"Qabel kont nohrog bir-rollers u issa ma nistghax" – Michelle Muscat
Starting last night, I have been absolutely besieged with text messages and phone calls asking me to write about what appears to have been a thoroughly absurd performance by the Labour leader’s wife on Super One television.
She was the star guest on John Bundy’s throwback-to-the-1960s show, ‘Nisa ta’ Success’ (coming up next season: Pufti ta’ Success, Suwed ta’ Success and Immankati ta’ Success, but that all depends on whether he can find a pufta who owns a toyshop, a sewda who lives with Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando and an immankata who teaches home economics. If he’s really lucky, he’ll find the legendary one-legged Jewish lesbian and she’ll sing opera AND vote Labour.
By the time I got anywhere near a television, I’d missed the entire segment featuring Michelle Muscat with a chavtastic up-do ta’ tieg tac-criecer (one description I got by text), telling us how she is no longer able to go out wearing rollers now that she and Joseph move in rarefied circles and their children go to school ma’ tfal ta’ certu klassi (you know, fejn kienu mmorru t-tfal ta’ Defni, ta – not that she’d say it, of course, but you can bet your last Carmen roller that she’s thinking it) and how ghandhom dog u jiehdu for a walk.
I’ve noticed that it’s become the thing for those chavtastic circles to speak that way, mangling Maltese and English like there’s no tomorrow, without the slightest bit of shame or embarrassment and totally unaware of just how crass they sound.
I also missed most of the second segment, featuring John Bundy’s choice of the Maltese political equivalent of British footballer WAGs (Wives and Girlfriends) with inch-thick make-up and spray-on tan to match. There they were: the famous and successful wife and girlfriend of Jesmond Mugliett and Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, Rabat toyshop magnate Marlene Mizzi, the amateur dancer girlfriend of somebody or other, and….Miriam Gauci.
So I watched the last bit and then I knew why everyone was texting and calling like mad, the women among them telling me that they were sitting on the sofa totally transfixed and shrieking ‘Oh. My. God.’ It was UNBELIEVABLE. The amazingly successful Rabat toyshop magnate even told us that she gave birth to her managing director – imagine that, the managing director of a bleeding toyshop, for heaven’s sake – and that she comes from a familja tal-business because her nanna had a hanut tal-MATERJALI.
Jesus wept. Her grandmother was a draper and Mrs Mizzi doesn’t know that it’s a hanut tad-drappijiet. Worse still, she talks and behaves as though ‘shopkeeper’ is a dirty and unmentionable word and bangs on about her ‘business’, her mother’s business and her grandmother’s business, when what we are talking about here is a Rabat draper, a Rabat dress-shop and a Rabat toyshop.
Talking about ‘successful women’ as though ‘successful women’ are freakishly unusual and worthy of special note, like dogs that sing while walking on their hind legs, is bad enough. But when the bar for success is set so low for Super One women, then I know why Labour says it is progressive – because it really has a very long way to go.
So when I have some time I’m going to watch the whole show on di-ve and remind myself yet again that the real division in Malta is not political, which is why the WAGs of PN backbenchers fitted right in and so did Miriam Gauci, for all her years of jet-setting and La Scala-ing.
And then, to really round off the Austin-Powers-era effect, John Bundy – get the man a well-cut suit, somebody – handed them each a single rose and asked them how they managed to keep themselvesso sbieh with all their impenji. And not one of them politely told him where to stick it. Instead they simpered and giggled like 1950s schoolgirls. So painful.
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I don’t think I can be described as a cercur (not that I would mind) but I watched bits of Michelle Muscat’s interview and she looked fine to me. She was natural and the only thing that I did not like was her lapses into English when Maltese would have done so well. She also did not mention that her 2 daughters go to an expensive private school – not the sort that those who cannot pay the electricity bills would send their children to.
‘she looked fine to me’. Clearly, she wasn’t out in her rollers.
Read her correctly and inferiority complex screams out .
Did John Bundy asked them if their businesses or shops flourished during the past 20 years or so? My grandma was in business owing shops and properties during the seventies.I tell you they made her life hell,requisitioning property,to give to “Il-Batut” or better still “L-ghazzien “.
Ignoramus Bundy gives Mrs Muscat a bouquet of flowers and Miriam Gauci – used to dressing-roomfuls of flowers – one single rose.
now you know why many couldn’t fathom the idea of voting for divorce as these morons did….I could never see myself in agreement with this crowd
Miriam Gauci is oh so head and shoulders above all the rest. I was pleasantly surprised to hear her say that she is from Birgu and that she spent a good chunk of her childhood living with her grannie who she used to call ‘mama’. In many working class families the boundaries between mother, grandmother/aunt were very hazy… at least as I remember it when I was very young.
