Coarseness and crassness – the defining characteristics of public life under Labour
The people at TVM – the new recruits from the Labour Party’s broadcast media and the General Workers Union’s print media, as well as the old hands now revelling in the fact that Malta lkoll taghhom – need to bear in mind that they’re working for the public service broadcaster.
So certain standards have to be met at all times, and not just where political reporting is concerned.
Did TVM’s internet site really have to carry a photograph of the new Italian prime minister emerging from the lavatory while zipping up his trousers, the sole news value of which was to tell us that Matteo Renzi is new to the European Parliament and so unaware that there are photographers all around?
They’d never have done the same with Enrico Letta or Francois Hollande, but Renzi appears to have been marked down already by the agents of the government as somebody we don’t like because he’s younger than the boss, the youngest PM in the EU and running a G7 country not a couple of minuscule islands with a population of under half a million.
But what gets me most is the heading: RENZI BIH IMNIZZEL. This is one of those rare cases when the literal translation is also the idiomatic translation, because that way of expressing oneself is sub-literate in both languages: RENZI WITH IT DOWN.
Who speaks like that? In these politically correct days, I am not allowed to spell it out, but you’ve got to be as coarse and common as they come.
If the public service broadcaster wished to inform us that the Italian prime minister’s fly was undone, then the only articulate way to say this in Maltese is ‘Renzi biz-zip tal-qalziet imnizzel’. Of course, this exposes just how ridiculous that story is and how unsuitable for inclusion in the Television Malta website.
And it’s a lie, in any case, because the photograph shows the contrary: the Italian prime minister zipping UP his trousers.
To my mind, the real news story here is that the Italian prime minister clearly doesn’t wash his hands afterwards, an assessment you can make of any man who emerges from the lavatory still fidgeting with his fly. But the men at TVM wouldn’t have homed in on that, would they, because they probably don’t wash their hands either and think it’s normal.
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http://www.tvm.com.mt/news/renzi-bih-imnizzel/
Will Joseph frame the photo and give it as a present to the Italian Prime Minister during his visit on Thursday?
Maybe the Italian secret civil service will oblige and send us an equivalent on our PM.
Well it won’t be a re-make of ‘Moby Dick’ that’s for sure
And for their next trick, TVM will show us a picture of “Joseph Muscat bih imtellgha.”
That might be more tricky , no ?
And we will need verification…
Didn’t you just predict the spitefulness Joseph Muscat would be going through? Did they just oblige, or was this under instruction?
Incredibly base this level they’re at.
Photograph just up in time, of course, for the Thursday meeting.
Is there any normality to these people? God knows what their home life is like.
Tunnel vision? Moled-up sense of humour. Mads, bads and fads.
Not to mention that bih imnizzel in Maltese has another much coarser innuendo than an open fly
Do you mean
Gabbia aperta ucello morto.
It usually means ‘with his pants down’ in Maltese.
Giovanni Sartori, the Italian politologist, described the new Italian government as “an incompetent government led by an incompetent” and goes on to attack the proposal of granting Italian citizenship to those who attend school in Italy for five years. It seems Muscat is in good company not just in terms of his age.
I agree with you here, but then what can you expect when a bunch of wannabe reporters and journalists get propelled into TVM.
Also, what can one expect of a PBS with managers who owe their existence to the MLP and who, other than being in their pocket, have no place in a job let alone in top managerial positions of the national TV station?
As to Renzi fiddling with his fly upon leaving the toilets being proof of him not having washed his hands, I generally wash my hands and then double check that I have pulled my fly up as I am leaving the toilet.
Call it OCD if you like, but I know many others who do the same. As for this being unhygienic in itself, I do not doubt that, but experience has told me that a double check does not hurt and can save some embarrassment. I dare say, if I were to get up and speak in front of parliament I would triple check it.
A Maltese newspaper commentator the other day described Matteo Renzi as ‘a man in a hurry’. He seems to have been quite right – seeing the pace at which Renzi is seen running out of the men’s toilets straight into the Aula del Senato.
Incidentally, the TVM ‘explanations’ accompanying the photo states that Renzi is a newcomer at the Senate buildings and that may be the reason for his unceremonious exit from the toilets without apparently knowing where he was headed. A fairly plausible excuse.
