (before Melita Cable) mastered Italian that way.
[Daphne – This is actually what is happening with the new generation. The penetration of cable television into the Maltese market has done more to improve knowledge of spoken English among today’s children than anything else has done. I know one family, with parents who know no English at all, where the children speak English among themselves when they don’t want their parents to know what they’re saying. This is a kind of reversal of the situation in which, in my time at least, parents would speak Italian between themselves when they didn’t want their young children to know what was said. The mother in that family tells me that she’s delighted this has happened (though she gets annoyed when her 10-year-old, in rows, ‘insults’ her in English so that she doesn’t know what it means – though she can gather it’s an insult) but worries because their written English remains terrible, according to what teachers tell her – spelled phonetically.]
The problem with learning English from television (for which, read Nickelodeon, Cartoonito, Jim Jam and the like) is the American English that is picked up, along with the heavy “rolling Rs” and American expressions, some of which tend to be age-inappropriate.
An even bigger problem is that even those responsible for our children’s education don’t seem to see anything wrong in that. My children go to an independent school which relies heavily on worksheets prepared by designated teachers, meaning that English homework sometimes tends to include American English words like “sidewalk”, “highway” and the like, which – needless to say, my child does not understand, being more accustomed to the (British) English words “pavement” and “motorway”.
Judging by what I’ve seen happening with Maltese, we really are going to end up with a situation where we are no longer bi-lingual, but can just speak a mish-mash of two intermingled languages that can be understood by other Maltese.
I salute those parents!
If nothing else they prevent their children from developing that dreadful prejudice towards English which ultimately kills any chance of their achieving academic excellence. (Dear Lord, I’m going to get stoned to death for this, aren’t I?)
Any prejudice against any knowledge is the mark of ignorance and nothing will save such people. Smart people revel in knowledge of any kind. The ones who develop prejudice against English, Maltese or whatever are the same ones who will laugh off a fail in maths. They’ll achieve academic mediocrity at best.
A veritable confusio linguarum. A problem almost as old as the hills . And yet we can understand each other most of the time.
This is surprising but it is so.
I once had someone known as “il-granc” clean my “spakxin”,
Min jaf kemm kien fiha kokkrocc mela?
Mind you, kokkrocc and wirdien mean two different things in Maltese. Wirdiena is a large cockroach, usually about an inch long (haven’t measured one yet actually) and kokkrocc are the small, centimetre-long roaches that infest dirty kitchens (haven’t measured those either). I’m not sure if the latter are the young of the former or a different branch of the family – and I’m not asking.
Pat, you didn’t ask but are getting an answer anyway: they’re different species.
Imma l-awa li fhimtni Pat, dawk l-argumenti kollha ta’ dawk li jghidu irkotta min flokk rcotta.
Try correcting these instead?
a) giex twins, referring to 2 not 4 children
b) il-fluxxin ma hadimx
c) kardigun
OK darling, I’m stumped. What the heck is your “spakxin”? Why is it popular with crabs?
Spukxin is a corruption of ‘inspection’ – the exterior drainage hole that is opened and cleaned out when your drains are blocked.
While we’re at it a ‘vajringa’ is a fire engine.
We are moving on very thin ice here as this will bring out the hamallu in each and everyone of us !
Excuse me, dear Pat for feeling the urge to correct you. ”Fajer ingin” izjed cara. Hu l-aqwa li ftehmna, fuq kollhox.
I know most of you are not going to believe me, but I swear it’s true. A woman once told me that she only drinks defuckinated coffee.
Anna, you just saved my life; I was just going to commit suicide that is until I read your comment.
It’s so hilarious and it made me look on the bright side of life again. I think I will start smoking again after giving up for two weeks just to celebrate.
In any case that coffee saves her from high blood pressure.
The best one I heard at the grocer was when I was still a boy and MMU milk came in glass bottles. When flavoured milk was introduced, the colours were….interesting – bright pink and a strange pale, dirty brown. The grocer had a row of these bright pink and brown bottles standing next to bottles of natural milk.
An English lady walks and gasps, “Oh my god, what are these?”
The shop owner: “Ara, this is strawberry, this is chocolate and this one vanilla.”
[Daphne – You’re forgetting that vicious yellow banana flavour.]
I am probably writing against my better judgement because I expect nothing but ridicule and derision from some bloggers on this site who compensate their ignorance of linguistics by means of an air of superiority. They are free to do so, of course, “chi si accontenta gode”.
