En marche??

In the coming weeks and months, it will be interesting to see just how many people voted FOR Macron, and how many were simply voting AGAINST Le Pen.

Facebook to the rescue??

Big full-page spread in the paper today giving tips on how to spot "fake news".  All very worthy, but it seems to me that it pre-supposes that people want to find out whether what they read is genuine or not.  And I would suggest that the average Joe (or Jane) in he street isn't that bothered - what matters to them is whether what they read supports their views or not.  We all look for positive reinforcement. We don't like being told we are wrong.  This is why we read the newspapers we do - because we get the comfort of knowing that their articles and reports will tend to mirror our own thoughts and beliefs, and that therefore we must be right.  Facts - who gives a toss?

£79,999 p.a.- bliss! 80,001 p.a. - disaster!

I imagine there will be people waking up this morning and reading the news who will be surprised to find that their "comfortable but not excessive" lifestyle now means they are part of the "rich" who are fair game (in the eyes of the Labour party at least) to be hit by tax increases.  The party has made it clear that it sees an income of £80,000 a year as the dividing line between the rich and the rest of us.  Oh, if it were only that simple...!

Yawn...

Well, what a bore when the opinion polls get it right!  In Thursday's local elections, the Conservatives were predicted to do very well - and they did.  Labour were predicted to do very badly - and they did. UKIP were predicted to be more or less wiped out - and they were.  The LibDems were predicted to just about hang on to what they already had - and they did.  What can I say - boring!!

Such is life

"Congratulations to Prince Phillip on retiring in financial security at a time of his choosing from a job he enjoys"  Do you find that offensive? Do you think the man himself finds that offensive?  Certainly the Labour front-bench spokesman who is responsible for that quote is being criticised for what is being described as a "shameful" comment and being called upon to apologise for it.  Can't see it myself - it seems to me a perfectly reasonable comparison to draw between the Prince's position and that of the millions who find themselves in a totally different situation. Just whether those millions would welcome the idea of working until they are 95, and whether he really "enjoys" his job are perhaps questionable issues, but the fact is that we all have to play the cards life deals us - prince or pauper.

No thank you

So the day has dawned - see post of 19/11/15.  Today is polling day for the so-called West Midkands "metro mayor".  You will not be surprised to learn that I shall not be voting.

Behind the eight-ball

So, having disposed of snooker yesterday, how about pool - the dominant potting game in America. Played on a smaller table with bigger pockets and slightly bigger, numbered balls, it comes in various flavours, each with its own rule book.  The most popular variants and eight-ball and nine-ball. Although these games only go back to the 1920s, the expression  "pool" goes back to the earliest days of billiards when players would ante-up into a pool which would be taken by the winner.

Pot as many balls as you can...

Watching the snooker at The Crucible over the weekend, I wondered where the name came from.  I knew the game was a derivative of billiards, and originated with the British Army in India in the late 19th century, but the name itself was a mystery.  Bit of a surprise then to find that the name has nothing directly to do with the game, and was originally a slang expression for an inexperienced newcomer (what we in the RAF would have called a "sprog"). and by extension, an inept performance as a result  of such inexperience.  Still can't see the connection, mind you.

A mutton-headed what??

...mugwump, is how Boris Johnson described Jeremy Corbyn the other day.  Not an every-day word these days, although I remember it being common currency when I was at school back in the early 50s.  My recollection is that it meant someone who couldn't (or couldn't be bothered to) make up their mind about something and therefore sat on the fence with their mug hanging over one side, and their wump - which I always assumed was their backside - hanging over the other.  Whether this was the sense in which Boris meant it, I'm not sure but if you Google it, you will find that the word has its origins in a native American word meaning "great warrior" or something similar, and I'm pretty sure he didn't mean it in that sense.  So for the moment  it remains somewhat of a mystery.

How do you say it?

Difficult to find anything to blog about other then brexit and the forthcoming election, and God knows I've already had more than enough of both those subjects. So, big non-political story of the moment seems to be - how do you pronounce chorizo - the Spanish spicy sausage.  Back in the Middle Ages some Spanish king or other spoke with a lisp and so it became "the done thing" for everybody else to pronounce the "s" sounds as "th", and it remains so to this day.  However, the Spanish speakers in Latin America continued and continue to pronounce the "s" sound as "s".  So there are two correct answers to the question.  A Spaniard will pronounce it "choreetho" and a Latina American Spanish speaker as "choreesso". Both are acceptable. What you mustn't do under any circumstances is pronounce it "choritso"