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donderdag, september 15, 2005

Bush short and curly - Chavez

When one learns a language, there are often words that do not really have a translation, and one has to just learn such a sui generis word as the thing itself. The French 'sympa' could be one example. The same language's ubiquitous flippant grunt, 'bof', could be another. Naturally, such words will often be slang, which is the case with the glorious Spanish profanity, 'pendejo'. Equally naturally, such words - any slang really - are often amongst the first words one learns. In my case, I learnt the latter word from the be-baseball-capped chuckle-head in my university Spanish class who went on unendingly about his Mexican girlfriend and getting trousered in Tijuana, and who, Christ alone knows why, thought I was his 'buddy'. I never really learnt any translation, but I knew what it meant.

A few weeks ago, when that squinty, happy-clappy fatwa-monger Pat Robertson called for the U.S. to 'take out' Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Paddy's defenders huffed, 'Well, but, but Chavez once called George Bush an asshole, donchaknow!'

But he didn't, muchachitos and muchachitas; He called him a pendejo, but 'asshole' is what the Miami Herald et al translated his comment as. Well, this afternoon, I was having a bit of a time-wasting ménage à moi on the old Wikipedia and I came across the actual, literal meaning of pendejo. It turns out a pendejo is 'a strand of pubic hair', which, I reckon, is sooo much better than the pedestrian 'asshole'.

There doesn't, however, seem to be a word in Spanish for 'a strand of pubic hair caught in one's foreskin', which would be a more apt description of Bush, given all the pain he is causing.

***

Yes, I'm back from my hols, comrades, although the posting will still be a little spotty until the end of September, when I officially finish at the sausage factory.

I'm hoping to get up a blow-by-blow of the Popinjay vs. the Indefatigable One some time termorrer, along with a bit on Hitchens' turdish 'dossier' on Galloway he or some fart-catcher intern has posted on the Hitchens Web.

***

On the stereo - The Cardigans' latest (Wha? He's recommending the Cardigans? Pff. He's gone soft), 'I need some fine wine, and you, you need to be nicer', is quite catchy, and 'Wenn es Passiert', by Wir sind Helden is equally bubble-bath-and-candles-worthy. While back in the Great White North, I came across Toronto Manu-Chao-sound-alikes Bedouin Soundclash in the pages of Exclaim magazine. You can watch their clip, 'When the night feels my song' - the very model of a band-pretending-to-busk video promo - here. Lastly, and I'm a bit late to the cotillion with this one, but isn't 'Munich' by the Joy-Division-worshipping Editors rather rather-good?

Anon.