It seems this whole discussion about irkotta and rikotta started off because of the misconception that it is a case of metathesis (inversion of letters) by the “ignorant” section of the Maltese population who is the subject of derision by the illuminated contributors to this blog, preserve of the intellectual elite of the country. Actually the word is not “irkotta” but “rkotta”. In fact, we write, “xtrajna rkotta tajba” but “tini ftit irkotta” – the initial “i” is simply a euphonic vowel or vokali tal-lehen and not the “i” of the Italian “ricotta”. Euphonic vowels help to make words pronounceable.
Rkotta is, of course, from Italian “ricotta” and it has sustained syncope or elision of a vowel, the “i” of the Italian original. This happens all the time not only in Romance Maltese but also in Semitic Maltese e.g. Arabic kitab becomes ktieb dropping the first vowel “i”, “Ramadan” becomes “randan”, dropping the second vowel “a”. Now, in the same way that nobody would think of re-inserting these syncopated vowels in the Arabic originals back into Maltese, one does not see why it is thought so essential (or chic) to re-introduce them into Romance Maltese.
Having said that, I believe both rikotta and irkotta should be acceptable but the first, to my mind, betrays pedantry not social status. I speak and write Italian perfectly and I say irkotta but, of course, I am irredeemably working class and will not even dream of ever aspiring to belong to the same stratospheric class of those who say rikotta. Are the rikotta aristocrats now going to start saying “baril” instead of “barmil” (from Italian “barile”) because here we have a case of epenthesis (insertion of a sound)?
Perhaps before committing prejudices to writing, it might be advisable to research one’s subject and acquire some knowledge of linguistics. And no, I am not a fanatic of Maltese. I simply consider it, love it or hate, our native tongue, our national language. I was brought up speaking Maltese and speak very fluently and write correctly English, Italian and French.
Intelligent comment from someone who signs as Hypatia – the name Hypatia derives from the adjective ὑπάτη, the feminine form of ὕπατος (upatos), meaning “highest, uppermost, supremest” – and then says, ironically of course: “I am irredeemably working class and will not even dream of ever aspiring to belong to the same stratospheric class of those who say […]”
Brilliant, and cool.
I perfectly agree.
(Please see http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2010/05/25/oh-so-now-its-irkotta-is-it/#comment-118563)
Well said, Hypatia. ‘Stratospheric class’ is an apt description, given the nebulous space they seem to inhabit.
if Alan is Irish ….il-bennej was taking the mickey …. if Alan is Maltese il-bennej kien qed jigbidlu saqajh ……
I’m Maltese; and he was dead serious. Known him for years. Irrespectively, his word conjuring hit it spot on. It was also ‘spirtu pront’, as he struggled for a few seconds till he came up with his creation. Bellahni u faqani bid-dahq fl’istess hin.
Can anyone tell me why Maltese dog owners speak to their pets in English. They issue instructions like “sit”, “stand”, “give me your hand” (as if dogs have hands) in English, whatever language they normally speak.
[Daphne – I can help you with this one, even though my dogs are the worst behaved in Malta. You need to have single-syllable commands that can be issued sharply: Sit. Stand. Beg. Fetch. Go. Run. Down. You need several syllables to tell a dog to sit in Maltese.]
The monosyllabic argument does not hold water.
Dogs obey Italian commands:
SIT – seduto
STAY – fermo
DOWN – giù
The first two are not monosyllabic.
The reason must be another.
[Daphne – Yes, it’s this: try commanding a dog to ‘Poggi bil-qeghda’. By the time you’ve finished saying it, the friend you’ve just met has dirty paw-prints all over his shirt-front. Or ‘Mur gib il-lasta!’ I suppose if there had been a tradition of dog-training in Malta that wasn’t linked to the British, then we would have developed our own terminology. Dogs don’t actually understand the words – in the sense that they don’t hear ‘sit’ and think ‘oh, he’s telling me to sit down’. What they understand is the shape of the sound, so any one-syllable command will do. If the Italians use ‘seduto’ then they’re silly: they and their dogs would have been better off with ‘sed’. Fermo works, though, because the emphasis is on the first syllable and the second one is rapid. So we could have used sounds like ‘gib’, ‘baxx’ etc. Imxi would work – it does for other animals like donkeys – for the same reason that fermo does. The only dog-command known in Maltese is the Arabic ‘ghassalem’ – a harsh order to depart and never be seen again – and the only reason dogs obey it is because it is always accompanied by hostile body language and sometimes thrown objects.]