Just thinking that these people might some day be the ruling class of my beloved country,gives me the shivers.
The bright side of it is,even though I am quite advanced in age,it gives me energy and drives me to keep on doing my utmost to see my party back in office.
I admit that we have many defects,and we have become arrogant,but all is not lost.We have to keep on advocating changes,even if some might be painfull.
I am still optimistic,that in spite of all we might still make it and people like Bundy and his ridiculous guests are helping our cause. Keep it up Bundy,you are a great help.
Well said, Silvio. During the last couple of months I have been inclined to disagree with some of your comments. This time round a big prosit to you and to those who will do all in their power to retain the PN in office.
The government has scored many goals. Unfortunately some auto-goals are being blown out of proportion. Keep scoring against the opposing team. Prosit, Silvio !
It is nice to note that you have, at last, started to agree with me (and it only took a couple of months). That shows signs of maturity.
I would like to leave you with something MarkTwain wrote in his book Tom Sawyer:
“When I was 14 years old I thought my father was a silly man. When I got to be 18, I was surprised how much he had learned in just 4 years.”
Daphne,you really have to have a tremendous amount of patience to be able to sit through a programme such as this.
I would never watch John Bundy’s pathetic show but as I was zapping to find something ‘wert-it’ on local stations (failed attempt) I came across Michelle saying that the school she used to go to in th ’80’s was better equipped than all these new schools that the government is opening. Would you believe it – she is part of the PL strategy to make the horrendous Mintoffian years of the ’80s defined as being the best era of Maltese history. I zapped out before you could say WTF.
Sorry to be off topic as I sometimes am: http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110625/local/exclusive.372352
What makes what Ms. Jolie says any more news worthy than what most of us here have been saying for aeons?
Because of who she is she has better access to a wider audience, so look at the situation as a blessing in disguise .
She is bound to have a more attentive audience than others. If her brain matches her beauty she just may make life more tolerable for some poor souls .
Because she’s famous and, I’ll hazard, better looking than you are and so better able to draw attention to people who most of the world would rather ignore.
The ghastly Cheetah dress of the singer sets up what follows. Can somebody explain to some of these wannabes that repeatedly saying ” OVVJAMENT” makes for painful listening and shows a lack of linguistic skills.
Daphne says:
‘Nisa ta’ Success’ (coming up next season: Pufti ta’ Success, Suwed ta’ Success and Immankati ta’ Success.
Your overall argument (that even having a program called ‘Nisa ta’s Success’ is innately patronising) is pretty much lost when you chose to use the words pufti and immankati in the same paragraph. You don’t need to stoop to that level to substantiate your argument, and doing so doesn’t make you look ‘cool’ either. It makes you look like someone who is approaching a mid-life crisis, starts wearing lots of bling, has their first tattoo, hangs out in the ghetto and calling random people “yo wassup n****r”.
[Daphne – Sigh. And sigh again. It’s IRONIC. It’s how people think, who think like this. Hence ‘Bundy’s ladies’ (chicks), the roses, the questions about how they look after their appearance, and the rest. The equivalent thinking for chicks/ladies is yes, pufti and immankati. And amazingly, Marlene Mizzi actually said it on television the other day: ‘Mela jien iswed?’ and immediately realised what she’d done and came over all confused and apologetic. Before you fly off the handle, remember you’re talking to somebody who has had to put up with gender-based prejudice, sexist remarks and sexist thinking in Malta for 30 years.]
The program title and concept might be patronising; but after many years spent personally agonising about the whole subject of ‘patronisation’ I’ve come to the decision that feeling patronised says more about the person feeling like that, than about the person whos actions are being criticised.
I’d have no problem with a program called “Successful Gays”… I’d find it amusing- it would probably be filled with stereotypical queens, and their success would obviously be subjective so I wouldn’t waste an hour of my life watching it.
It’s as simple as.
[Daphne – Patronising is the wrong word. Bloody stupid and irritating are the right ones. When you have spent 20 years being talked past by tradesmen, salesmen, workmen, craftsmen who pointedly address The Man, you will know exactly what I mean. I once had one tradesman say to my husband, with me standing right there five inches away, “Ara, spjegala kif X, Y, Z.” One minute (and one rocket beneath his butt) later, he had rapidly revised his thinking and narrowly escaped being fired. But here’s the thing, gay men DON’T know what women mean when they talk about REAL prejudice and ingrained attitudes of disparagement, because gay men are, above all, men. And in the hierarchy of human beings, gay men come way ahead of women.]
Arrrgggggg….
“The equivalent thinking for chicks/ladies is yes, pufti and immankati”
no it’s not! The words pufti and immankati are used as direct insults even for people who are neither gay nor disabled, Hence why they are insulting to gay people and disabled people.
