Haiku? He should try suppuku.
Published:
October 3, 2012 at 6:08pm
Franco Debono has had a book of haiku verse published.Somebody on his blog asked him where he could get a copy and he responded ‘bookshops’.
You know, just in case you were thinking of asking for it at the butcher’s, or telling your greengrocer, “Tlett gdur, kilo zunnarija, daqxejn karfus u dak il-ktieb ta’ Franco Debono.”
Haiku is a great Japanese tradition. It’s a damned shame, isn’t it, that this man doesn’t take up that other great Japanese tradition: suppuku.
He’s called his book Almond Blossoms. My great fear – not that I should care, but if I’m going to have to marry him, he’d better get his accent right – is that he calls it Ellmind Blossims.
41 Comments Comment
Reply to D Gatt Click here to cancel reply
I think it’s “seppuku” not “suppuku”. No need to upload the comment ;) clif.
[Daphne – Groan.]
Seppuku is reserved for men of honour and noble warriors, not provincial cock fighters.
You should read the preface written by Peter Serracino Inglott (if I’m not mistaken), beautifully written. Gives you a new sense of depth to the man, Franco I mean.
I think you mean seppuku :-)
(from someone whose been with a Japanese partner for over 20 years)
[Daphne – It never fails to surprise me that people can be so…literal. Your partner, being Japanese, does not write ‘seppuku’ or ‘suppuku’. She writes it in Japanese – 切腹. Anything else is a matter of freestyle spelling. Obviously.]
Sorry, that’s not right. Japanese has three forms of writing. It can be written in kanji as you have, but also in hiragana or katakana where there is a straight letter (or strictly syllable) translation, and its definitely seppuku not suppuku.
http://japanese.reader.bz/seppuku
in hiragana/katakana, the word is written in 4 syllables – the first syllable is “se” not “su”
[Daphne – It all depends on one’s accent: with mine, su and se are roughly the same when followed by other syllables (suppose, succeed, etc), though I do understand that some people suck seed.]
These must be the same people who susequently suck cum.
ps my partner writes using all three forms of writing, often in the same sentence. Roughly speaking, they are used as follows
Kanji – Chinese derived characters
Hiragana – Japanese derived words
Katakana – Western derived words
its nothing to do with accent – the first syllable is translated as se not su :-)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiragana
Seppuku, or ritual suicide, was originally reserved only for the Samurai class in medieval Japan and was later part of the code of honour known as Bushido.
It was primarily resorted to when the samurai had failed his lord in some manner and would then be requested to commit seppuku in order to restore his honour. In any case, it would need a lot of courage to be able to endure such a fate.
It can therefore be concluded that Franco can never commit seppuku because:
1. Seppuku is an honourable thing and Franco has no honour to start with.
2. Franco has no respect towards his leader, and thus can never be considered a samurai.
3. Franco has no courage at all. He is a coward and backstabber.
I guess he will have to disappoint as usual.
When Franco commits suppuku, it would be most appropriate were he to say “Hekk, hu go fik.”
I SUPPose you mean SEPPuku, right?
[Daphne – No. I mean exactly what I wrote. The day the Japanese begin spelling in Latin characters, we’ll talk.]
OK, I think I get it.
ps Japanese do use Latin characters, called romaji in Japanese
on the subject of pronounciation, would you help me out with something I heard on the radio, please Daphne?
Should impotence be pronounced Im-pot-ense or im-pOW-tense? The latter sounds very put on to me, but I stand to be corrected.
Thank you
[Daphne – Im-pett-ince]
Also heard: prOWject, stOWry, rEEEsearch,
Have you ever heard anyone in Malta saying “chocolate” the right way? Or “salmon”?
[Daphne – Choc – ah – layt. Sell-minn.]
Or, for that matter, “Caesar salad” spelled the right way?
Baxxter, that’s called ‘sieze her’ salad. You should try it. Can be quite rewarding.
I know there is a lingering French influence in Canada but really! I’d rather, as you Swiss would say, wax her snowboard.
