Where is Labour's Business Forum when its news website needs it?
You’d think that when Mlatsatr needs help with a business story, it would ring Labour’s business gurus, shopkeeper Marlene Mizzi and criminal lawyer Manuel Mallia. But no.
Look at this afternoon’s burnt offering:
Less Trips to Gozo
4,586 trips to Gozo were made in the first quarter of 2010, 1.4% less then the corresponding period last year.
This was confirmed by an NSO statistic earlier today.
The statistic also showed how although less trips were made, 3.4% more people crossed the channel compared to the same period last year totalling 735,123 trips.
Vehicles carried by scheduled vessels went up by 2.1 per cent, to 224,559 and as expected, March saw the highest number of commuters and vehicles – 288,375 and 82,201 respectively
In the absence of Marlene and Manny, would somebody for God’s sake please point out to Kurt Farrugia, Jason Micallef and the rest of the ruddy coconuts what should be obvious to anyone who can string two cents together and turn them into three:
MORE PASSENGERS AND FEWER TRIPS MEAN LARGER PROFITS THAN THE PREVIOUS YEAR WHEN THERE WERE FEWER PASSENGERS AND MORE TRIPS.
Some other lessons for Mlatsatr:
Fewer passengers and the same number of trips: bad news
Same number of passengers and same number of trips: bad news as it means no growth, but can be considered good news in a recession as no losses either unless running costs have increased
More passengers and the same number of trips: good news
Fewer passengers and more trips: absolutely terrible news
Same number of passengers and more trips: bad news
More passengers and more trips: good news only if the proportionate increase in passengers is greater than the proportionate increase in trips so that profit is increased rather than profit margins eroded by the increase in costs of carrying more passengers than is financially viable
Fewer passengers and fewer trips: very bad news
Same number of passengers and fewer trips: good news
More passengers and fewer trips: very good news, as we have seen
Now for a lesson in English:
When talking/writing about things you can count (ferry trips, passengers), the word is ‘fewer’. When talking/writing about things you can’t count (water, paraffin, rain), the word is ‘less’.
Here’s a practical example: less cement, but fewer sacks of cement.
And this being English, there are the inevitable exceptions: less money, but fewer coins.
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Daphne, do you really expect them to understand all that.
On reading that article and the volcanix one I thought they had at last exhausted their excess stock of interrogation marks.
However a quick look at the leader (not the Leader) quickly dispelled that thought.
More coconuts, fewer votes.
Daphne, as you rightly said, it really is good news from Gozo Channel’s perspective. It may not be as good news to the Gozitan business in general.
Having had my own business in the past, it can be a real pain if sales peak for short periods. Continuity and a constant demand for products and services let you plan better and more efficiently.
Just my 2c.
@Daph. Besides..crossings or trips are scheduled….not vessels. Imma dawn irridu nghallmuhom kollox? Ma jippretendux li jkunu fil-Gvern u nghidulhom ahna hux x’ghandhom jaghmlu ghax fil-kaz ahjar jiffrankaw lil pajjiz balla flus u karti lill-ambjent u joqghodu fejn huma.
Take care of your cats. You will do a better job.
[Daphne – Xi hadd ghandu xi cats hawnhekk?]
Ray, ma che cazz?
thought you might like this one…
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=381316788611
[Daphne – I watched it on the Comedy Channel a couple of days ago.]
…and what about ‘then’ and ‘than’?
Daphne, isn’t it the trips that are scheduled? Is it correct to say ‘scheduled vessels’?
[Daphne – Yes, the trips are scheduled, not the boats.]
The vessels can be scheduled by MEPA, I suppose, if they are old and of some historic value. Astrid Vella would know more about that.
Another thing: how vehicles carried can go up by 2.1% really astounds me, as opposed to ‘the number of vehicles carried’.
I believe you need to break down your lesson in simple economics a bit further, if the Coconuts at malatstar.com are to understand your explanation.
Browsing today through the electronic voice of the government-in-waiting, I was surprised to find the story of the passing of Raimondo Vianello listed under GOSSIP.
I was sure that his death was news rather than gossip.
Absolutely hilarious. I have a little economics text entitled ‘Sunshine Sketches of a Little Economics’. Your example would be a superb addendum. Should send it to the LBF (Labour’s Befuddled Folly), however don’t think they would understand it.
Mlatsatr’s counter-news regarding this blog-post :
!$£% $ £defni%$_&^ $£&blowsy*$% £&*^ &*^ ???????
$£bidnija”!£” &*&^% ^^ O%sahhara%* $ &^&+_ !!!!!!!!!
(*&*^)&)(*_&^$gonzipn&**(^ ^%$£%^$ !!!!?????
Is that “F’ghoxx Gonzipn@ in the last line? My decoder is not giving me that one.
Excuse my ignorance but why is “less money, but fewer coins” an exception to the rule?
