Grab Bag Of Random Posts

[Philippe]

when the Wellfare State steps down, Chaos turns up ...

here is an article from The Guardian :

Much has been made of Nicolas Sarkozy's description of the French rioters as "racaille", a derogatory term held to have fuelled the nationwide spread of the violent disturbances over the past week. The term, widely translated in the British media as "scum", actually equates more closely to "rabble". (The Guardian, which has also used "scum" on a number of occasions, will be using "rabble" from now on.)

Laurent Greilsamer in Le Monde investigates the etymology and changing meaning of the word, which has taken on a totemic significance since its utterance by Mr Sarkozy. The word came from Provençal, was introduced into French in the 15th century, and was, he says, in common parlance until 10 days ago. It had even been appropriated by disaffected young people to describe themselves, he says - a view supported by the vivelesracailles site, which starts with the line "After all, it's not a crime to live in your pyjamas".

Greilsamer consults the French dictionary Le Petit Robert, which defines racaille as "populace méprisable" - contemptible populace or rabble - and gives examples from the works of Camus and Gide. "Will the next edition cite Nicolas Sarkozy?" he asks. "It would be appropriate. The interior minister hoisted the word to the highest point of its semantic load when he assured a resident of Argenteuil, in front of a TV camera: 'We will rid you of this rabble.' At a blow the word has again become taboo and politically incorrect."

Turning to the Littré dictionary of 1873, Greilsamer finds the word defined as "even more derogatory than canaille (scoundrel)" and observes that Sarkozy has at a single blow restored the word to its original meaning "The word racaille is dangerous, explosive and literally incendiary," he concludes.

Among those criticising Sarkozy's inflammatory language has been France's equal opportunities minister, Azouz Begag, although as Le Monde observes, the minister himself had already coined the term in quieter times in 2002 to describe a "group of young people who frighten everyone, who ride scooters without helmets, ride on the pavements with no regard for pedestrians, and ignore traffic lights just as they challenge all other codes of social conduct".

Doug Ireland on Znet accuses Sarkozy of "pouring verbal kerosene on the flames" and says the word is considered incredibly offensive by French speakers.

"To apply this term to young human beings and proffer it as a strategy is a verbally fascist insult and, as a policy proposed by an Interior Minister, is about as close as one can get to hollering "ethnic cleansing" without actually saying so."

And "racaille" is infinitely more pejorative than "scum" to French-speakers - it has the flavor of characterizing an entire group of people as subhuman, inherently evil and criminal, worthless, and is, in other words, one of the most serious insults one could launch at the rebellious ghetto youth."

[Cedric]

What a mess for such a word... That's pitiful but not even surprising. It's France in all its magificence. :pukey:

[SE6Ajacied]

The Dutch are so heartless :nooo:

From bbc.co.uk

"Tribute to end Dutch sparrow fury

Not since Cock Robin has the death of a tiny bird caused such emotion.
The shooting of a sparrow on the set of a Dutch world record domino-toppling attempt sparked outrage among animal lovers and led to threats to staff.

In a bid to calm the situation, TV firm Endemol is planning a tribute when it screens the domino record event.

A special website received thousands of messages of condolence, but some say the bird didn't do itself any favours by knocking over 23,000 dominoes.

The bird's detour into the exhibition centre in the northern city of Leeuwarden earlier this week proved disastrous. Staff had spent weeks setting up four million dominoes.

The bird's fate was sealed when it knocked over 23,000 and organisers feared it could knock down more. An exterminator cornered the sparrow and shot it.

The backlash followed as soon as the news got out - especially as the common house sparrow was put on the endangered list in the Netherlands last year.

A tribute website was set up attracting more than 24,000 hits, the Dutch animal protection agency threatened to investigate, and radio stations offered bounties for anyone who could knock down more of the dominoes before the event.

But Big Brother creators Endemol said things started to get out of hand when staff started receiving threats.

A short film about the incident that started feathers flying at home and abroad will be shown before the record attempt.

"It was something we wish would never have happened at all," Endemol spokesman Jeroen van Waardenberg told the BBC News website. "But we made a decision because the project was very important to us and is to be screened in 16 countries."

