This Cádiz lexicon says (also here) that quillo is used indiscriminately to attract attention, rather like “¡Oye!” in Spanish and its English cognate, “Oi!”, or, alternatively, like the English “Love”. In Barcelona (and presumably in other Spanish cities) quillo is also used derogatively, to express perceived age, ethnic and class distinctions, rather like the Spanish/Catalan [...]

Here’s yet another intriguing Tunisian blog. Karim, the original, is meanwhile tracking the degradation and destruction of the southern Mediterranean coastline, following where Spain showed the way.

For freaks: Antonio Nebrija’s 1492 Gramática, the first systematic study of Spanish, summarises the various types of metaplasm referred to here, making clear here that he regards them as acceptable corruptions. Valdés attacks Nebrija for his Latinate affectations, but it’s unfair to regard them respectively as descriptivist and prescriptivist extremists.

There’s little doubt now that Tyler Hamilton’s going to lose his Olympic gold. I continue to find it difficult to believe–particularly given the Mike Anderson story–that it was just close friendship and the proximity of hills and flats that brought him and Lance Armstrong together in Gerona in doping-plagued Spain. Die an honest death: stick [...]

Joan Camp thinks there’s a language called Belgian, and that it’s essentially the same as Flemish.

I hear it is being torn apart to make it into a boring restaurant with bar, just like all the other pubs in the region. Hohum, back to drinking cider out of a plastic bag on a bench.