As our, ahem, ex-PM Emperor Charles V used to say:
“I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to men, and German to my horse.”
And “Xubgħalieħ” which is an attack order, wherever that came from, maybe a corruption of “ħebb ghalieħ”?
Another interesting observation which might also be due to the monosyllabic nature of the words are the commands shouted out in our army.
We still use “Left”, “Right”, “Eyes left/right”, “Fire” etc. So much for Jum il-ħelsien.
[Daphne – Again, for the same reason as with dogs: they’re more efficient. Left/right are single syllable commands and so serve the purpose much better than ‘Xellug/lemin’. A sergeant-major who yells out ‘xellug/lemin’ uses up twice as much time and energy as one who yells ‘left/right’. When you’re repeating the words over and over again to keep soldiers marching, that’s important. Ghajnejn ghax-xellug = five syllables. Eyes left = two syllables. I can’t see why you find it so offensive anyway: the structure of our army is 100% British. If we’re going to be upset at using anything that’s British, we majtezwel scrap the whole thing and model ours on some other military system.]
Since Italian was mentioned, this is was the Italian military uses:
sinist dest sinist dest
alt
dietrofront
avanti, march
They all tend toward the monosyllabic.
JP, never knew the Italian army had a word for advance. All their tanks had back up lights.
Daphne, I don’t find it offensive, just quaint and interesting, I love language too, and find it fascinating how English and Maltese intertwine in our daily lives. I said so much for “Jum il-ħelsien” because it was a Maltese soldier who is standing by the British one on the famous “għolja” in Birgu.
The dog doesn’t know the meaning of the word. You can ask the dog to ‘sit’ when you want him to ‘stand’. He will ‘stand’ and obey, only because he associates the ‘sound’ of the word spoken with a reward/punishment and not because he knows the true meaning of the word. It could be made in English, Italian or Chinese.
The former (reward) proved to be more efficient, besides being kinder. It is by rewarding the dog, in any form, such as making a fuss of him, as in a cuddle, giving him a tasty snack, or taking him for a walk, that he responds to commands. Once the command is repeated, time and time again it becomes part of the dog’s ‘language’ so to speak.
A habit is formed and there to stay, unless thought otherwise. Repetition is the name of the game. Again, the dog will respond to the word ‘ghassalem’ only because a dog can scent fear/anger, as a result of hostility, as you aptly put it.
In the case of a dog, unlike homo sapiens, however, whether you say, irkotta/ircotta or arkotta or sit, doesn’t make any difference to him. You can also tell him to ”ghassa l’hawn” if you want him to leave, again, he will leave only because you instil fear. Peter Neville, a leader in dog behaviour, says, that the best words to use in commands are those shorter ones such as sit, come, go. This because a dog cannot concentrate for a long period.
[Daphne – Eh mela, so I was right about the one-syllable commands. I hoped you would put in here and back me up on it.’Seduto’ indeed – trust the Italians.]
It could also be that, since the English were amongst the first and best, to date, to study and train in the therapy of pet behaviour, that their style, including the words chosen, are those most commonly used worldwide.
Furthermore their exhibitions of canine behaviour, in shows, such as, Crufts, which is considered to be the greatest dog show on earth, be it that of a gundog. a working dog or a guide dog for the blind are the most popular and wanted worldwide
Harry, that was uncalled for… for the sake of a tired joke you’re dissing men who the Germans used as cannon fodder.
Purdie, heard anything about your new Kanak flag? It’s now got a white cross on a white background.
not really – poggi consists of only two.
@ Daphne
You are wrong saying that your dogs are the worst behaved in Malta. Next time you visit your parents come and have a look at mine. All three of them. You will change your mind.
@ il cop, thats because you spoil them too much.
I can’t stop laughing and crying at the same time!
I have been in IT all my life and the things people say are amazing.. for example, two fat ladies interested in a notebook computer asked me “Kemm huma dawn il-laptows, hi?”
Another time somebody asked me “Ghandek imodiums?” – modems.
Or how about “Kemm fih windows dan hi?” to which I answered “Tnejn tal-aluminjum u wahda ta’ l-injam”.
