Play With Words

Gordon Brown used the word ‘passerelle‘ in his first Common’s speech after signing the new EU treaty in Lisbon. Guardian’s Simon Hoggart helpfully looked it up from an EU website:

…Instead it means “a word meaning a footbridge, referring to the possibility of either moving a policy area from the intergovernmental third pillar to the supra-national first pillar, or changing the voting rules in the council, or the extension of the article’s scope of application.”

No wonder we are not getting a referendum.

I have read the sentence three times. Still clueless.

昨天自由民主党(Liberal Demorates Party)的两个高层(副领导人和主席)一起在党总部门口宣布领导人 Menzies Campbell 已经辞职的消息，当事人却不见踪影。虽然事先已经告知，不会回答记者任何问题，但是在简短的公告刚刚结束，人群中立刻有人高声喊道：

Did you wield the dagger?

一切联翩的浮想似乎可以回溯到恺撒之死。

《卫报》(The Guardian)上的 Simon Hoggart 为我们作了生动的描述：

…Mr Cable, the deputy leader, came next. It was he who had announced yesterday that there was a “debate” about Ming’s future.

This is the political equivalent of the knife between the shoulder blades. Or even the machete into the skull. There must have been a bubble of rage in Sir Menzies’s throat when he heard that. “Et tu, Vince,” however, lacks a certain resonance.

Shibboleth 是哥伦比亚艺术家 Doris Salcedo 在伦敦 Tate Modern 的“轮机房大厅”(Turbine Hall)的作品。Turbine Hall 中的作品，可以任凭作者想像，限制只是这个原电站轮机房内部巨大的空间，一年换一次。Shibboleth 是第7届作品。

Shibboleth (Oxford English Dictionary):

a word used as a test for detecting people from another district or country by their pronunciation; a word or a sound very difficult for foreigners to pronounce correctly.

Shibboleth 的来源是：

The Old Testament relates that the Ephraimites were trying to cross the river Jordan when they were caught by their sworn enemies the Gileadites, who forced them all to say the word “shibboleth”. Since the unfortunate Ephraimites’ dialect did not include the sound “sh”, this allowed the Gileadites to identify and slaughter large numbers of Ephraimites.

Shibboleth 是件真正利用 Turbine Hall 空间的作品：大厅混凝土地面上的一条裂缝。大厅入口处的垃圾桶地下开始，是地面上的一条细小的裂缝，细缝向厅内延伸，越变越大，在某处分成两支，最粗之处成人可以伸入手臂－－但深不能见底。

这件作品，是如何做出来的？难道真是在 Tate Modern 地面上凿出一条裂缝？艺术馆表示绝不会透露内幕。不过上周《卫报》上有篇非常精彩的介绍文章，而且最后还会透露这件作品的制作秘密。

(11月7日：上周去看了这件作品，果然很有意思)

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几乎所有的护肤品化妆品，如果你看包装上的成份标注，第一项都是 Aqua。Aqua 这个词很美，听上去也很优雅。Aqua 来源拉丁语，现代的某些语言，比如意大利语中，还在使用。它的意思是……水。

英国的 Boots 出售的“专业敏感面部清新喷雾” －－Expert Sensitive Refreshing Facial Spritz，号称 “gentle facial spritz specially formulated to refresh and hydrate. Hypoallergenic and fragance-free it instantly cools and refreshens skin. Lanolin free. Dermatologically tested”。以喷雾罐形式出售，每罐125毫升，售价 3.99 镑。它的成份只有一种：Aqua。

《卫报》(The Guardian)的 Michael White 有着一手风趣的文笔。有关这次提前大选风波，他写道：

…But what mattered yesterday was that Mr Brown blinked first. In the long run it may not prove to be what managers sometimes call a CLM – a career limiting moment. If he recovers strongly the “Bottler Brown” jibe will fade.

But the weekend’s drama was defintely a career enhancing moment for two of the other players. Mr Cameron may just have had a “people’s princess” moment with the Middle Britain public. And this was surely the day when Mr Marr inherited one of nation’s great constitutional offices. From here on he is The Dimbleby of State.

Mr Marr : Andrew Marr. 原 BBC 政治编辑 (political editor)，现在担任 BBC One 星期天早晨的政治清谈节目 The Andrew Marr Show。这次 Gordon Brown 就是选择他的节目宣布不会有提前的大选。此举代表了 Andrew Marr 的节目在英国政治生活中的重要地位－－与另一位资深的时事节目主持人 Johnathan Dimbleby 看齐。

猜猜看，说的是那一家？

From Guardian’s Diary column:

When we hear so much from politicians about antisocial behaviour, it is good to have real testimonies from real people. Readers like Ray Mitcham. People who’ve suffered. “We have a huge council house in our street,” he says. “The extended family is run by a grumpy old woman with a pack of fierce dogs. Her car isn’t taxed or insured, but the police still do nothing. Her bad-tempered old man is famous for upsetting foreigners with racist comments. A shopkeeper blames him for ordering the murder of his son and his son’s girlfriend, but nothing has been proved yet. All their kids have broken marriages except the youngest. Two grandsons are meant to be in the army but are always seen out in nightclubs. The family’s odd antics are always in the papers. They are out of control. Honestly – who’d live near Windsor Castle?” Who indeed.