Ignorant, rude, miserable and unfriendly – damn right
The son of a Maltese emigrant to the United States
This comment has just come in beneath an old post, and so it isn’t lost to view, I’m uploading it here. It is just so true.
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I agree 100% with Lucien. I have been living in Malta now for 10 months and am amazed by how ignorant, rude, miserable and unfriendly a lot of people here are.
Yes – of course some people are like that everywhere, but here the proportion seems to be so much higher than anywhere else I have been before.
Just simple courtesies such as the odd please or thank you – or God forbid, a smile now and again, is all I ask for, but such things are all too rare in Malta.
It’s a shame because it spoils what would be a great place to live. Unfortunately, as it is, we won’t be staying.
Like Malta, don’t like the Maltese. Sorry to say it, wish it wasn’t true – but it is.
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Of course the response on timesofmalta.com would be “GO BACK TO YOUR COUNTRY!”
I think it is difficult to be sure that the Maltese excel in being impolite.
Nevertheless, it is true that many Maltese are uncouth and lack finesse. Common courtesy is lacking.
This is why Malta can never aspire to be another Monaco or similar place where visitors with money go because they are used to being treated with courtesy, finesse and impeccable etiquette.
The way many people dress also gives a shabby look to our streets (apart from other things). I have lived abroad in different cultures and have not found as much uncouthness as there is in Malta anywhere, not even in Arab countries that some Maltese look down upon.
In Malta, being polite is taken as deference, as bowing down to to others.
This is a clear sign of an endemic inferiority complex, perhaps the result of being dominated for too long by foreign masters.
In one week I have had a similar experience in two different retail outlets. In a small family-run mini-market, as I was queuing at the till, a salesman comes along, jumps the queue and asks the shop-owner to sign some invoice or other without a thought that customers should be respected, not least because it is they who buy his products.
Just two days later, having waited my turn at the chemist’s, I was asking for some item when a salesman/deliveryman interrupts my conversation and butts in with his own business. When I objected he regaled me with some poetic language, told me that I “nara ‘l kulhadd dubbien” and even followed me into the street in his van and continued to verbally abuse me.
I sent an email to his employers and received no response whatsoever. Probably they think that their deliveryman’s time is money (justifying his actions) but my time isn’t.
Most of the remarks about Maltese ‘uncouthness’ is true. No use denying it, but there is a partial explanation.
Today’s parents of a certain age have been brought up in an era when politeness was not exactly a priority.
When, for example we had a prime minister call dockyard workers ‘ a bunch of eunuchs’, it gives one an idea of what kind of example the ‘upper echelon’ was imparting on the workforce.
When you had a prime minister who supposedly was a Rhodes scholar claiming that diplomas and university degrees were mere bits of paper ‘one would wrap anchovies in’ (perhaps he was referring to his own degrees?), then it shows that he had a severe case of contempt towards education in Malta.
When the same prime minister’s party formed a ‘Youth Brigade’ some fifty years ago (today’s parents and perhaps grandparents), on the same fashion as the Nazi youth movement, then there is little wonder that many exhibit belligerent behaviour inherited from their parents.
Unfortunately the Island is roughly split 50-50 between those who carry a large chip on their shoulders and the others who forged ahead, educated themselves in spite of the chaos of the 70s and 80s and made a success of themselves. And success breeds success and so their children have come from upright citizens and tend to emulate their parents and go on to the highest education available.
Conversely, those who have been instilled with the Socialist ideals expect the State to care for them from birth to death.
It is going to take at least one more generation to get rid of the old dead wood and for today’s youth to realize that today’s opportunities are limited only by one’s desire to get ahead and not by the whims of politicians.
Unfortunately no government can legislate manners, but a good education system and good parental guidance will help a lot.
How true. There is still too much ignorance, and this is all the more evident now, seven years after we supposedly earned our admission to civilised Europe.
I believe in personal initiative, not in government. No amount of government makes our life better.
But how many of our politicians say so? They just push to make the government bigger and bigger, and the individual smaller and smaller.
Do you know why? Because no one, bar Daphne, has the balls to hold up a mirror to the Maltese and tell them they’re grotesquely barbaric.
Politicians, who depend on votes, will certainly never do it.
And so we lose our opposable thumbs, then we start walking on all fours, and sooner or later our appendix will switch on again, as we sink deeper into the primaeval slime…
I love the way Daphne analyses Maltese society at all levels, from the peasants to the hajj kless, via the mittel kless.
