Did anybody else hear this ‘joke’?

Published: March 15, 2013 at 4:49pm

I switched off when Marie Louise Coleiro came on, because seeing the woman who was secretary-general of the Malta Labour Party in 1979 sworn in as a minister of state in 2013 was just too much.

Posted by Marks:

Did you hear that snide comment by Joseph Muscat about the oath taken by Ms Marie Loiuse Coleiro Preca? He was joking that the oath taken after noon by a person from Qormi is not binding. The President chided him for the silly remark. B’ xiex tghabbejna.

The Minister for the Family and Social Solidarity, Marie Louise Coleiro Preca

The Minister for the Family and Social Solidarity, Marie Louise Coleiro Preca




37 Comments Comment

  1. Jozef says:

    U mela, u Ghawdxi u Lhudi jaghmlu Zebbugi.

  2. TROY says:

    Yes, I did – and this was at a very serious oath-taking ceremony, but what would you expect from a (LUCKY) boy from nowhere.

  3. Bubu says:

    Un-bloody-believable.

    The new prime minister taking the piss at his own ministers’ swearing-in ceremony.

    Batten down the hatches because it’ll be an “interesting” five years.

    Keeping in mind the ancient Chinese curse: “may you live in interesting times”.

  4. john says:

    I heard it, but didn’t get it. Can someone enlighten me? Abela was not amused.

    • licious says:

      There is a saying that Qormi people work till noon.

      As far as I know this originates from the fact that, in the past, Qormi people were mostly bakers who worked during the nights and mornings and slept in the afternoons.

  5. licious says:

    Considering that even the President is from Qormi, it’s even more embarrassing for Joseph Muscat.

  6. Zunzana says:

    I hope he apologized to the President for his inopportune sarcastic remark.

  7. Dumbo says:

    By making fun of Marie Louise Coleiro Preca for being from Qormi, he was making fun of the president. He’s from Qormi too. The president was definitely not amused.

    • La Redoute says:

      By making fun of a minister as she was being sworn in, he was making a mockery of his position as prime minister.

    • ATM says:

      The president was not amused that the the boy with the blue toy made it to PM of Malta and not him! We are not amused either!

  8. Wilson says:

    In fact the following statement was something to the tune of ” ahjar toqoghod attent ax giex tiqrima awn.

  9. C C says:

    Is there a problem between Joseph Muscat and George Abela? The president didn’t go out to wave to the crowd; his wife was not present.

    Then this rude comment about people from Qormi, when he knows full well that the President is from that town.

    • Maria Xriha says:

      Min jaf min gej minn floku?

    • Jozef says:

      Is there a problem between Joseph Muscat and George Abela?

      Not at all, just Jason Micallef making it clear five years ago Abela had no place contesting the leadership.

      Then there’s Marlene Farrugia who pushed Abela’s candidature before directing his votes to Joseph.

      He thanked her during his first speech, she gets a major amount of votes. Now she’s out.

  10. Last Post says:

    While Muscat’s snide remark is despicable because it was so out of place, I think Daphne’s reference to Marie Louise Coleiro (now also Preca) is a reminder of the amateur porn film recorded at the MLP HQ, Il-Macina, Senglea, during MLP’s general-secretaryship.

    Not that D or any one of us here would be unduly upset but in a way both incidents are equally ‘ob scena’.

  11. philip camilleri says:

    The saying is ‘Ta Hal Qomi sa nofs inhar huma irgiel’ meaning that they have a good drink (wine) with their lunch and then they get drunk.

  12. The chemist says:

    Joker it-tifel. Ara jnizziliex fil- biografija din !

  13. Aunt Hetty says:

    The saying is that ‘Il-Qormin irgiel sa nofs inhar’.

    In other words after noon they are not sober because they get drunk.

    That is what Muscat teased Coleiro about while she was signing her papers.

    • Catsrbest says:

      Pero minghalija Coleiro mhix ragel, imma mara, allura ma kinetx tahdem fil-forn. Jigifieri lanqas cajta mhu kapaci jaghmel flokha, a meno che, ma kinetx diretta lejn il-President. U ghalhekk dan tal-ahhar hatfu.

  14. Aunt Hetty says:

    Anyone knows what happened to Jason Micallef, Yana Mintoff Bland, Luciano Busuttil or Silvio Parnis or indeed star candidate Deborah Schembri?

    • Makjavel says:

      Issa jithlu l universita u Josef itihom stipendju, hekk wehdhom, sakemm Varist mghandhux pjanijiet differenti u progressivi.

    • observer says:

      I don’t – and I don’t bloody well want to know. Period

    • Catsrbest says:

      Ghandu jkun smajt li issa bghat ghalihom kollha ‘l dawk li ma telghux. Se jifqaghha l-kaxxa ta’ Malta jekk jaghti post lil kulhadd mal-gvern.

  15. Calculator says:

    I can’t wait for Muscat to start cracking jokes about the bad-toothed Englishmen or the drunken Irish, unshaven French female armpits or the humourless Germans during EU meetings. That should make him (and Malta) popular.

  16. Claude Sciberras says:

    The swearing-in ceremony was not exactly a professional affair. First of all I never remember so many people standing around the table.

    Also because of the size of the cabinet there were too many people in that room. The person handing the papers was making a farce of the event passing papers from behind the president as though they were pastizzi.

    And finally there were some children who were constantly crying and making noise. I have kids and know for a fact that that was not a place for kids if they cannot be quiet for the duration of the event even if their father/mother was being sworn in.

  17. nev says:

    I never expected in a thousand years that JM would come out with this saying. It was ill-timed and completely irrelevant. He should do well to make an apology to Mrs Coleiro Preca and all those people hailing from Qormi.

  18. sasha says:

    Did you see them passing the paperwork around in front of their own faces instaed of sliding them politely on the table. It was ridiculous to see.

  19. ron says:

    Milli jidher hadd ma jaf ezatt I’ll qawl malti shih. Lirgiel qormija sa nofs inhar ragel ghax kienu jahdmu l fran u wara nofs inhar kienu jmorru jorqdu biex iqumu jahdmu bil-lejl u mara qormija tiswa disa’ mija, ghax kienet il-mara li riedet tiehu hsieb il-familja u tmexxi kollox.

Leave a Comment