Drinking in tongues
“Catalan” boycott of “espanyolista” cava
Uit de (geweldige) Vlaamse Volksverhalenbank:
Een man uit Diets-Heur ging langs de weg naar Vreren naar het station. Onderweg moest hij voorbij een slagboom waarop een zwarte kat zat. De man durfde niet verder te gaan omdat hij vermoedde dat de kat een heks was.
Ik zou uren aan deze site kunnen besteden, ware het niet voor [...]
The excellent Mr Pullum highlights the attempts of the Plain English Conspiracy to destroy Donald Rumsfeld. There is, of course, nothing wrong with the example for which they awarded Ronald (as La Vanguardia’s Asian correspondent calls him) their Foot in Mouth trophy; indeed, a glance at their list of previous winners suggests that they have [...]
Shanghai Daily:
“Els estrangers no compraran un periòdic xinès per a llegir la pàgina anglesa,” va dir Huang Hu, professor de periodisme en l’Universitat de Fudan. “Aquestes pàgines angleses tenen clarament un problema de col·locació.”
“I think the sherry trade could learn a lot from their cousins in Portugal. But of course that’s only if the sherry trade sees any benefit in visitors to their bodegas. I often wonder if they really do.” It’s the old Spanish paradox of shops whose owners seem prepared to go to quite extraordinary lengths to avoid selling you anything, unless that something is guaranteed to malfunction at the first opportunity. Experiences recounted last night of finally persuading a well known department store to relinquish a sewing machine which immediately jammed, the replacement literally falling to pieces whilst being bagged. Why?
A double reflection makes up the man who was born on the thirteenth day of the moon, lost his
throne on the thirteenth day of the moon, and fought the battle of Waterloo on the thirteenth day of the moon:

I wonder if Josephine’s astrological babblings didn’t cause Napoleon’s natural military interest in the moon to be unduly romanticised.