Money is a collective term (and therefore cannot be counted) and coins are individual items which can be counted. Or am i missing something?
[Daphne – Yes, you’re right that money is a collective noun, but this is an ambiguous one because if you see a pile of money on a table you can actually count it.]
Money is an abstract noun. Coins and notes are not intrinsically ‘money’.
No Daphne you count the notes or the coins not the money. You do not say you have ten moneys in your wallet do you?
[Daphne – I knew this would turn into a long one. Yes, you can count money, though what you are actually counting is the physical coins and notes. But you are still counting the money. On the other hand, you can’t count rain or sea-water (have you ever heard anyone say ‘I’m counting the rain?’). You can only count drops. Sand is another ambiguous one. Technically, it’s countable because it’s made up of disparate units (grains) but in practical terms it’s not countable at all, so it’s less sand and fewer grains of sand. But these are things that are learned only through exposure to correct use of English. I don’t think anyone ever sits down and says, ‘Right now, can I count this? OK, then, so it should be fewer not less.’]
They do so at the supermarket when dashing to the ‘five items or less’ queue which should, of course, be ‘five items or fewer’.
I’m trying to understand the exception – ? Money is uncountable, so it’s less money while coins is countable, fewer coins, so they both actually follow the rule.
Daphne, what about the story of Sandro Chetcuti and the magnet that you promised us?
This is a reminder.
[Daphne – I’ve written it in a comment already. It’s about a crazy fit he threw when he thought I had described him as a kalamita (magnate).]
Did you read the article on Maltastar with the heading Gonzi/Gatt, Gordon/Galizia? It should be used in schools in a lesson “How to massacre the English language and the logical sequence of an argument”.
[Daphne – And the question marks! Unbelievable.]
Yes, not one of the question marks was actually placed after a question. To think that this is a an official political party on-line newspaper, not a blog!
Isn’t there some sort of standards board that should see that newspapers published in English should be, at least, decently edited?
It gives such a bad impression of Malta – you know the ex-colony with inhabitants who acquired the English language by pure chance but were too ignorant to learn it properly.
Thank God they write in English, not Spanish. In Spanish, question marks are put in front and at the end of a question. That would make the dosage of interrogation marks from Maltastar lethal.
I actually liked a statement by Gordon Brown during the party leaders’ TV debate in the UK yesterday, and I thought it applies to Labour (and Maltastar) who have now been in opposition for 20+ years. “This is not question time. It is answer time.”
After all those years, Maltastar should stop asking questions and start answering about Labour’s policy.
For your health’s sake D, give up on these people. I will not mention the country in particular, but a friend of mine once had a contract to train teachers there, and after an exasperating 12 month period, he returned home saying ”those people are untrainable”. Well, I think the above is a similar case in point.
You mock them, you ridicule them, you entertain half the nation and instead of getting their act together, they continue putting both feet in it, giving you more ammunition and at the same time il-boloh get upset.
You show them the way in politics, behaviour, protocol, social skills and what is their response? They set up a ridiculous website purely to attack and vilify you and your family. And they cannot even get THAT right. They’re so unprofessional, totally lacking in humour and wit (a word they cannot even spell) simply confirming what a load of losers they all are.
Actually TYOM has become the best weapon for the party in government, with Joey a close second.
Here’s an idea you sorry excuses for anything breathing, why not use Maltastar to do the same thing about the government, the Nationalists, or even DCG for that matter, but do it well and intelligently and then perhaps someone might start listening and be convinced to vote Labour.
Instead what we are witnessing are all the Labour elves ranting against you, Daphne. They obviously have given up trying to practise politics as it should be practised and instead have turned all their guns on one columnist.
Jesus, you must be so good and really getting up their sorry arse. They obviously haven’t sussed you out, and never will.
“1.4% less then” should be “1.4% less than”
The then/than mistake is littered throughout their site.
Daphne, smajt? Ir-rotta Papali mijiex se tigi mibdula! Xorta ddecidew illi jissottomettu ghajnejn Pietru ghal dik il-mostrosita’ phallika azzurrina.
X’ sens ta’ riskju ardit, x’tahseb? X’ decizzjoni skatenata! Min sa fejn dal-kuragg kollu! Jekk jibqghu sejrin hekk se jispiccaw jinnoleggjaw il-Vatikan ghall-porno shoots, b’ismijiet luridi bhal ‘Unholy Orgasms on Holy Grounds’ jew ‘Consecrated Cocks Numero Cinq’.
Of course the Pope’s route will not be changed now. The tarmac works are now ready and there is no tarmac left to be laid on alternative routes.
As for your comment “mostrosita phallica azzurrina” – I think it is a very good advert to viagra – it even has its color.