We all know of a Maltese minister who, after a full ten months in our House, had not yet familiarized himself with the lay-out of the Palace buildings. That, we were told, was why he ended up ‘mistakenly’ eavesdropping at one of the doors without ‘apparently’ knowing what, or who, was behind it.
‘Joseph bil-warrani mikxuf’. Ovvjament b’riferenza ghal-qurriegha fejn qed jaqaghlu xaghru.
‘Michelle tammira il-gbejniet moxxa’. Ovvjament wara zjara f’Ghawdex
Just a matter of time. The whole bunch, led by little, tubby Joey, will crash and burn.
Ten months of incredible incompetence is beyond belief.
It is entirely plausible, indeed probable, that he did wash his hands afterwards but simply forgot to zip up his trousers. It happens to me from time to time. Do not assume that a MAN looks at himself in the mirror when he washes his hands.
I agree with Dgatt completely. Zipping up doesn’t always precede the washing of hands, and indeed it shouldn’t. At least, I don’t and I’ve worked that one out long time ago, and which is why i avoid urinals in the first place. I need a wash-hand basin close to the toilet itself so i could wash my hands immediately and before all the parts are tucked away and secured.
If we wash our hands to get rid of the “germs” that we collect from handling sausages shall we say, then why should we zip up before washing our hands and transfer those “germs” onto the fly and carry them with us all day long? And until the suit is taken to the dry-cleaners which isn’t something any man does every time he wears a suit anyway. It’s tucked away in a wardrobe.
Why women assume that all men are dirty down there is beyond me. Some are, granted, but they’re probably unclean all-over anyway. The physical anatomy of a man makes it easier to stay cleaner for longer than women could I think. In fact, the skin down there is the same as the skin on any other body part, and you’d have no issue shaking my hand if you knew i touched my neck for instance.
Back to the TVM headline, well that is to be expected. PBS has been converted to Super 2 a year ago. Times of Malta is now Times of Labour.
On ”Striscia la notizia” this evening , they were commenting tongue in cheek about Renzi making a speach in their parliament whilst fiddling around with his left hand in his pocket.
Joseph Muscat had better think about some interesting subjects to chat about with Renzi during their informal time together. It does not look like Muscat will be bringing up the subject of football when the two prime ministers meet. Renzi is not Berlusconi.
Renzi hails from Florence, and is a natural supporter of Fiorentina.
Joseph Muscat, from the hamlet of Burmarrad, is a Milan fan.
Just look at the relative positions of Fiorentina and Milan in the current Serie A league table.
http://it.eurosport.yahoo.com/calcio/serie-a/classifiche.html
Frankie Tabone, a supporter of Fiorentina, must be green with envy.
Oh, and another piece of advice, while on the subject of Florence. Joseph Muscat had better avoid trying any of his Macchiavellian tricks on Renzi.
Have you ever heard Muscat speak Italian? You would think he’s from Mumbasa.
[Daphne – Well, he’s not Italian and Italian has never been an official language of Malta. I find it incredible that people in Malta are more appalled by Maltese who can’t speak Italian like an Italian than they are by Maltese who can’t speak even the most basic English. I don’t speak Italian, and when I try, I sound very foreign, but it’s never bothered me because that’s exactly what it is, a foreign language, so I shouldn’t be expected to speak it fluently or with an authentic Italian accent. Those would be bonuses, but then why Italian and not French or Spanish? It’s Muscat’s spoken English that’s worthy of comment – who cares about his Italian, really. Malta is not and never was an outpost of Italy.]
Malta was “Terra irredenta” for the fascists” …just joking.
I expect MY prime minister to speak in front of TV cameras, the languages he knows; not the languages which he thinks he knows.
[Daphne – I disagree. Right now, I am sitting in a conference room in which there are some 20 EU member states represented by people who are all speaking English as the common language of communication. The only native speakers are me and an Irishman. The language is spoken to varying degrees of competence and considering that it is a really difficult language to learn at school from scratch, most people are speaking it well. But to my ears, it is very difficult to follow because it is not really English but Globish and it really sounds like a different language. The point is that they are not expected to speak English like native speakers because they are not native speakers nor raised in a country where they are expected to be. The same applies to Muscat and Italian. It is enough that he speaks it sufficiently well to communicate. He does not need to be wholly fluent or have the right accent. Those would just be bonuses. You can’t say the same of Muscat and English because he grew up in a country where that is an official language and the main language of instruction in the school he went to.]