[Daphne – Chick is extremely insulting, Mr Ferriggi, but you would have to be a woman at the receiving end to know that. To be a woman in a group of people where the men – generally of a certain age – are being rude and sexist about women and talking about ‘chicks’ is a whole lot worse than being a gay man in a group of people where the other men are talking about pufti. And do you know why? Because straight men will never talk about pufti if they know there’s a gay man with them, but they have no problem at all talking about chicks and being really rude about women generally when there are women around. Anzi, it encourages them. I rush to point out that this is a very particular type of man, but still, there are enough of them around to make certain social occasions totally unbearable. The aim of ‘chick’, ‘pufta’ and ‘immankata’ is the same: to demean, belittle and insult.]
Irrespective of how many gazillion years you spent being irreparably put down by chauvinistic-bigoted-illiterate-hamalli, and wot not – it does not justify stooping down to that same level… if anything it should have thought you NOT TO do so. What I find ironic is that you position yourself as having gone through these tragedies – and then claim poetic license to indulge in ‘common’ disrespect.
[Daphne – I imagine we’re not on the same wavelength here. Think Alex Vella Gera’s story which ended up in court because the Police Commissioner and the university rector couldn’t recognise a literary device when it hit them between the eyes.]
I have a lot of respect for you. A lot of it actually stems from seeing you weather through the tripe levelled at you in the ‘sahhara’ years. That to me is a ‘successful person’. In this case though I think you are plain wrong; hopefully you will see it later on down the line if your pride prevents you from seeing it now.
[Daphne – If you imagine that the sort of people who work at Super One don’t think in terms of pufti and immankati, then it is quite obvious that you haven’t lived here in Malta for a while. And while the women they like are ‘lejdis’, the women they don’t like are ‘dik il-qahba’. As for the tripe levelled at me in the ‘sahhara’ years, you should use the present tense not the past because it is now actually a lot worse than it ever was, and it’s also a lot more serious than mere tripe.]
taught*
“As for the tripe levelled at me in the ‘sahhara’ years, you should use the present tense not the past because it is now actually a lot worse than it ever was, and it’s also a lot more serious than mere tripe”
ouch, I dread to think :(
“I imagine we’re not on the same wavelength here. Think Alex Vella Gera’s story which ended up in court because the Police Commissioner and the university rector couldn’t recognise a literary device when it hit them between the eyes”
Food for thought… though the link between those people and my criticsm of your choice of words is unwarranted. I am all in favour of less legislatimg and even lesser enforcement, and more inclined towards personal responsibility and respect. I found that particular choice of words distasteful, still do, but I think debate is the best way forward.
Anyway, been an interesting exchange – time for bed now though!
I think you’re slightly mistaken on your idea of the use of the word chick. To me, it is on par with dude, to an extent (Chick has connotations of youth- maybe that is ONE reason you find it disagreeable. Another reason could be that the men of a certain generation you refer to misuse it to refer to their female peers, which is somewhat odd and silly). I would never use it to describe a WOMAN of my generation but would have no problem in asking my 16 year old nephew if he’s dated any nice chicks lately. I think it boils down to the idea of descriptive grammar and interpretation, which unfortunately, many people have no idea about.
[Daphne – Sorry, Mr Smith, but you’re totally wrong. Chick is a demeaning and belittling word for women first used in the Austin Powers era (the real one) as a direct response to feminisim. Women were up in arms and men fought back with the passive-aggressive ‘chick’. Then it stuck. It is about as young and contemporary as ‘way-out’ and ‘man alive’. But the reason it survived is that it is a weapon used by men against women. A man feels threatened, even if he doesn’t know it, and a woman becomes a chick. If you have a 16-year-old nephew, then you are a man of my generation, which makes you chick territory, though by far the worst offenders are those a little bit older, who are still struggling to contend with the fact that the world they grew up to expect, in which women stayed home and obeyed, has been turned upside down. The clue to what sort of word ‘chick’ is lies in the fact that only men use it, and women who think other women’s behavour is ridiculous and demeaning (the chicks on Super One last Friday night, for instance). I have three sons in their 20s and never heard them use the word chick, nor did I ever use it with them to ask who they’re dating. The very idea horrifies me because ‘dating chicks’ turns them into commodities, like ‘having a drink’. When their father, a member of the chick generation, once used the word in precisely that context, they rubbished the archaism and reminded him that it’s the 21st century. If I might say so, you’re a bad example to your nephew and going on what I know about boys that age, he probably privately thinks you’re a bit of a embarrassing jerk, but can’t tell you so to your face. You’d be better off teaching him how to treat women with respect, and that starts with not thinking of them as chicks. If you know he’s not gay, then you could just ask him if he’s dating anyone. The fact that the date is a girl is assumed. And if you don’t know he’s not gay for sure, then I would suggest that you shut up about the chicks until you find out. Lecture over.]
