It is so outdated, it is out of sight.

If it is wrong to use “bermuda” instead of “bermuda shorts”, would you say the same about using “mobile” instead of “mobile phone”?

[Daphne – Yes, I do. And it’s not just me, either. If you read the London newspapers on a regular basis, you’ll never come across a reference to a ‘mobile’. It’s a mobile phone. That’s because the language, unlike Maltese, has plenty of other uses for ‘mobile’ and it does not automatically signify ‘portable phone’. No, correct pronunciation is far from laughable. It is a major advantage, so do yourself a favour and aim for it. Do you honestly imagine that Keira Knightley would have achieved what she has with a Liverpudlian accent? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbCwd8j5gwM And heavy accents are only a tradable commodity when you’re Penelope Lopez.]

It’s de Valette.

[Daphne – Penty, actually.]

Tiddawnlowdja, mhux tnizzel.

Yes, that’s why we need Lesson VII. Giovanni Bonello should start a campaign to have the Maltese street name replaced by the proper translation, like he did with his de Vallette jihad.

People listen when he speaks, so I appeal to him.

“Qalziet” is not plural at all. And you should be careful about using modern Italian as a clue to the etymology. The Romance vocab in Maltese was introduced before Italian even existed.

The word “qalziet” is just the Arabisation (or Siculo-Arabisation, if we want to be kind to our, er “sbejha patria latina”) of calzetum/calcetum/calzectum/calciarettus and variations. The word starts appearing in written sources around the 13th century.

Yes, it meant hose. But even in medieval Latin or proto-Sicilian/French/whatever, it was always “paria calciarettis”. So it’s il-[par] qalziet. Not plural at all. A [pair of] singular noun.

I hate that.