Can anyone explain to me why “pjazza” became “misrah”, “nazzjonijiet uniti” is referred to as “gnus maghquda”, and everybody says “hidma” and not xoghol”?
Loredana – Oooh, so you called “il-granc” to clean your “spakxin”? Sounds erotic.
Erotic? Not really: reminds me of crab lice.
Granc was actually a really nice guy, whose biggest disappointment in life was that his son did not take over the family business (the skakxin cleaning) and became a SURGEON instead. His comment was – “X’jaghmlulek dawn it-tfal.”
The Beatles were at the pinnacle of their success and had just hit the charts with the glorious “All you need is love” – sweet music to a lovesick group of teenagers in my seaside village.
Rediffusion gave the tune all the prominence it so richly deserved and we hummed the refrain “….love is all you need”.
Our friend emerged from the house next door having followed the same tune on his set. He instantly broke into song and merrily repeated the refrain as “…labizzorju”. It was enough to dampen our rampant hormones no end.
Any other examples of mangled tunes anyone?
The first part of the lyric “Rich was she/Came from a very high family” was translated into the name (yes, someone called their daughter this): Richwashe.
I must admit I’m not 100% sure about this, but it’s certainly possible.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZA1NoOOoaNw
A misheard lyrics video of an Indian song. Very funny.
Rover, you really must watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UU5_M2gb6Y
It’s a satirical programme broadcast on Argentine TV. The opening text says “The songs that marked a moment in your life are back… those you heard in perfect English, and which when you sang yourself you could hardly pronounce…”, and later on in the video: “Roberto Kenedi is back; the man who sings in crappy English.”
Lovely.
And then there’s Celentano’s famous song, “Prisencolinensinainciusol”.
Mela ismgha dawn.Tnejn fil-bahar u wahda il l’ ohra biex timpressjona kemm taf bl-Ingliz qaltila “Sharon, does it reaches you there?’ – tfisser jilhaqlekk hemm il-bahar.
L-ohra l-istess biex tghidli li il-habiba tieghi tigi minnha qaltli, “Don’t you know that she comes from me?”
Nibku jew nithqu?
Pippo, kif ngħidu bil-Malti… biex tiskonġra trid tkun pur!
Daqsxejn banali li tikteb messaġġ mimli żbalji mill-bidu sal-aħħar… biex tiddieħaq b’xi ħadd li ma jafx jitkellem!
(ismgha→isma’, waħda il l’ oħra→waħda lill-oħra/waħda ’l-oħra, qaltila→qaltilha, jilħaqlekk→jilħaqlek, li il-ħabiba→ li l-ħabiba, nitħqu→nidħqu… u biex ma nsemmux bahar→baħar, Ingliz→Ingliż, jilhaqlek→jilħaqlek, ohra→oħra, tghidli→tgħidli, tigi→tiġi, nithqu→nidħqu)
Out of the mouths of babes (Primary Year 4):
Sharpener + Temprina = Xamprina
Singular – Par buts (boots) Plural – zewg pari bwiets
Bwiets is actually very widely used by lajbrijiet, especially those in government employment. And once I heard a conversation between two of these in which one of them was querying the use of petrol in AFM patrol boats as it was more expensive than diesel.
Ghidila “bye” il-lady~~!!
That comment reminded me of a question I have. Why do Maltese casual aquaintances, when approaching each other on, say, a power walk on the Sliema front, say ‘bye’ rather than ‘Hi’?
The first time that happened to me (years ago), I suspected she didn’t like my deodorant. When I asked her why ‘bye’, she said she didn’t know.
[Daphne – How odd. I never thought of that. I suppose it’s a way of telling the people they meet to keep going. ‘Hi!’ would be considered an invitation to stop and chat.]
In the Maltese village I lived, almost everyone said ‘Bye!’ instead of ‘Hi!’ (besides ‘Orrite, he!’ of course). I thought that was a translation from Maltese into English and that probably one and the same word expresses ‘Hi!’ and ‘Bye!’ in Maltese. Guess I was wrong here.
A lot of people also said ‘wake up!’ when they actually meant ‘get up!’ (that really confused me at times–). Very often people said ‘shining’ instead of ‘shy’. I found that expression sweet but also a bit contradictory.
Good point, Daphne, never thought of that. However, I would have thought that the majority of people I meet (let me describe them as ‘pleasantly plump’) would welcome an opportunity to stop, chat and catch their breath.