Why is it OK for a black person to refer to another black person as nigger without the risk of having their William shot off? (that was rhetorical).
[Daphne – Am I allowed to say ‘duh’? Because BOTH OF THEM ARE BLACK. But when a man calls a woman a chick, they are not both women. A woman will call another woman a chick to her face to tease if she’s behaving like an idiot (like a black person calling another black person a nigger), but when a man does it, it’s a grave insult: like a white person calling a black person a nigger.]
Now if we were talking about ‘babe’ or ‘broad’…different kettle of fish…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJDsr0qmVKo
[Daphne – Same difference. ‘Babe’ is only tolerable in an intimate relationship, and nobody uses ‘broad’ in Malta.]
[Daphne – …Because straight men will never talk about pufti if they know there’s a gay man with them, but they have no problem at all talking about chicks and being really rude about women generally when there are women around].
Hmm…I never thought of that, but you’re right. Then again, I would never call a woman a “chick”.
Just for the record, I am definitely of your generation and my nephew is in his 30s. I don’t think I ever discussed his dating life with him, it was just an example. As for the nigger comment and the Dudley Moore clip, well of course duh. Does context and implied meaning mean nothing to you?
[Daphne – What Dudley Moore clip? You didn’t have to tell me you’re of my generation. You sound exactly like one: chicks telghin u chicks niezlin. Only a man of my generation or a bit older would ask his young nephew whether he’s dating any chicks (cue inward groan from the nephew).]
As for archaic, almost definitely. But that is all it is. If you feel ‘horrified’, it’s probably because you are most probably slightly anal.
[Daphne – No, it’s because for all my adult life I have had to contend with idiots like you, talking and behaving as though women are chicks and expecting us to talk and behave like chicks. Then, when they get me instead of all the silly women who go ahead and oblige, they decide to change tack after I break their balls with a couple of comments – and then I’m anal. Or a bitch. Or a lesbian (serious insult, that). Or a man-hater. And you know what the really odd thing is? They keep coming back for more while the chicks sit around wondering what my secret is. ]
I thought Mrs Muscat was ok and much better then her husband who I do not like .
He doesn’t wear rollers outside the house either, but she’s not the party leader. So what does it matter who of the two you like or don’t?
“He doesn’t wear rollers outside the house either….”
Maybe he wears the rollers INSIDE the house.
Rollers give the hair that perfect final styling touch especially after the application of volumiser.
Nonsense. Curlers curl hair, not volumiser.
Watch the streamed programme here: http://public.di-ve.com/streaming/on_demand_event_encoding.aspx?id=5034&backUrl=streaming%2fon_demand_event_library.aspx
Pfff, irid ikollok stonku ta kukkudrill. Patetiku.
Hlejt lejla narah. Il-mara tal-lijder vera ordinarja imma I don’t think there was anything wrong with her hairstyle. The switching from Malti to English and back irritani. Imma issa Stilla u Xemx peress li “jmorru skola fejn hemm certi nies” Michelle trid issir one of the in-crowd.
Mrs Muscat has adopted the language she thinks is appropriate for somebody who has arrived: “essacc” (‘as such’) , “wasal /waslet” and “lahaq /lahqet” (as in “lahaq ‘teracherrrrrr'”). Il-vera tal-misthija.
She wouldn’t be such a dreadful and embarrassing prospect as PM’s wife if we knew she was going to sit in the background and keep her mouth shut, but she seems dead set on taking a starring role ghax tkun lahqet essacc.
I’m “watching” the programme on di-ve.com right now. Why does the woman insist on throwing in English words and phrases as though she doesn’t know the Maltese equivalent? Is this how she thinks mittelkless people speak?
Terrible.
Grezz, I think she thinks that this is how hejjj kless people speak. For the avoidance of any doubt, the hejjj kless people in Malta are defined as the priviliged minority who can afford to eat steak.
Heqq, mhemmx kelma Maltija ghal “steak”. Akkademja please note!
There is – stejk. The problem is if you want it rare.
“Stejk imdemmi”? “Stejk bid-demm icarcar”? “Stejk ghal xejn, stejk ghall-barrani”?
Or we could use the totally unsophisticated – but ubiquitous – “laham”. As in “Inservu kull tip ta’ pizza, pasta, laham u hut.” So much for brand Malta.
Simple – ‘Stejk rari’ especially in the absence of the living wage.
Tonio Fenech: let them eat stejk.