I remember this was summed up by Lou Bondi when he was interviewed on Vida, as follows: “…she has the ability to analyse our society in a brilliant sociological and anthropological manner.”
http://issuu.com/focusedknowledge/docs/vida_october_2010
That was very good, Baxxter. A succinct, true appraisal of our woes.
BTW, Malta lost to Latvia tonight. Probably too polite.
It starts with the individual and goes right up to the whole country. Most Maltese seem to be unaware of just how ugly they are. All of our woes stem from this.
People get fatter and fatter yet they think they’re supermodels. They wear clothes that would make a carnival float vomit and they’re convinced it’s haute couture.
They eat crap out of a greasy bag and they hold it up as haute cuisine. They design facades that have been banned in Lego sets and they think it’s the pinnacle of architecture. And so on.
Truly, it’s Jersey Shore on a national scale.
[Daphne – Jerseylicious.]
Baxxter, although a sad topic, your comments did make me laugh. (or, as the chavs would say, lol)
Ever been to Jersey? The sitcom has them pegged perfectly.
Ciccio, you are being too kind. Ignorance is not being aware of certain things, arguments etc. I think what you actually mean is ‘injoranza grassa’ as in ‘kemm int injorant, ja gidra’. The latter was one of Mintoff’s favourite expletives.
Ignorant and rude most certainly.
My grandfather ( b. 1885) used to say that Malta was the only country he knew where ignorant and rude people flaunted their negative characteristics.
On the other hand I very strongly disagree that we are a miserable and unfriendly lot.
These latter attributes are misdirected, in my opinion.
If comments posted on timesofmalta.com and maltatoday.com.mt are taken as a sample of Maltese society, then this lady couldn’t have said it any better.
We Maltese are being ‘educated’ by rude TV presenters who interrupt and address people by their first names. To make things worse we have poor imitations of Xarabank in the form of a Affari Taghna ‘directed’ by yet an even worse rude dilettante, in a fly-infested nearly empty hall which has bad acoustics.
If we were Italians we would use “Tu” instead of “Lei” and “Scusa” or “Mi permetta Signore” would never be uttered during a TV show.
The culminating point of this attitude was shown when the newly ‘elected’ opposition leader addressed our prime minister by his first name – “Lawrence” – during the first TV debate between the two leaders on TV, and he responded by calling him Dr Muscat.
The illiterate Cikka ta’ Lahlah has even more clout than Professor Serracino Inglott on such shows.
Why do our male TV presenters rarely wear a proper suit complete with tie, (not to mention the muttons skimpily dressed as lambs)?
Do dress codes exist in our TV stations?
I agree with your concern about dress codes on TV stations. Those who appear on TV ought to remember that they are entering the viewers’ homes. Men should wear a jacket and a tie, and should never appear with the second button of their shirt undone.
A retired judge once described the Maltese having observed the population from multiple perspectives. His conclusion was:
70% tal-Maltin huma Barbari
20% tal-Maltin huma Slavagg
10% tal-Maltin huma bhalek u bhali
You can tinker with the percentages but….
‘10% tal-Maltin huma bhalek u bhali’, ie between ‘Barbari’ and Slavagg which is in the same basket as the other 90%.
It’s our fault. We let loose a megalomaniac onto the ones who didn’t know any better. We were too busy scowling at each other to notice.
Il terzo gode.
The only solution is education – not the 3Rs, but basic manners.
These are not being taught at home so there is nothing left to do but teach them in schools.
That leads me to the next point. Manners can’t be taught in schools unless there is DISCIPLINE in the classrooms.
Forget this mollycoddling of school kids and bring discipline back into the classrooms.
The unruly kids who at present get away with everything in the classroom grow up thinking they can do that out in the real world.
Totally agree with you, Pat.
The first words I taught my kids were please and thank you.
I discipline them only when needed and they are now two well mannered children who know the difference between right and wrong.
As for the Maltese, although not all of them, they are ignorant, rude and two faced in my opinion.
Hahaha has this guy ever lived in London? If he thinks the Maltese are rude and have no manners, he’s in for a shock.
[Daphne – London? You must be joking. I have never, ever received a surly response from a sales assistant or counter clerk there, and all service staff and passers-by use complete sentences and say please and thank you. A London Transport official’s ‘Move along, please’ would, in Malta, be ‘Imxu!’, which is effectively the sort of command you give a dog (“Move!”).]