Good question, Harry.
When you hear “Bye”, people are saying: “Hi, excuse me for not stopping to chat; we see each other at this same spot every day, and added to that, I’m going to meet tens of people I know over the next hour, so it would be impossible to stop and chat with each and every one of them… and anyway, we don’t know each other that much after all, so if we do stop for a chat it’s highly unlikely that we discuss something vitally important… so please be understanding, and I’m pretty sure you are; however please do take note of the fact that I did actually see you, rather than being a snob and pretending not to have seen you at all… bye!”
However this is said very rapidly, usually in a single breath… so someone passing by would normally hear only the last word!
Thank you, Edward, that helps. I love the Maltese and felt a bit ‘snubbed’. I will, however, still say ‘Hi’, wink, and wait for the ‘bye’.
… and from the surgery:
Cold cream = concrete
Varicose veins = very close veins
endometriosis = trabbieli l-qatran
period = imperial as in gieni l-imperial
a really really bad cold = bronkiter pulmoniter seven seater
liquorice = liker ix-xorrox
thermometer = il-lapes tad-deni
arthritis = intrite
cartilage = kartrig
Our fellow islanders, Jamaicans, have corrupted the English language to the point a whole genre of music has been founded on it. Sometimes you can’t understand what they are saying, but they seem to understand each other perfectly well.
I think we can all agree Jamaicans, as a nation of people, are unique in this world and the way they speak forms an integral part of their national identity. The result is a language which combines their African roots with their more recent colonial history. Maybe there’s something we can learn from them.
Stephanie Testaferrata
We shouldn’t copy Jamaicans because, unlike them, we have long had our own language which is distinct from English. Maltese has always been spoken by more or less the entire population of Malta and therefore, while respecting what Jamaicans have achieved, considering their situation, we should strive to keep Maltese and English separate rather than combining them into one bastardised language.
Isn’t Maltese already a bastardised language?
Maybe the word “liminal” works great for “in-between” in English. Or perhaps, “betwixt”. I use the former to describe transitional psychological or emotional states. Liminal comes from limnus, being I believe il-gebla tax xewka… or that huge stone above a door…
I always assumed liminal to be a conceptual boundary.
e.g.: ceiling is a liminal boundary between the living space and the upper floor/roof
The shore is a liminal space between land and sea
The concept the builder was trying to convey was the centre of an opening and by definition the centre is not liminal as it is surrounded by the same conceptual space.
Sometimes even if you don’t twist words, you have to be careful how to use them. For example, what about the genius who thought of the latest advertisement “Paljazza b’xejn ma kull….” It is written in very large letters on a number of billboards.
[Daphne – They chose the wrong word for another reason, too: paljazza is a ‘townie’ word, used around the Grand Harbour area, Sliema etc, and almost exclusively by the middle classes. Most people say ‘il-bicca tal-platti’, shortened to ‘bicca’. Lots of people don’t even know what a paljazza is – round where I live, for example, nobody does.]
Haz-Zebbug nuzaw bicca tal-platti jew paljazza. Paljazza tista’ tfisser ukoll dik il-persuna li taghmel dizunur lil familja taghha u kull razza ghanda wahda. U bicca hija “sanitary towel”.
It reminds me of peduni as opposed to kalzetti.
Peduni=socks
Kalzetti=stockings
In siggiewi we use manxri (cloth lines) but I know many outside town who don’t know what it means (Sliema, Birkirkara…).
[Daphne – You’d be surprised. I call it ‘manxar’. To anyone who knows the specific verb for hanging out wet laundry, it’s quite obvious what it means. And in my experience, everyone uses that verb. I have yet to hear anyone say: Mur dendel il-hwejjeg fuq il-bejt. And I grew up in Sliema.]
How about, Vince forever- cens perpetwu
Per ezempju jien nghid ‘peduni’ u mhux ‘kalzetti’. Kalzetti ghalija huma ‘tights’.
[Daphne – Jien ukoll.]
There must be some funny stories linked to movies. These are straight from the horse’s mouth: someone had just seen a movie about a nasty Roman emperor, Kalagula; another had been to watch an erotic Italian movie called La Costituzione, when it was actually La Seduzione.
A couple of dear ladies coming out of the Embassy cinema after watching Jaws and one telling the other “Imma tax-xadina kien aktar helu”, referring to the movie King Kong which was showing at the Coliseum. And then there was the gentleman who, frustrated by the slow pace of one particular movie, exclaimed, “Dul-film jismu Tora! Tora! Tora! imma ma tora xejn”.