The organisers of the event are out to break their own record of 3,992,397 dominoes set last year with a record of 4,321,000. "

[Venezuelan Ajacied]

Not to add some fuel to the fire but if they cornered the sparrow couldent they have simply catched it an put it in a cage or something ????? No real need to kill it, what about tranquilizer darts ????. Poor thing :sad:

[DanK]

I remember watching this on this guys show...
from theworldgame.com.au
I saved the Socceroos: Safran
AAP

Some say it was the influence of crowd, others believe it was the skills of Harry Kewell or the guidance from Guus Hiddink, but TV presenter John Saffran knows the real reason the Socceroos qualified for the World Cup - the reversal of the witchdoctor's curse.

Safran, who hosts an irreverent religious affairs show called Safran v God, said he learned of the curse in the late Australian captain Johnny Warren's autobiography.

According to Warren, the Socceroos in 1970 asked a Mozambique witchdoctor to place a hex on their opponents Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, ahead of a World Cup qualifier.

The Australians went on to win the match but they refused to pay the witchdoctor, who then cursed them to World Cup failure.

While the Socceroos went on to reach the 1974 finals, Safran said the team's agonising failure at the last qualification hurdle in the three World Cups meant he wanted to take no chances ahead of the tie with Uruguay.

He found a witchdoctor in Maputo, Mozambique, and was able to settle the decades-old debt and lift the curse.

"I did it. I reversed the curse," Safran told SBS television.

"I found a witch doctor who said he could channel the original dead witchdoctor who cursed the team so we went to the pitch where Australia played and he smeared chicken blood all over me."

The result: Australia won the tie against Uruguay 4-2 on penalties and will go to the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany.
===============================
Also the last time australia qualified for the world cup was in 1974 in Germany...now who won this one???

[jakobg]

Found an interesting video clip on a football forum. An Ajax player scores while trying to give the ball back to the opponents after an Ajax player has been injured. He scores from some 30 meters with a perfect shot. Ajax then stops to play and lets the opponents score as well.

Something I've never seen before. Anyone know when this was?

Here's the link: http://www7.rapidupload.com/dl.php?id=1521

[jakobg]

Double post. Sorry.

[SE6Ajacied]

Found an interesting video clip on a football forum. An Ajax player scores while trying to give the ball back to the opponents after an Ajax player has been injured. He scores from some 30 meters with a perfect shot. Ajax then stops to play and lets the opponents score as well.

Something I've never seen before. Anyone know when this was?

Here's the link: http://www7.rapidupload.com/dl.php?id=1521

Yes, this was Young Ajax against Cambuur Leeuwarden in the Gatorde Cup back in August (I think) Ajax won 3-1 and I remember having fun reading about it at the time in the "Gatorade Cup" thread. First time I've actually seen the goal though (didn't have broadband back then) - bit of a laugh that one!

[aveslacker]

So, some new neighbors moved in the other day, and I struck up a conversation with them. After the husband speaks a few words, I realize he's got a dutch accent. So we start speaking in dutch, and I think to myself, "What are the odds that a Dutchie lives next door?"

Last night we had dinner over at their place, and as we're getting shown around, I notice a team photo of the '94 Ajax team hanging up in his garage. Turns out our neighbors (or at least the guy) are Ajacieden! We spent most of the night talking about Ajax or soccer in general -- he's got a picture of himself with Marco van Basten and Ruudi Gullit in Paris. Van Basten is holding the golden boot, which he had just been awarded.

What are the odds that two of the four or five Ajacieden in Northern Virginia live right next to one another! :cheer: :cheer: :cheer:

[Venezuelan Ajacied]

thats what i call luck. ;)

[carcajou]

Can some English native speaker explain the idiom "mind you" to me ?

I've seen so many times, but I can't get to figure precisely what it can exactly mean...

Thanks ;)

[SE6Ajacied]

Can some English native speaker explain the idiom "mind you" to me ?

I've seen so many times, but I can't get to figure precisely what it can exactly mean...

