Comments on: Stop talking about ‘gaffes’. You’re using the word completely wrongly and in so doing, minimising the extent of the government’s wrong-doing. https://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2014/05/stop-talking-about-gaffes-youre-using-the-word-completely-wrongly-and-in-so-doing-minimising-the-extent-of-the-governments-wrong-doing/ Daphne Caruana Galizia is a journalist working in Malta. Thu, 29 May 2014 23:13:11 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 By: H.P. Baxxter https://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2014/05/stop-talking-about-gaffes-youre-using-the-word-completely-wrongly-and-in-so-doing-minimising-the-extent-of-the-governments-wrong-doing/#comment-2048064 Thu, 29 May 2014 23:13:11 +0000 http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/?p=48125#comment-2048064 In reply to H.P. Baxxter.

‘Qerq’ would be closer to cheating than evil.

How would you say, for example: “Saddam Hussein’s evil regime”. Or “The evil of Mintoff endures”.

Because “hazin/hazen” doesn’t quite cut it. It’s closer to “wrong” or to “cunning” than to evil.

We should do politics in English. It would be so much better.

Anyway, Net News people listen up: “Il-hazen deliberat tal-gvern.” And if that sounds contrived then just switch to English. Hell, we can’t be held up by the inadequacies of language.

]]> By: Connor Attard https://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2014/05/stop-talking-about-gaffes-youre-using-the-word-completely-wrongly-and-in-so-doing-minimising-the-extent-of-the-governments-wrong-doing/#comment-2038931 Thu, 29 May 2014 01:02:38 +0000 http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/?p=48125#comment-2038931 In reply to H.P. Baxxter.

Would ‘Qerq’ fit the bill? I think it’s perfect. It describes a very sinister and moral kind of evil. Does it also share the same root with the verb ‘qarraq’?

]]> By: Tinnat https://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2014/05/stop-talking-about-gaffes-youre-using-the-word-completely-wrongly-and-in-so-doing-minimising-the-extent-of-the-governments-wrong-doing/#comment-2038071 Wed, 28 May 2014 23:04:22 +0000 http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/?p=48125#comment-2038071 In reply to H.P. Baxxter.

Can we agree on “decizjoni li gabet dizastru?”

]]> By: thealley https://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2014/05/stop-talking-about-gaffes-youre-using-the-word-completely-wrongly-and-in-so-doing-minimising-the-extent-of-the-governments-wrong-doing/#comment-2038022 Wed, 28 May 2014 22:56:46 +0000 http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/?p=48125#comment-2038022 So when Joseph Muscat said that the contract is yet to be signed, and after ten seconds he said that it was signed, is that considered a gaffe?

]]> By: Sister Ray https://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2014/05/stop-talking-about-gaffes-youre-using-the-word-completely-wrongly-and-in-so-doing-minimising-the-extent-of-the-governments-wrong-doing/#comment-2037115 Wed, 28 May 2014 21:01:52 +0000 http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/?p=48125#comment-2037115 In reply to H.P. Baxxter.

Mitt Romney made some disastrous gaffes when on a trip to England a couple of years ago.

]]> By: Rumplestiltskin https://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2014/05/stop-talking-about-gaffes-youre-using-the-word-completely-wrongly-and-in-so-doing-minimising-the-extent-of-the-governments-wrong-doing/#comment-2033895 Wed, 28 May 2014 13:24:09 +0000 http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/?p=48125#comment-2033895 In their highly amusing, little book “The Meaning of Liff” (and, no, Liff, is not a typo) Douglas Adams and John Lloyd assign highly creative definitions to place names. Their definition for Tegucigalpa is a perfect example of a ‘gaffe.’

In “The Meaning of Liff,” Tegucigalpa (noun) is defined as “An embarrassing mistake arising out of confusing the shape of something rather rude with something perfectly ordinary when groping for it in the darkness.
A common example of tegucigalpa is when a woman pulls a packet of Tampax out of her bag and offers them around under the impression that it is a carton of cigarettes.”

That is a gaffe. What Labout is doing is anything but.

]]> By: M. https://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2014/05/stop-talking-about-gaffes-youre-using-the-word-completely-wrongly-and-in-so-doing-minimising-the-extent-of-the-governments-wrong-doing/#comment-2032742 Wed, 28 May 2014 10:42:31 +0000 http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/?p=48125#comment-2032742 In reply to Francis Saliba M.D..

To put it more simply, a ‘gaffe’ is putting one’s foot in it.

]]> By: H.P. Baxxter https://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2014/05/stop-talking-about-gaffes-youre-using-the-word-completely-wrongly-and-in-so-doing-minimising-the-extent-of-the-governments-wrong-doing/#comment-2032337 Wed, 28 May 2014 09:47:21 +0000 http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/?p=48125#comment-2032337 In reply to H.P. Baxxter.

Accident. Damned auto-correction.

]]> By: H.P. Baxxter https://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2014/05/stop-talking-about-gaffes-youre-using-the-word-completely-wrongly-and-in-so-doing-minimising-the-extent-of-the-governments-wrong-doing/#comment-2032307 Wed, 28 May 2014 09:42:32 +0000 http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/?p=48125#comment-2032307 In reply to tinnat.

Again, no. Disasters happen by accent. These are deliberate decisions.

The nub of the problem is that there is no word for “evil” in Maltese.

]]> By: tinnat https://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2014/05/stop-talking-about-gaffes-youre-using-the-word-completely-wrongly-and-in-so-doing-minimising-the-extent-of-the-governments-wrong-doing/#comment-2032114 Wed, 28 May 2014 09:15:36 +0000 http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/?p=48125#comment-2032114 These are wrong decisions. In some cases they would even merit the word “disaster”.

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