Ex Lifer

I'm not really too bothered about votes for prisoners but this may be one of the most revealing phrases in the English language:

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg was only able to pass judgement on this matter because of an individual case lodged by an ex-lifer who had pursued his claim relentlessly for years

If you're an ex-lifer than you were never really a lifer to begin with.

In A Pickle

"Let's Pickle a few more costly commissions"

I don't think that the Telegraph's leader writers understand what pickling does. Yes there is a minister called Pickles so naturally they want to make a pun on his name but pickling is a method of preserving something in it's current state for a long period of time, in other words by asking to pickle costly commissions the Telegraph is asking that we keep them going in perpetuity.

Yes I do realise that this is probably the most tedious and trivial post that I have ever written.

I Hate Young People

Not people who happen to be young, but the phrase "young people". Is there anything more irritating than constantly referring to young people as "young people" when done by politicians or other professional busybodies? The phrase grates like nails being dragged down a blackboard. This is the immediate article that prompted this post:

Many of the 300 young people attending the debate, including the young person I accompanied, left home at 5.30am during their half-term holiday to represent the views and opinions of their peers, and they did so with passion and integrity. Young people rely on public transport, and it was this that let them down and resulted in the late start to the debate.
.....
Young people have never been allowed to sit on the formidable green benches before, and I imagine that some were daunted by the prospect.
......
I have worked with children and young people for many years, and do not consider them to be a helpless group who will eventually grow into citizens.
......
I saw young people of all shapes and sizes; some were shy and others were confident. None were brazen.These young people are not merely "playing" at politics – they are elected by young people to raise awareness of the issues that matter to them.
.......
It showed that, when given the opportunity, young people are able to forcefully debate, discuss and fully participate in local and national decision-making.

I fear that your article disrespected the many young people of this country who are trying to make a difference and contribute positively.

This is about the "youth parliament", a body made up of the sort of young people who refer to themselves as "young people".

Accents.

Here are two clips of unusual American accents, the first is of the Tangier Islanders whose ancestors came from Devon & Cornwall over 300 years ago and their accent is probably closer to that of 17th century South West England that that of people living there today:



The second is of two "Boston Brahmin's" who sound like they've been cast by Hollywood to play two English aristocrats.

There's no point to this post, I just found it interesting.

A Translation Service.

This is more than two decades old but remains a useful translation guide:

Compassion: The use of tax money to buy votes. Insensitivty: Objection to the use of tax money to buy votes.

Simplistic: An argument you disagree with but can't answer.

Rehabilitation: Magic words said before releasing criminals.

Innovation: Something new.

New innovation: Something new by someone who doesn't understand English.

Competency: Competence, as described by the incompetent.

Different But The Same!

On Question Time Harriet Harmen repeatedly droned on about the importance of equality and all that crap, except when it came to a question about Enoch Powell when what was important was was celebrating diversity. Aren't diversity and equality close to being polar opposites of one another?

Me Has Done Nothing Wrong.

Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary, is the latest Cabinet Minister to get into a donations scandal. He isn't as unpleasant as Hain or Harman so I don't bear him any personal malice. He has said:

"I'm very keen and very interested - more than most people - to find out the truth about where he got the money, but there can be no accusation (that) either me or my team indulged in any kind of impropriety whatsoever."

It should of course be "either my team or I", I'm not usually a language pedant but the man is a former Education Secretary!

Pointless Gimmick Of The Week.

Primary schools in England will receive about £340 extra each next year to support compulsory languages teaching.

What is the point of this? This works out at around ten pounds per school week so it isn't as though they will be able to afford any additional language tuition. It probably works out at less than 10 pence per pupil per week.

Polly Toynbee Says Something Intelligent & Insightful.

I've always detested the way many on the left use the word "Progressive", for exactly the reasons that Polly Toynbee gives:

"but "progressive" fails the political test: if any party can use it, forget it. Would any party call itself regressive?"

It must be the festive spirit taking hold, but that is exactly how I feel about the word too. It is both meaningless and question begging.

The Real Reason England Lost.

Croatia rose to the occasion in their crucial Euro 2008 defeat of England - after an apparent X-rated gaffe by an English opera singer at Wembley.

Tony Henry belted out a version of the Croat anthem before the 80,000 crowd, but made a blunder at the end.

He should have sung 'Mila kuda si planina' (which roughly means 'You know my dear how we love your mountains').

But he instead sang 'Mila kura si planina' which can be interpreted as 'My dear, my penis is a mountain'.

Now Henry could be one of the few Englishmen at the Euro 2008 finals in Austria and Switzerland as Croatian fans adopt him as a lucky omen.

They believe his mistake relaxed their chuckling players, who scored an early goal in the 3-2 win that put Croatia top of the group and knocked out England.

Whether it was an honest mistake or whether he was just bragging hasn't been confirmed.

Non Apology, Apologies.

In one of those recurrent child abuse scandals involving the Catholic Church on a regular basis, the Los Angeles diocese has forked out several hundred million dollars to victims of abuse. There was a statement by the Cardinal of the diocese that seemed rather odd:

"Once again I apologize to anyone who has been offended, who's been abused by priests, by deacons, by religious men and women or by lay people ... It should not have happened and should not ever happen again."

The first part of the statement, which I have put in bold, is an apology to those who have been offended. That is the sort of language you use to get rid of noisy protests about wardrobe malfunctions or some other baseless complaint by whingers with nothing better to do. It sounds as though the Cardinal automatic response before correcting himself was to launch into a 'non apology' apology. Maybe it was just a slip of the tongue, but it sounds to me as though he doesn't believe that his organisation has done anything seriously wrong.

Left Wing Rebels & Right Wing Death Squads

Colombia's new Foreign Minister, Fernando Araujo, is a man whom until he escaped a couple of months ago had been held hostage for six years by the FARC terrorist group. His predecessor, Maria Consuelo Araujo, had to resign because members of her family had been arrested for contacts with rival terror groups. The BBC World Service report hawever reported that whilst Fernando Araujo had been kidnapped by left wing rebels, Maria Araujo had been linked to right wing death squads. The BBC's famous love of euphemisms when referring to terrorists as insurgents, rebels or militants apparantly has some limits. Why is it though that the one group whom the BBC does not wish to sugar coat is the one group who don't proclaim their loathing of the West?

It says something about what a good President Uribe is that he is willing to allow the investigation of his political allies in his determination to defeat all terrorism, rather stupidly a half witted US Senator by the name of Patrick Leahy was threatening to restrict American aid to Colombia because of the scandal, which sends out a message to all recipients of US donations- Cover up your scandals at any cost or you will be screwed.