Try it between 19:55 and 20:00 on Feb 1.

Good fisking by John Chappell of a completely nonsensical piece by a troll who calls himself Ignacio Russell Cano and who publishes in the Jerusalem Post. Has the author ever visited Spain? I doubt it, but there’s a considerable volume of native anti-Zapatero lying to deal with as well–check out RMF at fum i estalzí [...]

The hunt is on for the grammatically challenged Gerald Fitjohn.

The Moroccan Report has a fine example of the increasing global use in advertising of Angloisms by and for those whose understanding of its nuances is limited. Since half the population still can’t read, maybe it doesn’t matter.

Almighty personalised Google is having problems with syndication widgets:
No 10 denies ’secret email’ claims 1/26/07
Australia cruise to nine-wicket victory.
says the Guardian feed. Norm suggests voting for Blair, so I did, but only twice.

Heard on the bus, “I shit on the mother-in-law of your sister-in-law”, a fine new interpretation of the popular Spanish profanity, “Me cago en tu madre”, “I shit on your mother”.

A while back I posted a translation of a memoir of the use of sound in Jew-killing Easter celebrations in the 1940s in Torelló, about 90km north of Barcelona:
Then the monsignor left the altar and told us that we could start killing the Jews. And he had all the boys beat the planks that had [...]

It’s ridiculously and dangerously cool to be able to read the WNT (via the NRC) again without having to sit next to a load of drunks in the public library on Saturday morning. Here, in brief return for this post on Dutch words in Iberian dialects, and at the most basic level imaginable given the [...]

“The Catalan language was banned by The El Caudillo,” says Larry Mitchell, perhaps attempting to disguise his historical error. Jim Puplava on Financial Sense Newshour’s The big picture also criticises “the el caudillo”, although we’re now on to Hugo Chávez. Since Larry and Joe are unlikely to agree on which of Franco and Huge Chav [...]

The literal interpretation of the change is that Barcelona city council has ceased to concern itself with administration and now wishes to dedicate itself to the promotion of Catalan language and culture. The first I knew of it was when all my links all stopped working this afternoon. My guess is that Isabel Ricart, “Internet [...]

Mr B has been struck through and through by gastric flu. Let that be a lesson.

Great Lord Bus SL, from Cerdanyola del Vallès. Great lords may travel by palanquin, phaeton or Pullman, as well as on occasion by tumbril, but they don’t do buses, even when visiting casinos.

Apart from principle, there are practical reasons to object strongly to attempts by the Chinese government (via BB) to damage and destroy Marxists.org: it’s a brilliant, unique resource, the examination of the often weird premises, analysis and conclusions of whose content helps one begin to understand how great portions of the world, including China, got [...]

Why the curious reluctance (n = 0 at post time) to give the pillagers of the Napoli their correct name? The Spanish word is raquero, which the DRAE says comes from raque, which it describes as the “act of gathering objects lost on the coasts through shipwreck or cargo spillage.” Etymology suggested is Gothic rakan, [...]

Seven year itch has kicked in: I’m playing funk trombone at Harlem Jazz Club February 1 and 8 (extra date: March 1), assuming I remember how the damn thing works. If you come and say hello I will graciously allow you to purchase me a beer

Apparently once building stops Spanish slopes will cease to be profitable, at which point we can surely flatter® the whole freaking mess. This is immensely encouraging.

So this will be left at that.

It’s not just Spain that is cracking down on the re-dedication of buildings as temples and unregulated preaching.
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I've been in a few mosques in Holland and in Barcelona (once, beer in hand, with a couple of Bangladeshis, to the concern of some of the faithful), and on aesthetic grounds as well as out of [...]

Bowman Ales have got their feeds working now, so if they just enable comments people will be able to read posts and write wonderful things about them without shifting from their, ahem, WiFi-enabled bench.

Molins de Rei boasts a demolition business called Flatter Grup. This morning they were flattering® a rather nice turn-of-the-previous-century house on the Paseo de Gracia.