And the latest from Maltastar: Buisness should not be shackled by excessive bureaucray – Joseph Muscat
Nothing to do with this, but with Maltastar… sorry, I meant ‘MlataSatr’:
http://www.maltastar.com/pages/r1/ms10dart.asp?a=8206
A fine example of the English language once again. I guess even a 15 year old can do better than that.
I guess a point to make about the news item above is that it is a reflection of Labour’s hypocrisy. They say that they will support the success stories, but that they will criticise where things ought to be better. Who can disagree with that?
But, in the maltastrat news item above, they falsely point to a negative trend in their headline, whereas in fact that decrease is favourable, because they then tell us that the number of passengers and vehicles increased.
So they are either stupid, or outright downers.
If this basic concept is beyond them, it’s no wonder they’re all agog at their leader’s degrees.
Here’s another classis Maltastar headline, replete with spelling mistakes:
“Buisness should not be shackled by excessive bureaucray – Joseph Muscat” http://www.maltastar.com/pages/r1/ms10dart.asp?a=8445
If they can’t even use their heads (or a simple spell-checker if really necessary), then the only way they’ll run this country is into the ground.
I was thinking about the inordinate use of question marks in Mlatsart (!) leaders, and I don’t remember having read any explanation for this phenomenon.
May I propose one for your and your readers consideration?
Could it be that this is the result of some advice given by Pawlu “Dracula” Lia? He could have told them: when you are not sure about your allegations, finish the sentence with a question mark. That way, in case of a libel suit, we can always claim that we were asking not stating.
You know, that kind of subterfuge…
The smart alecs then went one step ahead of the cunning advice given them by the Vampire! Why not ALWAYS use the question so as to be ALWAYS on the safe side? Hahaha! And they wore a very, very cunning look on their face!
So they adopted the prophylactic style of writing.
For God’s sake Daphne don’t confuse them. Accounts was never their strong point. Remember the budget speeches of the 70s and 80s. Tonn taz-zejt tal-landa hamra, bakkaljaw tal…etc etc. If the figures are correct Gozo Channel should be proud of its achievements. And all this in a year of global depression not to mention the utility bills.
My personal favourite was il-bagit tal-qawsalla which heralded a disastrous rise in unemployment.
I would like to know what their “strong point” is. I will hazard a guess — bluffing; cheating, and lying.
1.4% less ‘then’!
What really worries me is that within three years this collection of fallow morons will be pulling the strings in government.
I’d love to hear Professor Scicluna’s interpretation of this wisdom.
Buisness should not be shackled by excessive bureaucray – Joseph Muscat
They can’t even spell business or bureaucracy.
http://www.maltastar.com/pages/r1/ms10dart.asp?a=8445
Maybe that was written by Christopher AgUIs.
To be honest I never think whether to use ‘less’ or ‘fewer’, it just comes automatically. I had completely forgotten the grammatical rule.
I’m sure there are people for whom English is their second language who can manage to write a decent report – it just seems that few of them contribute to TYOM or Maltastar.
Freight trains are sometimes illegally boarded by passengers who do not wish to pay money, or do not have the money to travel by ordinary means. This is referred to as “freighthopping” and is considered by some communities] to be a viable form of transport. A common way of boarding the train illegally is by sneaking into a train yard and stowing away in an unattended boxcar; a more dangerous practice is trying to catch a train “on the fly”, that is, as it is moving, leading to occasional fatalities. Railroads treat it as trespassing and may prosecute it as such.
Regional trains
In some countries “piggy-back” trains or rolling highways are used: In the latter case trucks can drive straight onto the train and drive off again when the end destination is reached. A system like this is used through the Channel Tunnel between England and France, and for the trans-Alpine service between France and Italy (this service uses Modalohr road trailer carriers). “Piggy-back” trains are the fastest growing type of freight trains in the United States, where they are also known as “trailer on flatcar” or TOFC trains. Piggy-back trains require no special modifications to the vehicles being carried. An alternative type of “inter-modal” vehicle, known as a Roadrailer, is designed to be physically attached to the train. The original trailers were fitted with two sets of wheels — one set flanged, for the trailer to run connected to other such trailers as a rail vehicle in a train; and one set tyred, for use as the semi-trailer of a road vehicle. More modern trailers have only road wheels and are designed to be carried on specially adapted bogies (trucks) when moving on rails.
The rechristening of the Wilmington station was scheduled to begin at noon, according to NBC Philadelphia.
In the United States, trucks on public roads are limited to two trailers (two 28 ft (8.5 m) + a dolly to connect; the limit is 63 ft (19.2 m) end to end). Some states allow three trailers, although triples are usually restricted to less populous states such as Idaho, Oregon and Montana. Triples are used for long-distance less-than-truckload (LTL) freight hauling (in which case the trailers are shorter than a typical single-unit trailer) or resource hauling in the interior west (such as ore or aggregate). Triples are typically marked with “LONG LOAD” banners both front and rear. The term “road train” is not commonly used in the US.
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