When I speak to foreigners I start with a humble ‘preamble’: “Excuse my English/Italian…” Then I get “Well, your English/Italian is not as bad as you described it, and by the way I don’t know a word in Maltese…”
[Daphne – That’s exactly why I never feel the need to apologise for not speaking any languages other than English and Maltese. What does being humble have to do with it? There’s nothing to apologise for. Your English is better than that of most non-native speakers. I will never say to an Italian/French person/Spaniard ‘Excuse my Italian, French, Spanish or for that matter, German’. If they approach me speaking their language, I simply say, ‘Sorry, I don’t speak whatever. Do you speak English?’ And if I’m the one who approaches them for whatever reason, I just speak English and leave it up to them to say they don’t speak the language (though most do). I find that it’s people who don’t speak English at all who tend to be embarrassed about the fact and show it – as well they might, given how essential it is in today’s world and how there really is no excuse.]
Daphne, you know by now that I disagree with you on this one. Yes, I too am appalled by the widespread lack of basic language skills in Malta, meaning both Maltese and English. I disagree when you say that Modern Italian (i.e. Florentine) has never been an official language in Malta when in fact it was adopted by the Knights in 1530 way before other regions/city states adopted it as their official language.
When the British arrived in 1800 Italian was still the only official language and it was only when Italy started unifying that the British, who were intelligent colonisers, started to undermine Italian and favour our pet hate, ‘Maltese’, as a language when even today it continues to be just a very poor dialect which is holding us back.
I am not saying that the Maltese should speak Italian; what I am saying is that, given the proximity of Italy and the historic, cultural and economic ties, it would be good if our leaders spoke Italian. I do not think that this is too much to ask when there are leaders of other countries with much less reason to learn the language of neighbouring countries, due to their size and the importance of their own language, that go to great lengths to speak their neighbours’ languages well.
Lastly, to say that Malta was never an outpost of Italy is technically true, seeing as Italy has only been a nation since 1861. However, that would be to deny the fact that for most of the past 2000 years Malta was an appendage of Sicily, economically and politically. The fact that often Sicily was in turn a fiefdom of various other rulers, Aragon, Castilla etc. is irrelevant here.
Is my comment not going to be published then? I understand it is your blog but I often put great effort into writing those comments and it pains me to then see them go unpublished. In any case I understand it is your prerogative.
[Daphne – It’s queued up with 300 other comments. I haven’t had much time over the last few days, and I really must stop this habit of moderating comments from the top, which means that the newest ones go out first.]
That’s ok, don’t worry. At least the most devoted of us – the ciccio’s, Joe Fenech’s and Baxx’s of this world go back and read the older comments.
Typical coarse story one used to find – and still finds – on the General Workers Union’s Inews. I really regret applying last October when three Super 1 reporters finished in the top three because my application and that of other colleagues simply gave a semblance of legitimacy to that charade.
To check the standard of the Labour press , read the racist and xenophobic comments below this report:
http://www.inewsmalta.com/dart/20140225-ornat-tiri-ta-twissija-rubber-pellets
I have just been contacted by an ‘informed source’ that the Tourism Minister, responsible for Air Malta, in order to reduce costs, has decided that the airline will phase out complimentary cabin pressurization.
It is with regret that the Tourism Minister should be informed that American Airlines have beaten Air Malta to it – see http://www.theonion.com/articles/american-airlines-to-phase-out-complimentary-cabin,35367/. Pity the Minister did not cotton on to the real cost cutter. American Airline are also planning to discontinue complimentary landing gear on flights under four hours. Most if not all Air Malta flights fall within this time frame.
And complementary landing gear too.
Is this some sick joke? This is not healthy?
[Daphne – Bit of a humour culture clash here, I’m afraid.]
AH “informed source” !
Even Times of Malta seems to be part of this subtle campaign against Renzi. Check the photo on the last page of today’s printed edition.
Internal political issues are the norm everywhere, dear Times of Malta.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140227/local/muscat-renzi-meeting-postponed.508546
So he doesn’t think Muscat’s important.