Austin Powers: “I’ve been frozen for 30 years. I’ve got to see if my bits and pieces are still working”
It’s not “hanut tad-drappijiet” but “hanut tad-drap”.
[Daphne – Both are good. ‘Drap’ is the generic noun, while ‘drappijiet’ means many different kinds of ‘drap’.]
Both of you are wrong.
Please. Why don’t you stop discussing things which are not exactly your cup of tea?
It’s drapp not drap, for God’s sake!
[Daphne – Really? Who says? The Akkademjatal-Malti? They also tell me it’s blekbort. It all depends on how you pronounce it, Carmel, because it’s a fairly recent loan word, and I use a long A and don’t put the emphasis on the P, so no double P there.]
According to Joseph Aquilina’s dictionary and based on a previous one by Falzon of 1882 that was based on Vassalli’s 1796- it should be drapp with the plural drappijiet.
This is most probably derived from the Sicilian (drappu) or Italian (drappi) rather than the English (Drapery).
And still you write “drappijiet” (with two Ps) even though you use the long A with no emphasis on the P.
How about being a little bit consistent in a subject that is not necessarily your “cup of tea”?
[Daphne – You know what I think about Maltese spelling (as opposed to Maltese), so don’t get me started. Drapp is no more influenced by the spelling of drappu than grokk is influenced by the spelling of grog or fajjar by the spelling of fire. All are influenced by one thing only: pronunciation, with spelling reflecting the precise pronunciation preferred by those individuals who first wrote down the word and declared its spelling official. All you have to do is remember the great rkotta debate, which revealed that there are legions of people in Malta who actually believe that people like me, who say ricotta, are the ones who have got it wrong. Written Maltese did not develop organically like spoken Maltese. There is no reason on earth why it should be grokk when bank is bank and not bankk. Now no doubt some smart Alec will come along to tell me that a double KK can only come after a vowel, and I will have to ask, who decided that and why? Or more pertinently when? ]
And while you’re at it, Carmel, it’s, a) ‘…fejn kienu Jmmorru t-tfal ta’ Defni…’ and, b) ‘…ghandhom dog u jiehduH for a walk.’ (corrections in caps). But the woman can’t spell in Maltese. We know that. So why bother?
[Daphne – You know, the trouble with people like you and this Carmel is that you just can’t stomach the fact that I’m bilingual. So you come in here and nitpick about an H here and there, ignoring the fact that the actual use of language is 100% accurate and that I would never be found talking like – how sad – Michelle Muscat or Marlene Mizzi, who speak Maltese as a first language while somehow managing to sound as though they speak it as a learned or foreign language. Your wife’s use of both English and Maltese are equally dreadful, Kevin, though I can’t say the same about you because I have yet to see anything you’ve written in Maltese and have never heard you speak. ]
You’re right. Nitpicking has never been your cup of tea. Rather more of a chalice.
As for my written Maltese, it’s a pity you missed the Maltafly days. You couldn’t possibly have been online back then. But you can still hop onto the Wayback Machine on http://www.archive.org for remnants of the Fly. Godspeed.
I think one shoud write drapp because the Italian original word is written drappo and the pronounciation of the a in Maltese and italian is not a long a. Similarly for grokk which is written as it is because of the short vowel and the consequent harsher pronounciation of the letter k. (the original word is grog).
On the other hand bank comes from Italian banco and we say as plural bankijiet or banek. Besides as far I know no word is letter with three consonants next to each other in Maltese,
Black nail polish? Is Mrs. Muscat a fan of Adam Lambert?
Maybe she’s a wannabe Goth …
U fejn kienet tmur f`din l iskola li qalet li hi iktar mghamra minn dawn l-iskejjel li qed jifthu illum? Din fejn kienet din l-iskola, jista xi hadd jghidli?
I am wondering: with Joseph Muscat, a former Super One journalist, as PM, and his wife a former PR officer, how can we ever take a Labour government seriously?
Mrs. Muscat, like her husband, talks too much, and she also gesticulates a great deal. Both are not good signs, considering that she is in politics.
Roller coaster ride for the future awaits us .
With all due respect, saying that Dr Mugliett teaches home economics or writes recipes is somewhat pejorative or misleading. She holds an Ed.D. doctorate from Sheffield university and lectures at the University of Malta.
[Daphne – That’s exactly what she does, sir. And if you knew enough about me, you would know that I’m not likely to be blown away by ‘an Ed.D. doctorate from Sheffield university’ in home economics, achieved late in life. I actually think the opposite: that it’s sad and pathetic for women of that age (and men, in the Labour Party, including a couple of its leaders) to define themselves by their university degrees. That’s the sort of thing you do in your 20s. Beyond that, people want to know only what you’ve actually achieved post-graduation. As for lecturing at the university, ahem – there’s a mad person on this blog, who also haunts other comments-boards like timesofmalta.com’s and maltatoday.com.mt’s, who lectures in English.]
