This isn’t pedantry. Newspapers have a public duty to use words correctly and in their true meaning.
A man who used to set up a stall outside the law courts and paint henna tattoos has died in a traffic accident. Times of Malta, which for some reason considers this of news value beyond the accident itself, ran a story a couple of days ago extensively reporting reactions to his death among his fellow “buskers”.
And the newspaper referred to him as a “busker”, too.
There’s another story in Times of Malta today, called Buskers’ Tribute, which says:
Republic Street buskers did not set up their stands in Valletta today as a mark of respect for fellow busker Clive Brincat, who died in a traffic accident last week.
The use of the word ‘busker’ is completely wrong. And those who think that getting upset about this makes me a pedant are completely oblivious to the reality that words exist to communicate very specific meanings and facts. This may not be the case with simple languages like Maltese, but it is certainly the case with highly evolved languages like British English.
A busker means one thing only: a person who sings, dances, plays an instrument or otherwise performs (mime, living statues, that kind of thing) in the street or another public space while asking for money.
Stall-holders or any other persons who ply their trade in the street, offering a product or service in exchange for payment, off a stall or a stool, are not buskers. They are stall-holders and traders.
The people who set out their stalls (not “stands” as Times of Malta calls them, because where there is a more specific word, it is this which should be used, always) outside the law courts are most definitely not buskers. None of them are singing, dancing, performing or asking for loose change to be thrown into their can, violin case, or cap.
They are trading. They are selling jewellery, scarves, bits and bobs and henna tattoes or plaits in your hair in return for a specific price.
So please, let’s stop it with the “buskers”. There are no buskers in Valletta beyond the very, very rare individual with a musical instrument further up the road outside McDonalds.
When newspapers as influential as Times of Malta use the wrong words because of ignorance of the language, that ignorance just spreads, and spreads.
Calling a stall-holder a busker isn’t even a vague approximation. It’s like calling an armchair a ‘wardrobe’. Yes, they’re both pieces of furniture, but…
If the individuals concerned call themselves ‘buskers’ to avoid the need for a stall-holder’s licence, it doesn’t follow that everyone else, including newspapers, should cooperate in the fiction.
The real solution is not to give a word a meaning which it does not possess so as to stretch the definition of regulations, but to remove the need for licensing of very casual traders. If, on the other hand, the stalls are pretty much permanent, then there is no reason why they should escape the need for licensing when the market traders up the road can’t.
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http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140113/local/buskers-tribute.502482#.UtPr5bB3sdU
Oh Mabel where art thou?
Playing the flute outside McDonalds.
Ages ago, there used to be a Russian or Slavic type playing the guitar opposite McDonalds in Valletta. And damn good he was too. Couldn’t speak a word in any intelligible language but he played beautifully.
Where have they all gone, Harry? Where are the heroes of our youth? The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity. Surely some revelation is at hand.
Yes, I’ve had a terrible day.
So sorry about your day, Baxxter.
However, let me attempt to shine a little light on your cloud.
As you know, I took all my Maltese family to Switzerland for Christmas, so that they could meet and play with their Swiss cousins, in Fribourg. A great and enjoyable time for all.
As you also know, I love my daily power walks, and usually find my way to the train station, for a beer.
Last week, I totally enjoyed a troup of buskers, at the station, around ten young people, well rehearsed, all bundled up in the cold, and seemed to be from many different countries.
They were having as much fun and roused the usually reserved Swiss to laughs and applause. I, truthfully, have never seen a Swiss crowd so happy.
Baxxter, our youth will always have the ability to raise our spirits.
I’m a sixties kid, who was so lucky to be at Woodstock, the experience of my life.
I do, though, have faith that things will work for today’s youth.
Being an old fart now, but looking into the mischievious twinkle of my eight year old grand daughter, I have no doubt that things will progress quite nicely.
Harry, you are really a positive person, forward-looking and an optimist; you must have voted Labour in the last elections.
Baxxter, unlike Harry, you are a pessimist and a negative person, you must be a PN supporter.