It’s spreading fast.
mlatasart.com, timesofmalta.com, now the MIA weather page. Today’s forecast as at 1515 hrs :
“Cloudy with some bright intervals becoming cloudy with some rain later in night.”
http://www.maltairport.com/weather/page.asp?p=17148&l=1
Continuing with the language theme on this blog:
http://maltapark.com/item.asp?ItemID=726486
“Iva, hi, ir-Rivers Moses ghal bejgh.”
This subject keeps provoking memories and takes me down memory lane. I remember when the Nationalist government (Guido era) started to recruit woman officers into the police force.
One girl came out of the interview-room and met her friend, who was waiting to be interviewed. The friend asked loudly: “Kif mort fl-intercourse?” and everybody in the room burst into even louder laughter.
Of course we Maltese have assimilated an English word into Maltese which the English themselves know nothing about. Try telling an English person that you have a puncture but luckily you have a “stepney”. He/she will be mystified.
This word for spare wheel doesn’t exist in English (except as a toponym for a London district). The explanation: in the early days of Maltese motoring, tyres were made in Stepney and had “STEPNEY” embossed on them!
[Daphne – http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/qPgTiS8fQ6SeIqZLvZVfXQ%5D
When I studied Maltese grammar and that was some 55 years ago we were taught that the consonants are divided into 2 groups – ix-xemxin u l-qamrin. The first are those which take the first letter of the word with the article : ez xemx becomes ix-xemx and not il-xemx.
The xemxin consonants are the C D N R S T X Z hence we say ic-cintorin, id-dublett etc. The qamrin keep the traditional article which is l- hence we say il-buttuna, il-furnar,il-garigor,il=karrettun, il-lampa, il-hanut. il-martell, il-papocc, il-qamar, il-vapur, il-wirdiena u iz=zokk (bit-tikka_.
The word rikotta belongs to the xemxin group thus the article takes the first letter of the word ” r” and hence should read ir-rikotta, but some xemxin consonants take the ” i ” when they take the definite article. Hence STRINA becomes l-istrina and rikotta becomes l-irkotta and that is why we say pastizz ta’ l-irkotta.
All time classic – Flatsijiet!
I hate that word with a passion however I was told that it’s a collective noun, referring to a number of blocks of flats.
How about ‘nisprenja’ or ‘nifflittja’? Flit was (is?) a very popular insecticide apparently.
Having a baby is referred to by many Maltese as “Tixtri tarbija”. All well and good – a harmless euphemism, but this midwife comes out of the delivery room and tells the nervous father: “Il-mara xtrat tifla; seven pounds”. Overjoyed, the father replies “Fejn inhallas jekk joghgbok?”
On a slightly different subject, but connected to this I suppose, why do I get annoyed when I hear someone speaking (let’s call it acceptable) English in a heavy Maltese accent? It seems to happen every time some non-Maltese TV or radio journalist interviews some Maltese politician, historian or expert of sorts. To be fair it is equally annoying when in the same scenario the accent is patently Maltese convent school.
When I speak English I try to not to have an accent at all, and I was once told it sounded like a Scandinavian speaking English. I am still not sure if that was good or bad.
The strange thing is that it doesn’t sound so annoying when you hear a Lebanese or an Egyptian speaking in accented English, in spite of it sounding very similar.
Continuing on the butchering of car parts in Maltese : what is a “makeinbreak” (phonetic spelling !) ? I have spent endless hours (no, not sleepless nights) poring over car handbooks trying to make out what this is but no luck……
It’s the cut-out
That’s actually quite correct pronounciation, since in English it would be “make and break”, a descriptive name for the function of the distributor points.
Nowadays, it’s an obsolete system since practically all modern cars have electronic ignition, but in a nutshell it refers to the operation of a set of contacts which open and close in time with the firing of the engine. Each time the contacts open, the current in the primary circuit of the step-up coil collapses suddenly, which in turn induces a high voltage in the secondary circuit which is fed to the spark plug. This occurs at every power stroke in each cylinder, hence this arrangement being called the “make and break”, since it works by making and breaking an electrical circuit.
Here are some other motoring related gems for your enjoyment:
“IL-GARDEN SHAFT” – from “cardan shaft”(so called because it has a cardan joint) also known as the propeller shaft, or prop shaft for short.