Did Ms Muscat talk about her childhood, living in a Housing Authority estate in Rabat?
Pfft! Sheffield. Red brick, red brick…. I suppose she got a STEPS scholarship or whatever the arse they’re called. Leeches.
[Daphne – Her husband took one, and we STILL don’t know what he did with it.]
That also goes for a good chunk of the other STEPS freeb–sorry–awardees, who trot off to the most obscure ex-polytechnics imaginable to study esoteric stuff like business management…in their forties. I’ve seen the list. A national wall of shame, if ever there was one.
I acknowledge that degrees do not define a person, It seems that she has pursued her higher education on a lifelong learning premise; one doesn’t normally get 4 degrees all of which achieved “late in life”. What is most important, however, is your failure to give a full picture of Dr Mugliett; deliberately failing to mention some material dimensions of her. That was the argument behind my previous comment.
[Daphne – I did give a full picture of Karen Mugliett. She teaches home economics and her degree is from Sheffield. If she taught something else, if she got her degree elsewhere, I might be more impressed. But I’m not, sorry. I don’t think I ever would be really, because I think people who behave like that are really sad. As somebody (who I happen to know is involved in extensive academic research) pointed out somewhere here, it’s what comes afterwards that counts. A doctorate isn’t an end in itself, as a certain type of person appears to think it is (ilhaqt) but the means to an end. The mindset is not so much laughable as yes, really, really sad.]
Being faithful to (all of) the truth normally makes one’s arguments more credible. I write this is in view of some very intelligently written pieces of yours, which you seem to mostly reserve for your newspaper columns.
[Daphne – If one more man talks about my ‘intelligently written pieces’, he’s going to get the bollocking from hell. I find it especially condescending, insulting and irritating when the men who say that kind of thing are clearly not particularly bright themselves, but feel they must praise my (occasional, it appears, and random) intelligence like they would a dog which performs a trick. That is why I prefer the company of intelligent men, because it would no more occur to them to praise my intelligence patronising than it would occur to me to praise theirs. Quite frankly, I am not surprised you find Karen Mugliett admirable. You probably think of her as a dog which walked on its hind legs: a woman who got a degree, even if it’s in home economics and from Sheffield.]
On another note, I remember, from my relatively recent schooling achieved in a state primary school under a Nationalist government, that “nistghax” should be spelled as “nistax”,
[Daphne – Please don’t try to score points with me, or I might find myself sorely tempted to illustrate all the English-as-a-second-language errors in your comment. The essential fact is this: Karen Mugliett, the way she behaves and the way she is presented (and presents herself) symbolises a great deal of what is wrong with the perception (and self-perception) of women in Malta (and Italy, from where, I suspect, the problem is imported, through television, the difference being that in real life in Italy, women are not like that at all).]
“deliberately failing to mention some material dimensions of her”
You mean like the size of her ass?
[Daphne – I was wondering about that, actually. What did he mean? She’s of fairly slim material dimensions. It’s her eye make-up that worries me. What’s that all about? The Canale Cinque Bunga-Bunga look.]
An Ed.D. doctorate is essentially a Ph.D.
The success or otherwise of an academic is not whether he/she has read for and been awarded a Ph.D., but the number and quality of research papers that the person has published.
And by quality, one means the impact factor of the journals and the number of citations.
A quick search on Google can usually give you a good idea on the level of academic success that a person has achieved.
Mark-Anthony Falzon would have a field day on this blog identifying national obsessions. Mention the word on this blog and national defence mechanism kicks in:
Maltese (aka ‘The Maltese language’)
Social class in Malta
The word “hamalli”
Degrees, especially PhDs
“Is-South”
Catholicism
The Mintoff years/Gensna
Joseph Muscat or anyone else’s physical characteristics, especially body weight and hairstyle
[Daphne – Rikotta and related issues.]
HP, you should add “Neutrality” to your list.
Absolutely. Oh and have you seen this?
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110629/world/france-air-drops-weapons-to-libya-rebels.373046
Great minds, what.
Jaqaw Miriam Gauci tigi xi haga min Arnold Cassola? Ghax hawn Malta, jew nejja jew mahruqa. Jew imbazwru u nhawwdu il-lingwi bl-addocc, jew inkella issib xi tnejn bhal dawn, jitkellmu Malti tajjeb, orrajt, imma b`hafna Taljan mizjud u anki b-accent Taljan. Ma nafx xi jridu jghidu biha.
I think this is because she has lived in Italy for 18 years. And opera is mostly performed in the Italian language. So it’s her world.