No Daphne, the equivalent of a London Transport official’s response would be ‘Move BAK!’ not ‘Imxu!’.
I agree with Mr Schembri: Xarabank should have been banned years ago.
[Daphne – You can’t ban a television programme. God forbid. That’s the totalitarian Labour way of thinking, so don’t fall prey to it.]
It created a false ‘equality’ which it used to make many thousands and for other agendas. P.B.S. has proved that its measuring rule is money at the expense of all principles. Other stations learned that anything goes as long as the end result leaves an amount of euros.
With this poor availability the viewer has no option but to switch to other channels and is left in hunger for something local that makes sense and allows you to enjoy being home. It may not be too late to stop this injustice. All we need is somebody with good will.
That’s debatable, Daphne. Perhaps “banned” is the wrong word, but broadcasting service should have quality standards.
Just because Xarabank draws in the crowds doesn’t mean it should be shown.
You could have a prime-time programme called “Il-Wet T Shirt Kompetixin” and it would guarantee 80%+ viewership, but should we still have it? Xarabank is a celebration of all that is wrong in this country.
[Daphne – Should we still have it? Obviously, yes. But not on the state television channel/PBS. Television is no different to newspapers or magazines in this respect. You have (had) The News of the World and you have The Sunday Telegraph. You have Vogue and you have Take-a-Break.]
This is the story of subliterate Cum Laude graduates all over again. Somewhere along the Great Chain of Achieving Superstardom, Peppi Azzopardi should have been weeded out. But he wasn’t. Now he’s there, with the whole country at his feet, and he’s convinced he’s actually raising standards.
My reply to e.muscat is that there is an even simpler solution, which you could put into action starting next Friday: switch to a foreign channel. Just do it.
“Not on the state television channel.” Precisely. Move it to Favourite Channel or some such, and it’ll still achieve sky-high ratings. Then PBS’ll want it for itself. And we’re back to square one.
I love Xarabank. It is useful to for anyone studying Maltese anthropology.
I bet you, Xarabank would be one of the queen’s favourite programmes if she were Maltese. It is a way of keeping in touch with that side of life.
Baxxter, my boy, you do have a serious axe to grind with Xarabank. My solution has long been to avoiding watching Maltese television. I’ve done it for years now.
I don’t want Xarabank,or Bondi Plus to be banned. I want the Broadcasting Authority to impose certain standards on ALL TV stations on discussion programmes, news and current affairs.
No need to go far; all they have to do is emulate RAI or BBC.
Side notes:
Lou Bondi’s position as a TV presenter cannot be viewed as impartial; just read his blog.
[Daphne – John, this is a very common error: the belief that impartiality means ‘no opinions’. It doesn’t. It would be a poor current affairs presenter – or reporter even – who didn’t have opinions. The important thing is that you are unbiased when required: writing a news report, presenting a talk show, that sort of thing.]
Dissett on a Saturday evening is a “Daghwa b’Alla fil-Knisja”.
Same applies to Norman’s type of guests on Bla Agenda (ironic name).
I watched Deceduti from the very first episode. People liked it because of the originality not because of the amount of double-meaning words peppered during each episode. Too much pepper spoils the food.
Thursday’s first episode was more like a ZOO programme suited to 16 year olds or older. It should have been rated 16.
Why should we lower the standards to gain cheap popularity?
Re: Lou Bondi and Co.
If Lou was in favour of divorce , just to take one issue, he would do his damn best in the circumstances to sway public opinion in favour of divorce.
In Peppi’s Xarabank for example, we were presented with a stupid looking bible bashing ‘man’ quoting chapter and verse from his bible why Jesus does not want divorce, when we all know that such talk would be counterproductive.
I know from first hand that before this stupid idiot appeared on TV the pro-divorce were 7 percentage points behind those against.
TV programmes are tools which can be used cleverly to push the presenter’s personal agenda.
BTW Joe Mifsud and his PN counterpart Pierre Portelli on TVAM had to resign from their party positions to present their unpopular morning programme. One does not like that political balancing (bickering) with breakfast.
Daphne, I can say that the perception of the public is that Lou should not be on TV, because he does not look impartial at all….perception.
[Daphne – LOOK impartial? It’s being impartial that counts. Also, exactly who is the public – the same public that watches the show and pushes it to the top of the rankings?]
What this lady describes is precisely what makes me get a flight and escape every time money and time permit it.
