We used to say that as JW missionaries in Quebec and fall over laughing. Couldn't swear in English, not allowed. If we said it in French it wasn't really swearing. We were young and easily amused.
We used merde too. Now I cut to the chase and say it in English.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/24/2022 01:00AM by Nightingale.
For Nightingale: FYI - "Merde" goes back to the Latin "merda," (obviously related to the Spanish "mierda") and has been traced back to Roman times from what I've read. Perfectly honest word.
I love the idea of swearing in another language to avoid the "sin" of swearing in English! I had a friend in college whose Hungarian-born mother cursed like a pirate. I found this rather shocking, because in every other way, she was a genteel, cultured, upper-upper middle class lady. She just had a gutter mouth.
Once when I had spent the night at their house (back in college days) I said something teasing about how Mrs. R's vocabulary was richer than mine. She laughed. She said, "Swearing in English doesn't sound dirty to me. It's just noise. I would never say those things in Hungarian."
From my partner Anne (I can't vote, of course ;-). Having said that, there's nothing to worry about. Macron will win. The French Left usually do their duty and keep the extreme right out. It's not an ideal situation, but we won't have a Le Pen presidency...
I think my concern is that the bad guys will have some way of overriding the votes and declaring their candidate the winner, like they are doing here.
I don't know the vote counting procedures in France, but I hope it is stronger than our system of "alternate slates of electors" who have the power to override the people's votes.
I'm shocked to realize truly how many people are willing to give up democracy to support oligarchs and authoritarians by any means possible. Greed and power seem to dwarf fairness and compassion lately.
Well, first of all, we have direct suffrage, so there are no electoral college problems. The actual counting is done in public by hand in each polling station by local voters who are asked if they would like to count when they vote during the day. I have counted for European and municipal elections. Representatives of all the parties can check, but the major guarantee is the openness of the procedure.
In an hour's time, we'll have the first estimations. From what I understand, participation is on course for being the highest in 40 years, which is probably a good sign.
In the end, yes, but the two-round system has the advantage of allowing much broader debate in the first round than Anglo-Saxon 2-party systems which try to squeeze the whole spectrum of opinions into just 2 choices, while everybody else gets shouted down.
"When speaking about his friend of many years, T.E Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) and his tragic death, Winston Churchill made this remark, “ I deem him one of the greatest beings of our time, we shall never see his like again.”
I thought Churchill had said "we shall never see *their* like again" about military members after WWII. I wonder where I got that idea?
Of course, Shakespeare got there first:
Hamlet, re his father: “He was a man, take him for all in all, I shall not look upon his like again.”
The 40 is nasty, but the 60 is worth comparing with his first round score - double, so half of his vote is from non-supporters who nevertheless prefer what I consider the right choice. Not a nice choice, but the right choice.
As to the 40 voting for the extreme right: don't forget that they have been strong historically in France since the 19th century, reaching their apogee (naturally) during the 30s and when they betrayed their compatriots in the shadow of the Nazis during the Occupation. They've never gone away, unfortunately - and apparently quite a few "patriots" have no sense of smell ;-)
Soft Machine Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > As to the 40 voting for the extreme right: don't > forget that they have been strong historically in > France since the 19th century, reaching their > apogee (naturally) during the 30s and when they > betrayed their compatriots in the shadow of the > Nazis during the Occupation.
Nightingale, when I was 16 (1976) and in boarding school in Cranleigh, Surrey, we had a choice on Wednesday afternoons between "Army Corps" and Social Service, which basically meant helping out lone old ladies living in the village (yes, I know, it's all so very British, but it's true).
I and 2 friends were lucky to be assigned to a lovely old lady called Babs Brinkley who was in her 80s - and a Buddhist. She had travelled widely, but in the 1920s, she worked at a foreign language bookshop in London and met all the authors of the time, some she liked and became close to (George Bernard Shaw), some she hated (DH AND Frieda Lawrence). She also said that Virginia Woolf was a lesbian, which at the time was not widely known. But her favourite friends was... T.E.Lawrence (who by then was T.E. Shaw).
So now you have a direct link with both protagonists of your story - because Winston Churchill's great-nephew was "my" bassist for 11 years and remains a friend.
:-D
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/24/2022 03:40PM by Soft Machine.
Soft Machine Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > As to the 40 voting for the extreme right: don't > forget that they have been strong historically in > France since the 19th century,...They've never gone > away, unfortunately - and apparently quite a few > "patriots" have no sense of smell ;-)
Robert Reich on Twitter managed to spoil the moment for me:
"The fact that 40 percent of voters in a major European democracy voted for a far-right presidential candidate, despite the disastrous lessons of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin's violent authoritarianism, should worry everyone who cares about peace and prosperity."
A 51-49 balance is stable if both parties share a commitment to their country's constitution. But if one party does not, the situation is inherently unstable.
In the summer of 1932 the Nazi Party won 37% of the German national vote, and that proportion actually fell before he gained power in January 1933. The point is that if you have a significant plurality of the vote, unforeseen events can tip the balance in your favor. And if you don't respect the rules of the game, you can then knock over the chessboard.
Short of the Nazi extreme, the fact that somewhere around 40% of the French and American electorates reject constitutionalism and want to overturn electoral systems is something that should cause traditional republicans (small "s") grave concern. It isn't the party affiliation per se that matters: it is the commitment, or lack of commitment, to established political procedures.
dagny Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Soft Machine Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > "The fact that 40 percent of voters in a major > European democracy voted for a far-right > presidential candidate, despite the disastrous > lessons of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin's > violent authoritarianism, should worry everyone > who cares about peace and prosperity."
Yeah, that's what I said scary about above.
Indeed it is. Victory for now is great but there's always the next election. What are the extremists thinking you have to wonder. By definition, extremism is undesirable (understatement). Too bad there are times and places in history where too many people have to learn that the hard way. And others have to suffer for it.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/24/2022 09:18PM by Nightingale.
I’ve been out and about this morning, so first time seeing your posts, though I had heard the news on the radio. You remember radio…?
Much relief felt. It was exactly what I expected, but in today’s world, you never know. A Le Pen presidency would have been such a demoralizing blow in a world that is already as FUBAR as we can tolerate. At least this time we get to take a few deep breaths and relax a bit.
Brother Of Jerry Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > a demoralizing blow in a world that is already as FUBAR as we can tolerate.
My mom would call this tempting fate. :/
> At least this time we get to take a few > deep breaths and relax a bit.