Where have all the flowers gone?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1y2SIIeqy34
[Daphne – Well, that brings back memories. At St Dorothy’s Primary School in Sliema, back in the Age of Aquarius, that was one of our hymns during mass in the school chapel, along with Bob Dylan’s Blowing in the Wind and Cat Stevens’ Morning Has Broken. It was some years before I found out that they were not hymns at all.]
We used to sing House of the Rising Sun. And that godawful Cat Stevens’ song. It’s no wonder we all ran a mile from Catholicism as soon as we came of age.
I am not a pessimist, Gahan. I just assume the worst to avoid disappointment.
Spot on, but then the appalling standard of written English at Times of Malta has become standard fare of late. Don’t get me started on “facebook” and “go”.
Pet peeve: roadsigns declaring “Deviation Ahead” or similar, when it is very definitely a Diversion.
As far as I know “deviation” refers to a variation from the norm (in this case the normal route a vehicle would take) that the subject takes of it’s own accord. Rarely has a satisfactory outcome.
Diversion refers to the same variation but as a result of an external influence. Bollards, road markings, signage, etc. Happens safely all the time.
Rant over.
Agreed with the lack of correct use of English language. On your way to Paola, just near Aldo Moro bridge, there is a sign saying: Bus Lane Temporarily Suspended. Coming back (on the opposite side) you find another sign saying Bus Lane Temporary Suspended. So they can’t even copy an ungrammatical sign correctly.
While on the subject, there are two or three most hideous stalls at City Gate. They make the entrance to a historic city and a World Heritage Site look like a bazaar. Valletta deserves better.
The intention was to redesign the Triton Fountain area. Is that project still on the cards?
Doubtful is the answer to your last question. If Minister of Buses Mizzi has his way with a redesign of routes the present system cannot work and the buses will have to go back to the old system, parked around the Triton Fountain.
They were back round Triton Fountain within three weeks of the Arriva shambles arriving. And no, Daphne, the Arriva sorry saga was not propaganda invented by an evil Labour clique but one of its own and Transport Malta’s making. Just like the present government, the previous one was never parsimonious when it came to proving it was a government keen on kicking own-goals.
[Daphne – Chris, this fixation you have of equating one party in government with the other is really quite tiresome. It is allowed, you know, to say that you don’t like something without also saying ‘but the others did it too’. It is especially specious to suggest that both parties are on the same footing when they so patently are not. If you think they are equal consider this: you might very well not have had your precious EU passport.]
I have spent an enjoyable afternoon watching snooker in my wardrobe.
I told my Ritienne I wanted to take her right there in the wardrobe.
I fell asleep in my favourite wardrobe.
I’ve been called a wardrobe general.
Does the government also consider them as buskers? I would imagine that permits and taxation would not be the same for both.
Agreed. The legislator, or rather the law, may need a language update too. The traders referred to must hold permits as ‘buskers’ as distinct from ‘hawkers’ (!) which refers to traders selling goods at the ‘monti’.
[Daphne – Buskers don’t need permits or licences, as I recall (otherwise they wouldn’t be buskers). So calling themselves buskers is one way of trading without a licence.]
Yes, they do. Please see Trading Licences Regulations (subsidiary to Cap 441).
In major cities, buskers need a permit to perform (at least, in the hotspots). Can you imagine someone turning up in Covent Garden and performing? Paris only issue permits to the best buskers (these are often top freelance artists who also perform in cafes).
[Daphne – ‘Someone turning up in Covent Garden and performing’: yes, it happens all the time.]
With a permit, of course! Competition is fierce and no one will allow to have his/her spot stolen by an intruder.
C’mon Joe. Hyde Park Speaker’s Corner?
After a relatively long pub lunch, close to Hyde Park, I climbed up on the Corner box, gave a discourse on why I disagree with Milton Friedman’s monetary policy.
Coppers just shook their heads and walked on.
Buskers really aren’t all that rare – a few who hang around on a daily basis include some guy in full costume attempting bel canto arias, another guy endlessly playing his clarinet outside the Casino, and that man who lugs a clockwork theatre around while shaking a can full of change. Fairly thriving.
Would a shoe-shine stand be classified as busking or trading?