‘specially with the ‘Lem-B’ or the ‘Cheese of the Scratches’
Seppuku….I think.
[Daphne – It’s Japanese, Ivan, not English. Japanese is not spelt in Latin characters. So basically, you spell it as you ruddy well please.]
Yeh…but still I prefer seppuku than suppuku…whatever.
He’s on a roll.
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/en/newsdetails/news/national/Debono-in-privilege-complaint-against-online-comments-20121003
I mean, what’s the idea, go after everyone?
Fear not. Here’s my wedding gift for our hero:
http://www.japaneseswords4samurai.com/images/samurai-swords-masahiro-flower-katana.jpg
This is surely taking it too far.
“Debono raises privilege complaints against commenters”
Times of Malta –
Now don’t goad him into committing suicide as you might change your mind about Franco while you are on your honeymoon.
Besides.. you will be too busy keeping his mother out of the way while enjoying nuptial bliss in the posh hotel’s newly wed suite in Italy.
More likely in the ‘bowthawse’ at Wied il-Ghajn, with mum-in-law in the adjacent hovel sandwiching a ‘listening-glass’ between ear and her side of the party wall..
Hahahaha – I admire your sarcasm.
Surely you mean Seppuku?
[Daphne – Oh, do they use Latin script in Japanese? I think not.]
You’re hilarious.
A vulgar comment that is most unbecoming of you!!!
[Daphne – Yawn.]
Is that an answer?
Indeed, you should have a long nap and tone down your arrogance!
[Daphne – I am not in the least bit arrogant. Those who know me will attest to that. Don’t believe all you read in the Labour press. It’s put together by Labour voters.]
For a lady of your stature I, for one, expect much better.
Mind you, your opinion is respected when it’s less biased and Franco has a right to criticize his Government just like the late Dom Mintoff did.
Do you adhere to the tenet that a Party is supreme?
That’s what totalitarian regimes believe in, and I am sure you do not subscribe to a police state with a one-party system.
Alfred A. Falzon
It’s definitely “seppuku” and not “suppuku”. While “Japanese is not spelt in Latin characters” you cannot “spell it as you ruddy well please”. This is because the actual Japanese pronunciation sounds exactly like “sepp..” and not “supp..” !
[Daphne – It depends on your English pronunciation, Mr Gatt. Where I come from, suppose is ‘seppose’. I imagine you’re pronouncing your suppuku like the Maltese ‘suppost’.]
mmmmm…səˈpəʊz
[Daphne – You should listen to me say ‘potato’ if you want to get really excited. If you have to look up pronunciation in a dictionary, you’re a lost cause.]
then that makes two of us … given that you’ve just visited http://www.audioenglish.net/dictionary/suppuku.htm
[Daphne – I didn’t visit it, Mr Gatt. I Googled suppuku for links for my Doubting Thomases.]
As always, an interesting post which sheds more light on the author than the subject.
Not to be petty, but I doubt you’re the first person to try to write japanese terms phonetically, and ‘seppuku’ is the accepted latin script form.
Otherwise, consider the Kanji version: 切腹
Source: http://www.howjsay.com/index.php?word=seppuku
[Daphne – http://www.audioenglish.net/dictionary/suppuku.htm ]
Or bukakke
On the image Frankie posted on his little blog you can clearly make out the machine-readable ISBN code under the bar code.
It reads “9789995703073” (the machine-readable copy is identical to the human readable one above the bar code).
A quick search on Amazon by ISBN (and Google for that matter) point to “Finnish Americana” – which is definitely not a book of haiku compiled by an author with sub-standard English writing skills.
I’ve, thus far, asked him four times to explain this discrepancy and each time he’s deleted my comment.
Never mind the correct spelling of seppuku/suppuku.
Any volunteers to chop of the head of any prospective seppuku if Dr Franco Debono succeeds to have the law amended as necessary before he completes his POLITICAL harakiri?
Please excuse the use of Caps Lock necessary to ensure that I be not hauled before parliament or the courts of law accused of inciting suicide or homicide..