Thanks ;)

Hi Carcajou,

It's a bit difficult to explain really but it means sort of "and here's another thing" to add an additional point to something that's already been said but in a way that detracts slightly.

For example, someone might say, "I hear that Bertarand sold his house for £200,000, that means he's made a profit of £100,000 on what he paid for it" and then someone else would say "Mind you, he spent a lot of money on that house and he had to pay £75,000 to his ex-wife and £20,000 to the bank so he didn't really do that well"

A bit long winded but that's the best way I can explain it :D

[carcajou]

Hi Carcajou,

It's a bit difficult to explain really but it means sort of "and here's another thing" to add an additional point to something that's already been said but in a way that detracts slightly.

So it's pretty much like a posh way to say "however" isn't it ?

Anyway it's very nice of you to have taken the time, many thanks.

[aveslacker]

You could use it as "however" or perhaps "another thing you should know" when you want to emphasize how something complicates something else. Mind you, it's easier to use than to explain. :D

[DanK]

You could use it as "however" or perhaps "another thing you should know" when you want to emphasize how something complicates something else. Mind you, it's easier to use than to explain. :D

:worshippy:

[roche]

How about this...when you see "mind you" substitute the word "but" in it's place.



Make sense?

[SE6Ajacied]

So it's pretty much like a posh way to say "however" isn't it ?

Sort of, I've been trying it in my head though and I don't think Mind You comes in a posh accent Try something more like a London drawl, Maand Yuuu, that's much more like it.

I think the posh people would definately say However

:D :D :D

[De Kuyper]

Why is there is no Oranje section in the English Chat?

[DanK]

So it's pretty much like a posh way to say "however" isn't it ?

Sort of, I've been trying it in my head though and I don't think Mind You comes in a posh accent Try something more like a London drawl, Maand Yuuu, that's much more like it.

I think the posh people would definately say However

:D :D :D

Think you are correct there. However sounds more "posh" to me. In Australia (aka - the land of slang) I think "but" would be the more relaxed way to say it. Mind you, would probably me "more english" - ie: used in England more so than say another english speaking country like Australia. Maybe ;)

While on the subject of a language...in around a month or so I am doing an 8 week Swedish language course. Now this could be interesting! :D

[aveslacker]

Why is there is no Oranje section in the English Chat?

Well, there is the Ajacieden in Oranje thread. Or we often end up talking about it in the General Football Discussion thread.

[De Kuyper]

Oh is that where we can chat about the national team, thanks mate

[Over Pasanens Head]

Just now I was attempting to read an article on Ajax Netwerk when I came across this word - uitvoeringsmaatregelen - is this the longest word in Dutch and what the hell does it mean.

[DanK]

Just now I was attempting to read an article on Ajax Netwerk when I came across this word - uitvoeringsmaatregelen - is this the longest word in Dutch and what the hell does it mean.

I thought I new Dutch until now...LOL

I typed this into my English/Dutch translater widget on my Mac and it claimed this meant:
implementing measures

I wonder if I can get a refund for a dodgy widget?[/i]

[Kowalczyk]

Okay, folks. Allow me to ask you for a favour... :D

As you may or may not know I published my début novel this year. It's called Vak 127 and it's about Ajax, being a supporter, friendship and growing up.

My book is on the longlist for the annual Nico Scheepmaker Trophy, a prize for the best Dutch sports book of the year. There will be two votes: a 'professional' vote (by a jury of sports journalists) and a 'popular' vote on the internet.

Here's what you do... :hypocrite:

1. surf to http://www.nicoscheepmakerbeker.nl/
2. click on 'Stemmen' ('Vote') in the navigation menu on the left
3. scroll all the way down to the 'V' and look for Vak 127 by yours truly (okay... lemme help you, it's here: http://www.nicoscheepmakerbeker.nl/boeken?s=stem&id=102 )
4. enter your name and e-mail address
5. vote!
6. check your e-mail: you will receive a confirmation e-mail with a link in it. Confirm your vote by clicking that link.

Thanks very much! :yes:

K.

[jakobg]

You've got my vote! :xyxthumbs:

Would be nice to actually be able to read it as well. Sadly my Dutch probably worse than George Bush's Swedish.