babble: Berlusconi's latest: insult market stall keepers

FAQ | Forum Home

»	babble » current events » international news and politics » Berlusconi's latest: insult market stall keepers

Email this thread to someone!

Author

Topic: Berlusconi's latest: insult market stall keepers

lagatta
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 2534

posted 09 March 2004 09:08 PM

Regular as clockwork, another monumental gaffe from our old friend Sylvio. Nothing like a bit of class snobbery from someone as devoid of class as the old crooner: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3546461.stm

I know a fellow who is an interpreter at the European Parliament - he has actually heard a lot of these things live - and the embarrassed silence that usually follows ...

From: Se non ora, quando? | Registered: Apr 2002 | IP: Logged

DrConway
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 490

posted 09 March 2004 11:28 PM

I quit rolling my eyes at this guy's antics for fear that I'd permanently injure them.

How is it such buffoons manage to get elevated to high office? It's a good thing Berlusconi has no militaristic ambitions because he seems like the kind of guy who would order first and ask questions later.

From: You shall not side with the great against the powerless. | Registered: May 2001 | IP: Logged

skdadl
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 478

posted 10 March 2004 09:16 AM

quote:
"Let's talk about football and women," he suggested to them.
Turning to four-times-married German Chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder, he added: "Gerhard, why don't you start?"

I just snurfled my apple juice.

Oh, goody goody, another chance to remind everyone of my favourite Berlusconi story, of how scandalized he was by the laundry of the ladies of Genoa. The week before the 2001 Group of Eight gathering in that city, he fumed and fussed over the public display of ladies' bloomers on the washing lines strung between buildings in the old city. Can't have that, can we? Not when a bunch of rich but, y'know, sensitive guys in boring bad suits are coming to town, eh?

If I ever get a chance to march against Berlusconi, I've got my sign ready -- a big pair of bloomers on a stick. And I'm working on a slogan -- anyone know what "bloomers" are in Italian?

From: gone | Registered: May 2001 | IP: Logged

lagatta
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 2534

posted 10 March 2004 10:01 AM

Sure do, skdadl: mutandine. Unless the signora is very broad across the beam, in which case they'd be mutandoni.

Now I'm trying to think about what those market stall owners (you know, the people who are up before dawn so the likes of Silvio can have fresh fruit on his table) should do ...

[ 10 March 2004: Message edited by: lagatta ]

From: Se non ora, quando? | Registered: Apr 2002 | IP: Logged

skdadl
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 478

posted 10 March 2004 10:06 AM

What is the name of that fruit that everyone says is delicious but that stinks to high heaven?

I have a slogan. Next G8, if anyone gets a chance, we all chant together, "Gerhard, why don't you start? Gerhard, why don't you start?"

*convulsive giggling*

From: gone | Registered: May 2001 | IP: Logged

lagatta
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 2534

posted 10 March 2004 10:13 AM

In italiano oder Deutsch?

(sorry, I can't help imagining the interpreters)...

From: Se non ora, quando? | Registered: Apr 2002 | IP: Logged

Wilf Day
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 3276

posted 10 March 2004 10:15 AM

quote:
Originally posted by skdadl:
What is the name of that fruit that everyone says is delicious but that stinks to high heaven?

Do you mean gingko fruit?

We used to have a gingko tree before we moved. Very pretty tree. In the fall, the rotten fruit all over our driveway smelled worse than any other smell on the face of the earth. But we don't cut down trees.

From: Port Hope, Ontario | Registered: Oct 2002 | IP: Logged

Mr. Magoo
guilty-pleasure
Babbler # 3469

posted 10 March 2004 10:21 AM

Durian? "The King of Fruits"?

It's looks like a cross between a football and a hand grenade, and smells like cat pee. Some liken its flavour to mango mixed with old onions.

[ 10 March 2004: Message edited by: Mr. Magoo ]

From: ø¤°`°¤ø,¸_¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸_¸,ø¤°°¤ø,¸_¸,ø¤°°¤ø, | Registered: Dec 2002 | IP: Logged

skdadl
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 478

posted 10 March 2004 10:38 AM

It was the durian I was thinking of, but the more the merrier, eh?

I guess we'd get in trouble for throwing fruit at Silvio. *pout* Police are so humourless.

But if you carried durians or gingkos with you in any way, it would be your fellow protestors you'd be tormenting. Such a puzzle.

From: gone | Registered: May 2001 | IP: Logged

Mr. Magoo
guilty-pleasure
Babbler # 3469

posted 10 March 2004 10:54 AM

I think if you threw a durian at someone you might be facing manslaughter charges! The things are about the size of your head, and weigh many pounds. They're also spiky. Calling a teddy-bear a weapon may stretch the word, but calling a durian a weapon would be accurate.

From: ø¤°`°¤ø,¸_¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸_¸,ø¤°°¤ø,¸_¸,ø¤°°¤ø, | Registered: Dec 2002 | IP: Logged

skdadl
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 478

posted 10 March 2004 10:58 AM

The hair-splitting that goes on around this place!

From: gone | Registered: May 2001 | IP: Logged

DrConway
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 490

posted 10 March 2004 02:26 PM

The market stall owners could name all their rotten fruit "Sylvios".

Forgive the lack of Italian.

Stall owner 1: "I threw out a bunch of sylvios today."
Stall owner 2: "Yes, they were starting to smell quite ripe there - all of us on this block would have lost business!"

Or how about this?

Person 1: "I threw a sylvio at a garbage can, and it split open and smelled horrible!"
Person 2: "Next time, don't let your apples become sylvios."

From: You shall not side with the great against the powerless. | Registered: May 2001 | IP: Logged

skdadl
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 478

posted 10 March 2004 02:31 PM

Superb, Doc!

lagatta, I think he's got it! By George, he's got it! Not just the stall owners -- all of us now begin to refer to rotten produce as silvios.

That reminds me -- there's half a turnip in the fridge that's done a silvio on me.

From: gone | Registered: May 2001 | IP: Logged

jeff house
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 518

posted 10 March 2004 04:25 PM

quote:
mutandine. Unless the signora is very broad across the beam, in which case they'd be mutandoni.

I believe this is related to the old legal principle of mutatis mutandis.

"Mutandines mutandones."

From: toronto | Registered: May 2001 | IP: Logged

Kevin
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 3645

posted 10 March 2004 04:38 PM

[off topic]
Are you the same Jeff House who was on Disclosure last night talking about the American soldier trying to get refugee status? If so, good job!
[/off topic]

[ 10 March 2004: Message edited by: Kevin Harding ]

From: Simon Fraser University | Registered: Jan 2003 | IP: Logged

Michelle
Moderator
Babbler # 560

posted 10 March 2004 09:14 PM

That was him!

From: I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. | Registered: May 2001 | IP: Logged

All times are Pacific Time

Hop To: