Dawn

Dawn

Friday, September 18, 2015

North v South; Old Spanish; Luis Martín Arías; Languages; JC; & A couple of songs.

The North-South divide: The UK is famous for this, with much greater wealth residing in the latter. But Spain, France and Italy have the same divide, though the situation is reversed Spain and Italy, with the north being the richer. Click here for the details as regards Spain.

Old Spanish: Long before I ever set about learning Castellano - just after I'd abandoned the harder challenge of learning Portuguese - I used to quote to Spanish acquaintances a line I'd liked in the Oxford Book of Quotations. It was from Don Quijote and it always surprised me that - even taking into account my poor pronunciation - no one ever seemed to understand it. Anyway, the quote was: Bien haya el que inventó el sueño, capa que cubre todos los humanos pensamientos. Or 'Blessed be he who invented sleep - a cloak which covers all human thoughts'. Remembering the quote yesterday, I realised the word haya makes no sense to modern speakers in this context. I think. Though it could all be down to my crap pronunciation. 

Luis Martín AríasNo, I've never heard of him either. But he's a professor of Cinema in the university of Valladolid. And an apologist for the bull-goading event - El Toro de La Vega - which featured here recently. He's asserted that: To think that humans can control themselves purely via reason is a form of madness, very dangerous but tremendously modern, totally up-to-date. There's no life without violence, hence sex. Where are they coming from those who denounce the sacred ritual moment, which has to be inviolate - the cutting of the testicles from the dead bull? Rites such as theToro de la Vega channel violence and its disappearance would be paid for by the women of the city. Perhaps he should stick to film-making. Or at least commenting on only them. If the event is eventually banned and I were his wife, I'd get the first train out of town.

Languages: I was a tad surprised to read that British businessmen still rate the usefulness of a second language as: 1. French; 2. German; and 3. Spanish. I guess it's because they don't get too involved in South America. Which might well turn out to be wise, near term.

Jeremy Corbyn: Much has been made of the fact that the new Labour leader eats cold baked bins. Well, my father used to do this, much to my youthful disgust. And then one day I tried it and have never looked back. Especially after I'd discovered garlic and put the salt version on them. I heartily recommend the practice but have to admit it's the first thing I've liked about the mess that is JC.

Finally. . . Here's what's said to be a gypsy(gitano) song sung in English. And, just for Alfie Mittington, a terpsichorean owl. Enjoy.

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