Bollocks. I had an older relative who spent a good 60+ years living in America, with no opportunity to speak Maltese, except on his rare visits to Malta.
He had a very British-Maltese upbringing, and yet – on visiting Malta every couple of years or so – insisted on speaking Maltese (to practise it), which he did so fluently, with no trace whatsoever of any foreign accent. As for his English, it was impeccable, with no trace whatsoever of an American accent.
When people adopt a foreign accent after spending a few years out of Malta, this means they either had a terrible accent to start with and think that switching to another accent, instead of improving the one they had, is a way of coming up in the world.
More laughable are those who once despised people like me who speak mainly English, only to then spend a few years in, say, Australia and come back with a completely flat Australian accent … and now speak nothing but English themselves. Or who now do what all those ‘ladies’ did on Bundy’s show last Friday, rendering themselves ridiculous by mixing ‘English’ into Maltese sentences.
I wouldike to point out that Michelle never said she owned a dog. I do not think that living in a housing estate is something to be ashamed of.
[Daphne – I don’t either. But the point being made here – at least, I think so – is that her housing estate origins made her current affectatons a hundred times more ridiculous. She’s what we call a Try-Hard and lacks authenticity.]
But doesn’t she have a poodle in the house?
Joseph Calleja’s had a head start, what with his appearances on Xarabank (national hamallu shrine) and Bla Agenda (shrine for half the nation) when he’s still in his thirties.
For a few weeks now we’ve had that vulgar twit Carlo Borg Bonaci belting out “Kuncert ta’ Joseph Callejaaaaaaa”. It perfectly encapsulates all that is wrong with this country.
Bundy’s “Nisa ta’ success ” should take Angelina’s advice and they should make themselves useful. Then we won’t bother whether they pull their hair up, wearing no makeup or going out in rollers.
[Daphne – It’s the obsession with tons of make-up and complicated or tortured hair that gets me. It’s the reason why Maltese women always look so very tacky even when they’ve spent lots of time and money getting dressed. I suppose they see ‘vallette’ and stars on television and think they always look like that, that this is The Look. They don’t realise that it’s the television look, the screen look. I hope they noticed that Angelina Jolie, photographed in Malta, has invariably had her hair tied back out of the way and a ‘wash-and-go’ face or the barest minimum of make-up.]
Even for some kind of “mixja ta’ protesta ” they want to appear their best.
At 47:47 on di-ve she says, “hawn hafna nies kattivi fis-socjeta” and she repeats herself.
I find this generalised language about the Maltese society not appropriate for the wife of the leader of the Opposition and I think she ought to explain that statement.
Michelle wouldn’t look out of place in a Jeremy Kyle show..
No! No! And NO!
Get the experts to do it. Alan Carr’s Chatty Man show is infinitely better and more hrmmmm below the belt.
Did you have to remind me?
Oxbridge as well.
il-hdura li ghandek mamma miaaaaa eeeeee lanqas jisthoqlok tissejjah gurnalista – kerha minn barra u wisq aktar minn gewwa.
[Daphne – Back again, are you, Gordon? Any mention of Labour hair and you’re in here like a flash. Joseph’s volumiser, Michelle’s rollers – a really unusual fetish.]
Why is it that anything involving young (well, youngish), good-looking women always seems to drive you crazy?
[Daphne – You really are a dolt if you think that a woman of 46 sees women pushing 40 as young, and if you haven’t worked out that Marlene Mizzi and Miriam Gauci are the best part of a generation older than I am. You are an even greater dullard if you imagine that the sort of woman I am envies others for their looks (I must clear my throat here) or for being a few years younger (or older). I don’t even admire that sort of thing, still less envy it. Things I admire: brains, the ability to paint beautifully, creative skills like joinery, starting a really successful business from the seed of an idea, brilliant writing, that kind of thing. People are on different wavelengths and I suppose I’m just not on yours. Something else: you have a very poor idea of women in general if you define us that way, as a mass of base instincts and petty jealousies. Possibly, that is your only experience of women. If so, you should widen your horizons. You sound like somebody who thinks in terms of chicks. Friday’s show was demeaning to women and particularly demeaning to a couple of the participants.]
As Eileen Montesin said to Eddie Fenech Adami during one memorable TV spot, “What I admire most about you is your humility”.
