After
a coffee with my elder daughter, I repaired to the entrance of the
cathedral to wait for my younger daughter. As she exited, I held out my hand and
feigned beggardom. She was not amused and asked whether there was any
depth to which I wouldn't sink to try to embarrass her. I said I
rather thought not. At least I didn't crouch and make monkey noises
as I used to when they were small and disobedient. For new parents -
the only effective tool you have against kids is their fear of being
embarrassed in front of their friends. Or anyone, really.
Well,
the Spanish King's Xmas discourse may or may not have struck the
right notes and redeemed his reputation a tad but only about a tenth
of the population watched it, even though it was on all channels
except the Catalan one which went on strike for its duration. I think
his end is in sight. As it were.
El
País
tells us today that 32 words - some of them English, of course -
entered Spanish discourse this year, including twerking.
And here they all are.
Two
other words new to me are sprint/esprint
(both
pronounced the same way) and sprintar/esprintar
(ditto). But they may have been in the dictionary for years.
Finally
on words . . . I may have invented one last night. Noting that all 3
of us had Macs and that each of my daughters had iPhones, I remarked
on the amount of applemongery in the room. A quick search suggested
it wasn't yet in the Googlesphere. But it is now and you have my
permission to use it freely.
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