Click here for a nice comment on the Spain’s World Cup triumph against the backcloth of the various economic and political problems being (mis)managed by President Zapatero.

My final word on football . . . It was nice to see a Spanish columnist giving some credit for the current Spanish style not only to the ‘total football’ of the Dutch teams of the 70s but also to the English team of 1966. As everyone knows, this was the first to play without traditional wingers and had a midfield team of Ball, Peters, Hurst and Greaves which the writer felt was the predecessor of that of Busquets, Alsonso, Xavi and Iniesta. He also saw Del Bosque as a similar manager to Ramsey. Who am I to argue?

My fellow blogger in Santiago/Ourense (Xoán-Wahn) has introduced me to hipocoristicos, which are essentially familiar diminutives of first names. You can read about them here at Wikipedia.es. For now, here’s just a short list of some of the strangest ones for Spanish males. As you can see, the ‘ch’ sound is much favoured for this process:-
Anastasio – Tacho
Ángel – Gelu/Golu
Benjamín – Mincho
Daniel - Mampo, Mampiño, Mampao, Mampuñen
Horatio - Lacho
Inonencio – Chencho [Is anyone really called this these days?]
José – Pepe [There actually is a certain logic to this. Think Joseph and padre putativo]
Luis - Huicho/Güicho
Raúl – Chinchoso
Ricardo – Yayo
Vicente – Titín

And here’s just one amusing feminine one:-
Lucía Fernanda – Lucifer.

Hard as this may be for anyone familiar with the Spanish statistics to believe, it’s reported that the number of women involved in prostitution here has increased during the recession. Logically I guess, the business is moving into private flats. And the percentage of Spanish women involved (traditionally very low) is also rising. Which is all very sad.

For some years now, I’ve been putting food out for the birds in the garden. Which probably explains why I have a community of at least forty house-sparrows living somewhere on the top of my house. But I’ve been a bit slack recently and I suspect this is why my old dog barely finishes eating before a brown horde descends on his dish to seize the leftovers. As least, I’d assumed they were leftovers but I guess it’s possible the spadgers have learned to intimidate him by mobbing him as he tries to eat. Either way, I don’t mind about our feathered friends. But the rats coming up from the drains are another thing and I’ve declared war on them today. It’s 1-0 so far. Which is what we call a “Spanish score” in the trade.

By the way . . . In case any of you have googled, this is a spadger. Not this.

Finally, here’s an article explaining why there are more pilgrims than ever this year on the various caminos to Santiago. And, inevitably, here’s the link to the write-up of my own recent experience. Just in case you missed any of the earlier ones . ..

Finally, finally . . . My thanks to whoever it was wrote directly to me from the USA about the vuvuzela possibly being banned. WorldBook.com tells me I have a message from you but won’t give me access to it so that I can reply. I’ve no idea whether this is a general problem or whether you’re being specifically penalized.