[Daphne – Another difference in mentality: the inability to distinguish between humility and restraint. I am sick of hearing people being described as ‘humble’, which doesn’t make sense linguistically or in any other way. Maltese chav culture is an odd mix: it praises people (who are anything but) for being ‘humble’ (when what they mean is that the person in question has the common touch) while at the same time setting great store by boasting and showing off, John Bundy’s show last Friday being a case in point. I would rather be pegged out and eaten alive by driver ants than go on television to boast, show off and talk about myself and my achievements. Here’s another thing: chavs think that when non-chavs don’t boast, it’s because they have nothing to boast about. Pass the message along: John Bundy’s show last Friday was the sine qua non of super-chavviness: host, clothes, stage-set, make-up, behaviour, manner of speaking, boasting, the lot. That’s why non-chavs were pinned to their sofas muttering ‘Oh my god.’]
“Pass the message along: John Bundy’s show last Friday was the sine qua non of super-chavviness: host, clothes, stage-set, make-up, behaviour, manner of speaking, boasting, the lot.”
You forgot the hairstyle tat-tigijiet tac-criecer …
That programme WAS hysterically funny. The best bit was the rollers booboo. The next best bit was Ms Mizzi saying that her husband wears the pants in the family.
Hmmm…and what is that Carmen lady and that Karen chick famous for? I’d never heard of either of them.
haga wahda ntik mertu – li tippublika kull kumment mhux bhat-times li konvenjentament ghandha mod kif ticcensura l-kummenti tal-pubbliku – il-bqija ma naqbel xejn mieghek ghax l-attakki tieghek fil-baxx wisq. U kif inkunu fuq ix-xaghar ara tinkludix xi link al plentyoffish ta biex tipprova tiggustifika l-modi vili – lameeeeeeee
[Daphne – No wonder standards at the Labour Party are so low, with customers like you.]
pre-Labour hair removal, Alfred Sant, …
My oh my when I think that in a few months she’ll be Malta’s Mrs Prime Minister
Never give up hope fleur – a week is a long time in politics, let alone 1 1/2 years
You make it sound as if only a miracle can save us. I find that a very defeatist way of thinking. We might as well just lie down and pray.
No, what we need is shedding some of our arrogance, and listening to what the man in the street is saying and feeling. I mean listen not just hearing (there is quite a difference).
I agree with you 2 years in politics is a very long time. Let’s hope we don’t waste them in making more mistakes like we are doing now.
A wannabe Hilary Clinton, who seems to wear the pants, too.
Quite a difference to her husband. He was caught without them.
I imagine you being embarrassed watching the whole show! Your reasoning, perception and perspective are as usual…unique and very real. But what struck me most in the whole article is: “the real division in Malta is not political”. How true!
Was I the only one who heard her pronounce her daughter’s name as “Soleil SOFFJA”, as in “Tissoffja mniehrek”?
la redoute well you do not seem to like anybody !
It’s sad for an old Labourite like me to watch ex Labour ladies who converted to Nationalist while the gravy flowed to their tray and are now given prime-time exposure by an ex Nationalist on ONE TV.
Where are Marie Louise Coleiro, Miriam Spiteri Debono and so many Labour women who’ve made it far more than a toy-shop owner, a marketing manager and a glorified cook? Have you seen the later sporting an apron with PHD in Home Economics splashed on her breasts in a Sunday magazine?
[Daphne – Not just a Sunday magazine, but SAVIOUR BALZAN’S Sunday magazine.]
Why has it become shameful for us Labourites to show off our own people? Do we really think that these ex-MLP-ex-PN-turned into PL sympathisers will win us the election? PS: Ms. Caruana Galizia pardon me for using your popular site to address my fellow Labourites. I’ve tried elsewhere but my comments never made it on-line.
Thanks for my Groucho Marx moment, a pleasure.
Now read this…
http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/galleries/TMG8600847/Glastonbury-2011-The-best-and-worst-dressed.html
[Daphne – James Tyrrell, you really need to see a psychiatrist. I mean it. Your fixation with me is absolutely not normal, and you show strong signs of violent contempt for women in general. Now I shall go back to deleting your comments like I have done the previous ones. Your style is so recognisable that it gives you away. It was immediately obvious to me, for example, that you were the Anglu whatever who posted a comment on timesofmalta.com, during the Libyan protests outside the embassy, saying that what they needed was a size 12 in the brisket. A far right misogynist racist – what a surprise that all three things should go together. But not to people who remember that your foray into Maltese politics began with letters written from Northern Ireland, telling us Maltese to vote No because the European Union is hell on earth. You must have a very boring life to obsess as you do about a Maltese columnist and Maltese partisan politics. Try watching porn instead – but oh, you probably do that already, and I shudder to think what kind.]
Il-gopp ta Mrs Muscat kien “varied” hafna …. PR u “Public Relations” prosit hejn.
[Daphne – Not to mention why the company employed her in the first place, but best not get into that.]
“Michelle kont u Michelle ha nibqa”. Can’t tejk it anymore I think I will put her on the beck berner and let her bern to cinders – dejqietni bragging about herself.