“IL-HORSE PIPE” (hose pipe)
“IL-VAMPER” (bumper)
“IL-MAIN GUARD” jew “MED GARR” (mud guard – but only in England or Australia. In the USA it’s called a fender)
“IX-XOKKABSOWBERS” (shock absorbers – which is not strictly correct since they are more properly called ‘dampers’ anyway)
“IL-GERWILA” (the gear wheel, specifically the one which transmits power from the starter motor to the flywheel)
“IS-SAFE STARTER” (self starter)
“IL-BOCCA TA’ WARA” (the differential, obviously because it looks like a spherical thing in the middle of the rear axle)
“IL-BUXU” (Peugeot)
“IC-CINTURIN” (Citroen)
“IL-FIART” (FIAT)
“IL-GAGWART” (Jaguar)
“IL-MAJSEDES” (Mercedes)
“IL-MITTSU BIXXU” (Mitsubishi)
“IT-TAJOTA” (Toyota)
“IL-KEVIN CRUISER” (Cabin cruiser .. lol)
“L-INXUREN” jew “L-INSURJANS” (Insurance)
“QASAMLI LONG SIDE” (the other driver veered on the wrong side of the road)
“KEMM GHANDHA HORSE POWER DIL-KAROZZA?” (Actually enquiring about engine capacity, not power, which for some reason got eternally muddled up here in Malta)
Oh, and by the way, the actual correct maltese pronounciation for fire engine is “FAJR ENGER” .. lol
No. Singular = flEtt, plural = flETTsijiet.
Dear daphne, shouldn’t the title of the group of dogs, mainly used for hunting, collectively known as a Gundog Group, or those created for working, collectively known as a Working Group, be in capital letters please. They are names/titles of groups, aren’t they?
[Daphne – OK, you’ve touched on one of those sore points: Capitalisation Of Words That Are Not Proper Nouns, Like Managing Director And General Manager. An Alsatian is a working dog, not a Working dog. Exceptions are sometimes made to the rule about proper nouns (names of places and people etc), but it’s only with some newspapers (including the London broadsheets) and involves things like Parliament, the Government and the Opposition. You would have government, but when referring to the Government, it gets a capital letter. But it’s not a rule; it’s a matter of choice. I do it myself with the Opposition (but not the government), and then only because writing ‘the opposition’ is unclear – it could be any sort of opposition, like Astrid Vella’s group opposing the Valletta theatre. There’s no such confusion about the government.]
@overestimated Shakspeare: wow, I did not expect anyone to see through the irony but you did! Congratulations. I am sure you know who the 4th century Alexandria (Egypt) philosopher/astronomer/mathematician was if you are so well-versed in Greek – as you say, the name Hypatia means “highest, consummate”.
She is one of my favourite historical figures of all time and I was delighted they made a movie about her called “Agora”. The movie contains some inaccuracies and quite a dose of poetic licence but gives the general impression of the life and vicissitudes of this fascinating woman.
I would suggest to all women and open-minded persons to watch the movie. She was murdered by a Christian mob on the rampage for her free thinking. Her free spirit, combined with her gender, was considered intolerable by this Christian mob who blamed her for the religious discord gripping Alexandria at that time. This lynching seems to be a metaphor for the verbal lynching sustained by “non-conformist” thinkers (read “secular”) in Malta.
The work done by an Alsatian is the adjective, as it describes what the noun (Alsatian) does, hence it is known to be a working dog. I asked/said whether the title, Working Group i.e. all the breeds known to be ‘working dogs’, grouped together, that should begin with a capital letter. Same as, Working, Gundog, Hound, Utility, Terrier,Toy and Pastoral, Groups, are the titles/names, only.
The Origin and Name of the breed: You referred to the German Shepherd Dog, commonly known as the GSD or the Shepherd, as an Alsatian. The name, Alsatian, was invented by British only because they despised anything German, during the First World War. The origin of the breed is German. It was founded by a German cavalry captain, Rittmeister Max von Stephanitz who is credited as the father of the breed.
Top international Judges of the G.S.D., like Hans Lehtinen from Finland, Terry Thorn and Bobby James, the latter two both dead, from England, always insisted that the best G.S.D’s. were those, bred to type, according to the German Breed Standard.
singular – flett
plural – flettijiet not flettsijiet
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