I have so many daily frustrations in this regard that sometimes I just feel like leaving Malta for good. Sadly for me, I’ve got sentimental ties now.
1. Why do people who hardly know me or absolutely don’t know me address me by my first name, even in the most professional of settings? Why aren’t Sinjura or other titles used?
2. Why do people insist on not waiting in a proper queue?
3. Why is it that in supermarkets even when the line is numbered (deli counters and butchers) people with just one item to buy demand that they be served first?
4. Why is it that “good morning” and “thank you” in shops are met with cold stares and, sometimes, bewilderment? Why is it that people consistently comment on my being polite? (edukata wisq inti ta’)?
5. Why do people talk loudly and rudely? Why do men have to comment at the top of their voices from their cars on my running/jogging/walking? A week ago a carful of men (not young men but fully grown men) followed me and said hideous things (such as “imxi ‘l hawn ha nah***”).
6. Why are people in Malta so insensitive, unkind with the weak and the disabled and so generally unfriendly?
The list goes on and on but these are the first ones which come to mind.
Oh the joys of jogging in Malta! “Igri, aaa libaaaaaaa!” [with Doppler effect] “Libaaaaaaaaaaaaa” “Imxi libaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa”.
I’m glad I’m not the only one at whom insults are hurled while jogging/walking/enjoying solitude in the countryside.
And if you’re wearing a hat it’s usually some reference to Sampei.
Never, ever drink out of a Camelbak on a public road in Malta.
Then it’s “Erdghuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.”
This is all happening in a country where government spends millions upon millions each year in education, where we pride ourselves on having thousands at university.
If this is what we are getting in return, I think it is about time we have a rethink on our education system.
Recently I was told off by a young student, that I was a fool to expect students to be taught good manners at university.
The teaching of good manners is something that should be ongoing, not only at university but at schools and most importantly at home.
It is also the responsibilty of employers to ensure that their staff, who are in contact with the clients, have good manners, because after all a rude sales girl reflects the way the company thinks of its customers.
It is useless for the government to invest millions in education and then not care less how its employees treat the public.
Just try going to any police station, and you are treated as if you are nothing but a parasite. Just try getting through by phone to a ministry, just try making a enquiry at Arms Ltd. The list could go on for ever.
I think it was Baxter,who said,
You can take a man out of the gutter,but you cannot take the gutter out of the man.
The morale in this.
One might graduate with full marks,but that alone does not qualify you to be fit to join certain classes of society where good manners are a requisite.
You either polish up your act,or stay were you where bred and feel at home, eating bill-mus.
on the proportion issue, what was the sample size and when you compare this proportion to other countries does the difference has statistical significance?
You sir, have clearly never been to Paris or Amsterdam!
I have been in both of them and compared to Maltese, this people are friendly as hell
This BBC article about manners in the UK may be relevant:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15237906
I am in Malta since 6 month and i have never seen such unfriendly and arrogant people. I have spanish roots but lived almost all my life in Germany. I came to Malta because a maltese company hired me. When i went to he local council to get a Social Security number, the lady treated me like a molester. I gave her the promise of employment and my id and after a short look she said, that the promise of employment needs to be signed. I asked why she made it so hard to me when i was here to pay taxs in Malta and she answered me, no joke: She has been in Spain and there it is harder so don’t complain. ANd now she needs to continue working so please leave. I was the only person in the office….and left. The same morning i drove to the police headquarters to get a police conduct. The lady took my id and started to watch at the computer. Then a second lady joined her and a man. Then she asked me why my id has no security stamps….it is the first time i hear that. My id is as i got it from the spanish police…as usual and still valid. There are newer IDs but you can not change until yours is expired. After a discussion and i told them to call the spanish consulate to make sure that i exist and my ID is valid, they gave a conduct paper but wrote by hand: ONLY AS PER RECORDS IN MALTA. Of course only as per records in Malta but this makes me look as if i would have negative records in other countries and i don’t. I really met very friendly and lovely people in Malta but as soon as they have any function their arrogance is incredible. Well so i took my decission and will pay the taxes in Spain and not in Malta. Fortunally my company has locations in Spain and Germany as well and i let myself now employ in Spain but work in Malta. I wish everyone who has been treaten like this would have the option to pay his taxes in other countries so they maybe would wake up some day. What really makes me sick is that on the other side, when it comes to any EU subvention Malta is the first to raise hands. When you take a walk through Malta, no matter which town, you can not imagine how many buildings and parks are subventioned or part subventioned by the European Union.